Filmmaker SS Rajamouli says he does not like the word Tollywood or Bollywood but they have gotten used to it. The director of RRR has been on the Oscars 2023 campaign as RRR has created a huge buzz in the West. With two Golden Globes nominations and multiple accolades in the West, the buzz around the Academy Awards is swelling. The song ‘Naatu Naatu’ has been shortlisted already for Best Original Song. While Telugu is creating a huge buzz in the west, the filmmaker explains how southern industries have been making stories that are travelling across borders.
Speaking to Deadline, when asked what is Tollywood and where he fits into that, Rajamouli explained, “I don’t like the word Tollywood. I don’t like the word Bollywood either, but gradually we’ve got used to it. But the point is, in India, we have many states. Each state speaks its own language. So each language has a film industry of its own, many of them at least. Many states, about seven to eight, speak one language — Hindi. The Hindi film industry is called Bollywood, and they have a larger market because they have a larger audience. I come from the Telugu film field where we have two Telugu-speaking states and I make Telugu films. Likewise, there are Tamil films being made, there’s the Kannada film industry, the Malayalam film industry, and other film industries, that way.”
He added, “Obviously, because of the increasing number of films being made, Bollywood was the biggest for a long, long period. In the recent past few years, however, the southern film industries — Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam — are also making films that are travelling across the borders and making it big. Presently, the Telugu film industry and the Kannada film industry are having the biggest blockbusters in the country, bigger than Hindi films. So, at present, that’s the situation. I hope we don’t get complacent and it stays that way.”
Recently, SS Rajamouli was announced as the winner of the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Director. The film also received the Best International Picture award at the Atlanta Film Critics Circle.
Meanwhile, SS Rajamouli is gearing up for the shoot for his next with Mahesh Babu.
