Telugu producer Naga Vamsi, who made films like Guntur Karam and Devara, claimed that Bollywood has changed the way South Indians watch films. He further said that Bollywood is now stuck in making films for Bandra and Juhu. Producer Boney Kapoor reacted to Naga Vamsi’s ‘harsh’ comment.

Naga Vamsi and Boney Kapoor were part of the producers’ roundtable Galata PlusDuring the conversation, Boney Kapoor was talking about the hold of South cinema in the foreign market. “Telugu films have a unique market in the US, Tamil films have a unique market in Singapore and Malaysia. That’s a big part of the overseas business. And, the Gulf, of course, is a cosmopolitan region,” he said.

Vamsi interrupted him And explained, “There is a huge market for Malayalam cinema in the Gulf.” Producers Archana Kalpathy and Siddharth agreed with him.

Vamsi then directly addressed Boney Kapoor and said that his comments may have come across as harsh. “One thing sir, you have to accept this. This may sound really harsh. We, South Indians, have changed the way you look at (Bollywood) cinema. Because, you guys (Bollywood), for Bandra Stuck in making films and Juhu. You saw the change with Baahubali, RRR, Animal and Jawan.”

Boney Kapoor shook his head in disbelief and said, “It’s not.” Vamsi again interrupted and said, “Sir, after Mughal-e-Azam, you used bahubali and rrr (For example), which were Telugu films. After Mughal-e-Azam you never mentioned any Hindi film.”

Responding to his comments, Boney shared, “On this platform, we can’t talk about every bit of knowledge that we know. We need to talk in broader contexts. When I talk about Mughal-e- Azam, Baahubali and all that, it is not that I have missed those films. But, it is not that Telugu cinema has taught us this.

When Vamsi said that he was talking about the program and mass entertainers, Boney clarified it, saying, “It was always there. Even Pushpa 2 hero said that he is a big fan of Amitabh BachchanHe could say that he was a big fan of NT Rama Rao.”

Vamsi told that he is a fan of Shahrukh Khan and Allu Arjun is also a big fan of Chiranjeevi. “But, what he spoke to the media recently about Amitabh Bachchan means that it is not the language that is the barrier. The barrier is what is good and what is bad. What matters is what people digest. Be it Telugu or Tamil or Bengali cinema, Marathi films are earning Rs 100 crores and no one had even dreamed that a Marathi film could do this kind of business. There has been a huge change and This change has been driven by OTT platforms. I don’t mean to undermine what you said,” he explained.

Archana Kalpathi mentioned Manjummel Boys and said that despite being a Malayalam film, it was celebrated in Tamil Nadu. He told that we cannot predict what the audience will learn from a film.