Anurag Kashyap calls pan-India films 'massive scam': Here's why
What's the story
Renowned filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has slammed the idea of "pan-India" films, a trend that picked up after SS Rajamouli's Baahubali franchise conquered the box office.
In a recent interview with The Hindu, Kashyap said that producers are only repeating the same formula while putting in a lot of money for each film.
This, he said, often leads to box office disappointments.
Film success
'Only 1% of it works...'
He said, "For me, pan-India is a massive scam. Pan-India is a term. A film is pan-India if it performs pan-India. How can a film be pan-India before it's even made?"
"Only 1% of it works. And that 1% again starts the whole cycle of pan-India. Some films have become successful, that nobody expected, like Stree."
"KGF became a success, everyone wants to emulate that. And that's where the decline in storytelling begins."
Storytelling focus
Kashyap emphasized storytelling over formulaic approach
Kashyap stressed filmmakers often justify their lack of storytelling, saying audience's attention span is decreasing.
He said, "It all becomes a formula because everybody is chasing that elusive ₹800-₹900-1,000 crore."
"Figures are going up, but there's maybe one film that's crossed ₹1,000 crore, one film that's crossed ₹900 crore."
"In the last five years, there may be only five or six films that have reached there, but we're making 1,000 films a year."
Rajamouli's success
Kashyap praised SS Rajamouli for breaking international barriers
Kashyap hailed Rajamouli for his global success since the 2012 blockbuster action comedy Eega.
He likened Rajamouli's global triumph to South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's, who went global with Parasite in 2019.
"RRR was meant to break out. Baahubali, because of its length, didn't break out, but every cinephile across the world has seen it," Kashyap said.
"I said it much before RRR released that it'd be the film that would break out of India."