Reviving Dravidianism: Who Brought Up The North-South Divide Again?

Thanks to a rabid regional remark at a roundtable conference, producer Naga Vamsi is famous Pan-India. Taking a highly objectionable creative high ground, Mr Vamsi looked down from his nose to poke fun at Hindi cinema and its reach "for Bandra and Juhu” and how Hindi cinema witnessed a change with Baahubali, RRR, Animal, and Jawan.

As far as I know, Animal and Jawaan were Hindi films produced by Mumbai producers.

Not that it matters. The language barrier fell long back. Filmmakers stopped thinking in regional terms when Baahubali broke records everywhere. Mr Vamsi seems too mesmerized by his Dravidianism to notice that the world, and that includes the cinematic universe, has moved on long ago.

Hema Malini ruled Filmistan for decades. She was known as the biggest hero among the superstars of the 1970s and 80s, rejected by a Tamil producer when she initially approached her native film industry for work.

She once told me during a conversation, “When I started in Hindi cinema, I never thought ke main Tamilian hoon. Before me, Vyjayanthimala was a superstar. I followed her footsteps. There is no North/South in the film industry.”

And if Mr Vansi wants to get seriously Dravidian with us, then what about Suriya's Kanguva and Kamal Haasan's Indian 2? What happened to the Dravidian magic in these films? If the truth be told, a film works not for its language but content. If a rose by any other name smells just as sweet, then Pushpa would have raised hell even in Swahili. Yeah, Pushpa worked. So did Bhool Bhulaiya 3 and Stree 2.

Divisive politics, we thought, died with M. G. Ramachandran. Sure, Mr Vamsi is right in saying that some of the biggest pan-India blockbusters came from the South. But does anyone think of Rajamouli's RRR or Baahubali as Telugu films anymore?

Regionalism is dead. Its harbingers are sadly still around.