People have started noticing South films, says Kannada actor Yash, who believes the magnitude of his KGF franchise’s success came as a huge surprise to everyone in the country.
The success of KGF
Yash became a pan-India star with the Prashanth Neel-directed Kannada action film “KGF: Chapter One” (2018), which featured him as Rocky Bhai, a high-ranking assassin in Mumbai who works his way to the throne of Kolar Gold Fields.
In April, “KGF: Chapter 2” was released, which opened to a massive response at the box office when it was released across the country in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam. It became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
Speaking at a media event, Yash stated that earlier people used to mock films from the south, especially because of bad dubbing.
“Initially, our films were sold for a minimum price. People would settle for bad dubbing and give random names for the films. Then, they started becoming familiar with our dubbed films,” the actor said.
But things have changed for the better and the credit goes to SS Rajamouli and his blockbuster “Baahubali” franchise, he added.
“If you have to break a rock, it requires constant effort. ‘Baahubali’ gave that push. ‘KGF’ was done with a different intention. We did not do ‘KGF’ to intimidate anyone, but to inspire.
“People have now started noticing South films. Before, we had a different budget to come here and market. Right now, with the digital revolution, we have the opportunity to showcase it to the world,” Yash said.
The success of South films
The 36-year-old actor revealed he had been waiting for the success of South films at the countrywide level for a long time.
“If it doesn’t sound arrogant, I did want this to happen. I visualized it and I wanted this to happen. I was living this day, this success, 5-6 years ago. Right now, it doesn’t affect me. I am kind of thinking ahead now. The scale of the success surprised a lot of people,” he added.
The Rocking Star believes people have now started looking up to Kannada movies for quality content.
“From my industry’s perspective, we needed that attitude shift. When people talk about your industry in a certain way, it needs a lot of effort to break that image. Many say that ours is a small industry and we don’t have that kind of budget.
“I had a problem with that. So, I wanted to change that. Right now, people are looking up to the Kannada industry. The initial steps were important. My main plan was to project the Kannada industry as another big industry that can deliver quality films. I believe audiences are not biased. If they like a film, they will celebrate it.”
Asked about the next installment of the “KGF” franchise, the actor said there are plans to make the third chapter but not anytime soon.
“We have a plan, but not anytime soon. I want to do something else. For six or seven years, I have been doing ‘KGF’. So, let’s see. If everything falls in place, we will do ‘KGF 3’ later,” Yash said.
