RRR director SS Rajamouli blames 'high fee actors, directors' for Hindi cinema's failure in 2022

Ace filmmaker SS Rajamouli has been making waves, not just in the Indian film industry but also representing the country globally with his larger-than-life cinema. His latest release RRR has bagged two nominations at the Golden Globes 2023 awards and all hopes are now pinned for the Oscars. While south films have flourished this year, Rajamouli has blamed the high fee actors, directors and other people involved for the failure of Hindi cinema in 2022.

"What happened was once the corporates started to come into the Hindi films, and started paying high fees to actors, directors, companies, the hunger to succeed has come down a little bit," Rajamouli said at the Filmmakers' Adda by Film Companion while reflecting at the downfall of the Hindi cinema. He added that filmmakers must not become complacent if their films start doing good business.

This year, only a handful of Hindi cinemas such as The Kashmir Files, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Brahmastra and Drishyam 2 have performed well and managed to bring in some money at the box office. On the other hand, south films such as Pushpa, Kantara, RRR, Ponniyin Selvan, Vikram, KGF 2 and more films have went on to become blockbusters, with viewership across the globe.

Rajamouli also reflected on the success of south films and how the south film industry flourished this year. The director said that the scenario was quite different in south compared to Hindi films. However, he also added that since south films have started doing well, filmmakers have to make sure they do not get complacent because then the hunger to succeed goes down.

After earning a Golden Globes nomination for Best Picture, Non-English Language category, RRR now has a second last shot at the Oscars where it could either have potential award-winner for Rajamouli in the Best Director category, or for the movie in the Best Foreign Film section.