RGV: Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi survived on Big B's remakes

The Indian film industry is a complex tapestry of diverse languages, cultures, and storytelling styles. While Bollywood often dominates headlines, the Southern film industries have carved out their own powerful space, producing blockbuster hits and cultivating larger-than-life stars.

Yet, beneath this success lies a shared history of inspiration, imitation, and adaptation that shaped both worlds. Legendary filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma sheds light on the fascinating journey of South Indian cinema, revealing how it once thrived by remaking iconic Bollywood films—particularly those starring Amitabh Bachchan—and how these influences continue to resonate today.In conversation with IndiaTV Showbiz, RGV recently observed that in the early days, all four South Indian film industries frequently remade Amitabh Bachchan’s popular films from the 1970s and 1980s.

Major stars like Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, NT Rama Rao, and Rajkumar rose to fame by starring in these remakes. In the 1990s, during Amitabh Bachchan’s extended five-year hiatus, music companies began producing films primarily to promote their soundtracks—Maine Pyar Kiya being a notable example. Meanwhile, the South continued to churn out ‘masala’ films inspired by Bachchan’s style, which helped cement their leading actors as demigods.

According to Varma, this pattern of drawing from Bachchan’s legacy persists even today.Varma also pointed out that young Bollywood directors of that era had greater exposure to foreign cinema, thanks to their English proficiency and urban upbringing. In contrast, he noted that many commercial filmmakers in the South were less exposed to global cinematic trends and tended to focus more on grassroots, mass-appeal storytelling.The filmmaker also recalled an incident involving an unnamed producer’s reaction to the film Pushpa: The Rise, directed by Sukumar and starring Allu Arjun. A few days before the film’s release, the producer reportedly expressed strong skepticism, predicting that audiences would reject the movie. His criticism was not aimed at the actor himself, but rather at the unconventional portrayal of the protagonist—someone chewing paan rather than the typical six-pack hero image. According to Varma, the producer’s judgment was clouded by preconceived notions of what audiences expect, rather than the actual quality or content of the film.