Javed Akhtar wonders why Allu Arjun, Prabhas films are beating Hindi films at box office. Aamir Khan says 'it is not North vs South'

Aamir Khan is in the mood to spill the beans about Bollywood losing the box-office game to the South. In a conversation with veteran lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar, the ‘3 Idiots’ star shared his insights on where Bollywood is lagging behind South. In the interview, Akhtar lamented how Bollywood is struggling at the box-office and films with South stars who are relatively unknown among Hindi-speaking audiences are dominating the box-office.
“The [Hindi] films have lost all connectivity with the audience. Dubbed South Indian films, featuring stars who are unknown to audiences here in North India, are releasing and doing Rs 600-700 crore business. Even the few of our films that end up working are also directed by people from the South. What happened to our people?” wondered the ‘Sholay’ screenwriter.
The superstar argued that it’s not a North vs. South problem and that Bollywood actors and producers are ill-equipped to deal with the OTT storm. “Please come and consume our product (film). If you don’t, we’ll come and drop it off at your doorstep in eight weeks (through OTT platforms). This is our business model," he explained.

He added, «After eight weeks, you will get to watch my movie for which you had already paid (through a subscription). I don’t know how to sell the same product twice. Earlier, I used to watch movies because I had no option. Now, I go to theatres for the fancy of it. Since we can watch movies anywhere, there’s no absolute need to go to theatres. So we’ve killed our own business model.»

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