New Delhi: Indian film industry came in for an identity crisis at the recently held Oscar Awards ceremony where the song ‘Naatu Naatu’ from the Telugu film ‘RRR’ won an award. While some gave credit to Bollywood, others pointed out that it was in fact Tollywood that should be celebrating. Acclaimed filmmaker Mani Ratnam has now suggested that one should stop labelling industries as Bollywood or Kollywood. He recently attended the second edition of CII Dakshin Media and Entertainment Summit in Chennai and was speaking at a panel on the impact of south Indian films, the Indian Express reported.
“If Hindi cinema can stop calling themselves Bollywood, then people will stop identifying Indian cinema as Bollywood,” said the director. National Award-winning director Vetrimaaran also said, “I’m not a fan of the ‘woods’. Like Bollywood, Kollywood. We need to see it as Indian cinema on the whole.”
Others on the panel were filmmaker Rishab Shetty, who made the Kannada hit Kantara. Shetty spoke about the importance of marketing local as global, and said stories need to represent India.
