Sunny Deol says south Indian cinema has moved forward after learning from Bollywood: 'Our producers, directors no longer have...'

Sunny Deol is collaborating with the Telugu director Gopichand Malineni and Telugu producers Mythri Movie Makers for his next Hindi film Jaat slated to release in cinema on April 10. In a recent interview, the Gadar star praised south Indian filmmakers and opined that Bollywood is struggling now as the Hindi film industry is lacking passion and belief.

Talking to the veteran trade analyst Komal Nahta, Sunny said, "Jis tarah se hum pehle cinema banate the, jiss passion se hum cinema banate the, un cheezon ki lacking shuru hogyi hai. South ke log humse seekhke aage badhte gaye hain (The way we used to make cinema before, the passion with which we made cinema—those things have started lacking. The people from the South learnt from us and kept moving forward), and they have progressed so much technically and in every aspect. They are making a picture for the audience, not for a selected audience. Unka cinema hamesha chaaron taraf chalta hai. Hum logon ne beech mein karna kyun band kardia, mujhe nahi maalum, kaafi reasons honge I am sure (Their cinema always works everywhere. I don’t know why we stopped doing that in between; I’m sure there must be many reasons)."

"Wahan ki filmein humne remake karke banani shuru kardi aur vohi dhandha kar rahi thi. (We started remaking their films, and that became a successful business at the box office). This means that somewhere, our creators, producers, writers, and directors no longer have the same passion and belief. Because belief is the story—it is the hero of the film, and the person who brings it to life is the director. If we believe in both these aspects, we should work accordingly. But if we think we know everything—today, there are so many monitors, and everyone gives their opinions—because of this, mistakes happen", the action superstar added.

Meanwhile, apart from Sunny Deol, the action thriller Jaat also stars Randeep Hooda, Regina Cassandra, Saiyami Kher, Vineet Kumar Singh, Ramya Krishnan, Jagapathi Babu, Zarina Wahab, and Upendra Limaye in pivotal roles.