Abhishek Bachchan opens up on South remakes in Bollywood, says 'no dearth of talent in Mumbai' | Exclusive

Abhishek Bachchan has never shied away from expressing his opinion in the public and has been quite vocal about his personal and professional life in his interviews. In an exclusive telephonic conversation with DNA about the world television premiere of Bob Biswas on Zee Cinema on April 30 at 9:30 PM, the Bob Biswas actor talked about the ongoing trend of South remakes in Bollywood and said that there is no death of talent in the Hindi film industry.

As the actor's upcoming project is the official Hindi remake of the Tamil thriller Oththa Seruppu Size 7, he answered if Bollywood has been too much dependent on the South cinema over the last few years. "Indian film industry has always remade its films, anywhere else in India, Hindi films have been remade. There has always been a wonderful exchange of creative ideas, we must remember that at the end of the day, we are part of one large filmmaking family which is called the Indian film industry", the actor said.

Abhishek further added that the remake trend in the Indian film industry is not new as he continued, "Because of the vastness of our country and the diversity of our culture, we speak different languages in different areas. Different films are made in different languages. Hindi films being remade down South or vice versa is something that has happened for over 50-70 years, it's nothing new."

The Dasvi actor elaborated that remaking a film is the personal choice of a filmmaker or a producer or an actor. "You have to understand that it comes down to a personal choice. It's not because there is a dearth of ideas or anything like that, it's a personal choice. A producer or a director or an actor can say, 'Hey, I like this film, it is made in a different language, let me make it for Hindi so why don't we remake it.' It's not there is a dearth of talent in Mumbai."

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Abhishek further cited the example of his own father Amitabh Bachchan's film Pink remade in Tamil as he told DNA, "If somebody in the South sees a Hindi film, for example, my father made a movie called Pink and it was remade in Tamil in recent past. Does that mean that have a dearth of ideas in writing there? The makers felt, 'Hey, let's make this film in Tamil as well. It could have more resonance with the Tamil speaking audience if made in Tamil with a local actor, which was in this case, Ajith Sir did it."

The actor even spoke that the mammoth success of the recent South films, RRR and KGF Chapter 2 will not overpower Hindi cinema as he said, "The Indian film industry is flourishing, fantastic and makes over a thousand films a year. How do two films indicate a trend? It doesn't. As I said, it comes down to an exchange of ideas, creativity, and personnel. It's a tad bit unfair to keep painting either industry as 'oh they don't have any idea, so they are remaking'. It's a creative choice."