Raveena Tandon says Bollywood wants ‘to become Hollywood’

Raveena Tandon stated that Bollywood is focused on trying “to become Hollywood” and that is a reason why it is losing touch.

The actress gave her opinion about the difference between Bollywood and South Indian films.

Speaking about why she feels Bollywood is losing touch with the masses, Raveena says Bollywood is constantly trying to copy Hollywood whereas South Indian films are rooted in Indian culture.

Raveena explained that this is what she has seen in South Indian films.

Citing the KGF franchise, she stated that the films would not work if they did not have an emotional element.

Raveena plays Indian Prime Minister Ramika Sen in KGF: Chapter 2.

She said about Bollywood: “Somewhere in the 90s, till the time melodious music and stories came in, there was a lot of aping the West.

“They all wanted to become Hollywood, with choppers and Westernising… Somewhere, there was a loss of Indian culture in our movies.

“And the minute I used to go shooting down south, they had such a strong ethos about their culture and their customs and their rituals.

“The movies would revolve around those kind of stories. Immediately, the masses would identify and they would be super-duper hits.”

Stating that Bollywood scripts were “lacking”, Raveena Tandon continued:

“That is what I felt was lacking in the scripts that we were making back in Mumbai, and I used to feel that we are going away from what the masses are identifying with.

“Even though KGF 1 and 2 may be portrayed as an action movie, until and unless you don’t have emotions that are holding people’s hearts, I don’t think any movie can be a success.

“When your emotions are surface-level, it doesn’t work.”

Talking about her character in KGF: Chapter 2, Raveena said:

“I think this is also credit for every character, is not solely ours as well.

“It is also the director’s vision and my dad always taught me that the director is the captain of the ship and you have to give him that respect.

“That is how I let myself be moulded according to what the director’s vision is.

“In fact, I went there and I did my own, my level, my realistic kind of acting like what you’ve seen me in Aranyak, not OTT, but then I would look at Prashant and he would say ma’am a little higher.

“I’d say, ‘Prashant, it will look too much’. He’d say, ‘trust me’ and I’ll be like ‘okay I trust you’ and then I went full throttle.

“I would turn and look at him and he would be impressed. I was like okay now this shot is saved.”

Raveena Tandon was last seen in the Netflix series Aranyak and is coming off the box office success of KGF: Chapter 2.