‘'Huge sense of vindication with Pathaan doing so well!': Siddharth Anand on Bollywood vs South debate

Director Siddharth Anand has delivered two monstrous hits back to back with War and now Pathaan, which has also become the all-time highest grossing Hindi film worldwide in the history of cinema. He feels a ‘huge sense of vindication’ with Pathaan proving that people want to come to theatres to see films that give audiences a larger than life experience! With Pathaan’s incredible box office feat, Siddharth is currently the undisputed number one director of the Hindi film industry. In fact, Siddharth and the visionary S.S. Rajamouli are also the only two directors in the coveted 500 crore nett collection club in Hindi format. Siddharth has also blunted the narrative that Hindi films are being check-mated by South films at the box office. Siddharth says, “There is huge sense of vindication with Pathaan doing well at the box office. What I believe why films weren’t doing well in the middle because those films were made pre-pandemic. So, there was a period where cinemas were shut and we couldn’t release our films, people weren’t coming back – so there was a prolonged break for our films.” He adds, “And those films were made pre-pandemic, there is a mindset that has changed post pandemic. There is a viewing pattern that has changed. And those films were unfortunately victims of that change. Even when I was making War, there was a sense of parallel cinema is the new commercial cinema in 2018-2019. You had small independent films and big ideas doing much better than tentpole films till War happened. That time also I felt that – Oh my God, has the viewing pattern changed but War again proved if you make a good cinematic experience film for our masses people will come to theatres.” Siddharth was entrusted by Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films, to start two of the biggest IP’s in Indian cinema today - War and Pathaan and he delivered both times to become the pioneer of the action genre. Sid, through his mastery over action entertainers, has delivered the biggest hits of superstars Shah Rukh Khan & Hrithik Roshan in these high octane spy films. Sid says, “I’d like to believe is that I don’t differentiate between the class and the mass audience. I try and cater to both subconsciously – it’s not an effort. So, I try and get all the quadrants to enjoy my films. And if you do that – the results are there in Pathaan.” Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram.