Irrfan Khan wants more Baahubalis to compete with Hollywood!

In the past, actor Irrfan Khan had told that if Indian cinema doesn't pull up its socks, then Hollywood cinema will swallow them. A year later, Baahubali 2 has released and has created a history of sorts not only in terms of box office but also with the VFX, content and the splendor.

When we caught up with Irrfan Khan, who is presently promoting his forthcoming movie Hindi Medium, we questioned him if he thinks that Indian cinema is now taking the right steps and is headed in the right direction. He told, "Yeah for sure. Indian cinema, especially South is making this franchise. But we have seen much bigger franchises in Hollywood. It is praiseworthy that an Indian director is trying to make a product which is at par with Hollywood. It is a great beginning and a vision. But cinema will survive on personal and local stories. Where are those stories? Just one Baahubali cannot bring in the audience."

He further tells, "There is a lot of audience. If you see the business of cinema, it is going down. The percentage of people coming to the theatres have decreased. Hollywood will keep growing. You won't have many Baahubalis. We need more. We need Hindi cinemas to come up with stories that the local guy can relate to. We have lost the interest in telling stories. We are not concerned about telling stories. We are only concerned about the star status. Stories are just a medium. We have lost the art and drive of storytelling. Unless and until a director comes whose primary drive is to tell stories, we won't be able to revive the strength."

Probe him if mediums like Netflix pose a threat to Indian cinema and he emphasizes, "Yeah. Netflix will take away all the audience from the theatres and people will prefer watching the films on their gadgets. And this is going to happen very soon. Hollywood is growing at double the speed. And people here (in Indian cinema) are not even trying to cope up with Hollywood's pace. They are being complacent."