Prabhas’s film Kalki 2898 AD will open the dreaded North VS South debate yet again. Looking at the current trends it will open huge and better than many Hindi Films or probably the best Hindi opener as well. Marketing director of the film, Varun Gupta, recently talked about this growing North-South debate and the blend of the two as Pan Indian films rise above all.

In an exclusive conversation with Koimoi, Varun said, “I’m one of those few people who see how the Hindi film industry works and how the South film industry works. Yeah. The proverb that goes very strongly is simple living and high thinking, which fits perfectly for the South industry. And I am saying, let’s not generalize; there are great people here. So, I’m not saying everybody in the South is great, or everybody in the North is not simply living and high thinking. There is a mix of both.”

Talking about how audiences in the North and South behave towards a film, Varun pointed out why South Indian films in general are performing better than the Hindi films and the viewing pattern of the audiences in North as well as South.

“People take things a bit less seriously in the North when it comes to stardom. In the South, the stardom is crazy,” said Varun during this phenomenal discussion about the reception of North Indian and South Indian films in the respective territories and vice-versa.

However, Varun elaborates the viewership patterns in both of these territories. Pointing out Kalki 2898 AD’s Marketing Director Varun Gupta said, “One of the major reasons I’ll tell you is also the audience. The audiences in the South consider watching films to be a family ritual every weekend. In the North, it is not like that. So, it is not just the North actors, directors, and producers, but even the audiences for them; watching a film is one of the options for doing things on a weekend. It’s not a ritual. And again, I’m not generalizing and saying everyone, but I’m saying the majority.”

Elaborating his point he further said, “So, gradually what is happening is because of this is, you don’t need to really push the film in the South. I mean, even today, awareness of the South film in the South is enough. But even in North, you need to excite the audiences for a South film also. And it has nothing to do with the industry actors and producers; it has to do with the audience. They (South Indians) literally take their stars like gods and demigods. Over here, we have our likes and our favorites. But at the same time, it is not someone for whom we will go out of the way to go and watch the film.”

Talking about how Kalki 2898 AD will perform on its opening day in the North and the South, Varun tried explaining the difference and said, “I’ll give you a classic example; Kalki is releasing on a Thursday. Now, I mean, people don’t care. They take kids to offices and watch the film on a Thursday. They don’t want to wait for the Saturday or the Sunday. But in Hindi, people will be okay; what’s the hurry? If not on Thursday, we’ll watch it on Friday, we’ll watch it on Saturday, we’ll watch it on Sunday. So, I’m not saying good or bad. I’m just saying the consumer behavioral pattern is very different. That’s why you will see a lot of films that are showing great numbers in the South but not in the North.”

Varun Gupta further explained that even big North Indian films like Gadar, Jawan, Pathaan, and others have performed well in South Indian territories. Hopefully, Kalki 2898 AD will make some new trends and records that surprise film enthusiasts.

For more such discussions, stay tuned to Koimoi.