Sunny Deol asks Bollywood filmmakers to “learn how to make cinema with love” from south producers

Bollywood superstar Sunny Deol, who will next be seen in “Jaat”, on Monday said producers up north should take lessons from their southern counterparts on how to make cinema with love.

Deol-starrer “Jaat” is produced by Hyderabad-based Mythri Movie Makers, best known for the superhit “Pushpa” franchise starring Allu Arjun.

Set to be released on April 10, “Jaat” is directed by Gopichand Malineni (“Veera Simha Reddy”) and also backed by People Media Factory.

Deol, who made his grand comeback to the movies with 2023’s “Gadar 2”, praised the producers of the upcoming movie at its trailer launch event on Monday.

“My producers are so good. I want producers of Bombay to learn (from them). You all call it Bollywood, but first refer to it as Hindi cinema, and learn how to make cinema with love (from south filmmakers). They focus and enjoy the subject, rope in the director, show trust in his vision, and leave no stone unturned in achieving that. The story is the hero (for them). I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of them,” the 67-year-old actor told reporters here.

“I told them (makers), ‘Let’s do another film’. Maybe I shall go and settle there (in the South)” he quipped.

Deol, popular for his action persona in ’90s films such as “Ghatak”, “Arjun”, “Tridev”, and “Vishwatma”, said Hindi filmmakers sometimes forget their roots and get influenced by the West.

“The south films retain all of those things and that’s how their films become pan-India. Every person across the country relates to them. I believe we should also follow this thing in Hindi (cinema), and get back to our roots. For instance, my films like ‘Ghatak’, ‘Damini’, and ‘Arjun’… We should make these kinds of films again,” he added.

When a reporter asked where Hindi cinema was lagging behind, the actor said it wasn’t the case.

“Earlier, the producer used to like a story when the director narrated it. Then they would commit themselves to making it. Later, the corporates came in and then it became very commercial. In all of this, people lost interest (in filmmaking). Everyone became a victim. The people who had hunger (for filmmaking) were left behind.”

The scenario won’t change suddenly for the filmmakers up north, he said, adding that his producers in Hyderabad gave all the freedom to the director.

“There is no misuse of directors. Yes, the money being spent is more but it is because they want to uplift the scenes. That patience is important.”

Would he like to play negative characters like his younger brother and “Animal” star Bobby Deol?

Deol said: “I won’t call it negative. I will just call it a character. If I get that kind of character, I would definitely love to do it. But the director and producers need to have the guts to do that with me… When I joined the industry, I had little choice.

“Even if I go on to do that kind of cinema people will say the work was good but they didn’t enjoy it. Image also takes over everything, that’s the problem with me. But I’m doing one-two films like that. If we stop measuring cinema by the box office yardstick, any good film will become a hit.”

The actor also said all three Deols — Sunny, Bobby and their father and cinema veteran Dharmendra — would love to co-star in a film again. The trio has worked on “Apne” and the “Yamla Pagla Deewana” franchise.

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“The story needs to be good so we can come together,” he added.

According to the makers, “Jaat” is a high-octane drama with larger-than-life action sequences. It will be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

Randeep Hooda, Vineet Kumar Singh, Saiyami Kher and Regina Cassandra also round out the cast of the film.