Riteish Deshmukh recently hailed South Indian cinema for giving more importance to regional language films over Hindi or English. Speaking at an event organised by the Samajwadi Party, the actor expressed concern over Bollywood dominating Marathi cinema.
"In South Indian cinema, especially in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, priority is given to local languages and stories rooted in them. Only after that do Hindi and English content receive importance. The same pattern exists in Karnataka and Kerala as well. However, in Maharashtra, which is considered the birthplace of Indian cinema, Hindi films take the top position. As a result, local Marathi films have been pushed to second place," he said.
Elaborating on how Maharashtra was the birthplace for Indian cinema, he added, "The birth of the film industry happened here in Maharashtra, in Mumbai. A Marathi man, Dadasaheb Phalke, started this journey... When Hindi films began growing bigger, Marathi content started shrinking."
Further, Riteish also spoke about the economic factor determining the same. "What happens when films don't do well? Let me explain a bit of the economics of the Marathi film industry. Mostly, when Marathi films are made, they are budgeted at Rs 3, 5, 6, or 7 crore. While there isn't much difference in ticket prices between Marathi and Hindi cinema, the budget restrictions prevent the creation of films on the same scale as Hindi or South Indian films."
He then addressed the audience's mindset when it comes to picking a film to watch every weekend. "When a film has a smaller budget, you have only so much to work with. When you go to watch a film, you might have a choice: 'I have Rs 200; should I watch a Rs 7 crore film or a Rs 100 crore film?' The larger the scale, the more thrilling the experience, and the audience enjoys it more. When faced with this choice, it starts to shrink. Budgets shrink, collections don't happen, and it becomes very difficult," he explained.
On the film front, Riteish was last seen in Mastii 4. He has Dhamaal 4 and Raja Shivaji in various stages of production. He is set to portray Chatrapati Shivaji in the latter, which he is also directing.