'Bollywood Losing Its Soul': Prakash Raj Hails South Cinema for Strong Social Stories

At the Kerala Literature Festival, Prakash Raj criticized Hindi cinema for losing its roots and relying on pretense, praising Malayalam and Tamil films for strong social storytelling, while noting Bollywood’s nationalistic stories have weakened.

Amid the success of Sunny Deol's 'Border 2' at the box office, actor-filmmaker Prakash Raj has made a statement that has become a topic of discussion. At the ninth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) in Kozhikode, Prakash Raj shared his candid opinion on mainstream Hindi cinema. He said that while Malayalam and Tamil cinema are still known for content-driven and grounded stories, the Hindi film industry (Bollywood) is becoming disconnected from its roots, turning fake and money-driven.

Lack of Soul in Hindi Films: Prakash Raj

Speaking at the 'The Artist I Became' session on Saturday, January 24, Prakash Raj said that in the current era, everything in Hindi films looks beautiful, but they lack depth and soul. He compared it to Madame Tussauds Museum—where everything is shiny but not alive. According to him, South Indian cinema still has powerful stories to tell, especially the young directors in Malayalam and Tamil cinema who are making films on subjects like Dalit issues, which brings hope.

Prakash Raj Lists Reasons for Bollywood's Decline

The 60-year-old actor, who has worked in five languages—Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam—also listed the reasons for the decline of Hindi cinema. He said that after the rise of multiplex culture, Bollywood limited its films to just urban audiences. The trend of 'cute' and glamorous films increased, which were based on Page 3 culture and superficial glamour. In this shift, the industry lost its connection with audiences from rural areas like Rajasthan and Bihar.

Stories Related to National Spirit Have Weakened

Prakash Raj believes that along with this change, stories related to the spirit of nation-building also weakened, which were once a hallmark of post-independence Hindi films. To strengthen his point, he gave the example of the 1977 superhit film 'Amar Akbar Anthony,' in which three people of different religions donate blood together to save a life—a scene that symbolized shared values, social harmony, and collective aspirations. He concluded by saying that today's Hindi cinema is entangled in reels, pretense, and rapid self-promotion. In the race for money and appearance, it is losing its emotional connection with the audience.