Stree 2 producer Dinesh Vijan couldn’t help but respond to Telugu producer Naga Vamsi, who recently claimed that South movies showed Bollywood how to make big tentpole projects successful at the box office. Vijan addressed his remark at the trailer launch of his upcoming production, Sky Force.
When asked to comment on Vamsi’s contentious remark, Vijan said, “Since the pandemic, there are five Hindi films which have crossed ₹500 crore. Maybe we don’t speak a lot about ourselves, but the fact is we have had five huge films. And just Maddock films aren’t enough to run the industry. I think there might be 1-2 people here, 1-2 people there, but whenever I’ve gone to the South, they’ve been very encouraging. So I think if we start looking at it like it’s the Indian film industry, maybe 500 + 800 equals ₹1,300 crore. So why don’t we aim for that?” Akshay Kumar echoed this sentiment, urging a collective celebration of Indian films’ success across languages and regions.
The way Salman Khan has supported #AkshayKumar in his bad phase ❤️#SkyForce Trailer
Wishes Akki on Insta for this movie pic.twitter.com/fYynypNpDV
— AP (@AksP009) January 5, 2025
Vijan was referring to Sukumar’s Telugu action thriller Pushpa 2: The Rule, which has become the first Hindi film (dubbed version) to cross ₹800 crore at the Indian box office. The five Hindi films which have crossed ₹500 crore since the pandemic include Siddharth Anand’s spy thriller Pathaan, Anil Sharma’s action drama Gadar 2, Atlee’s action thriller Jawan, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s family crime drama Animal, all of which released in 2023, along with Amar Kaushik’s horror comedy Stree 2, which released last year. Produced by Vijan’s Maddock Films, Stree 2 became the first Hindi film to earn over ₹600 crore in India.
Recently, Vamsi, in a roundtable conversation, said that Bollywood focuses on making films for Mumbai’s posh areas like Bandra and Juhu, directing his comments at veteran producer Boney Kapoor, who was also part of the interview. During the roundtable, Vamsi also said that “Mumbai didn’t sleep” after Pushpa 2 earned over ₹80 crore at the box office in a single day.
See Also: Naga Vamsi Breaks Silence Amid Backlash Over ‘Disrespecting’ Boney Kapoor: ‘Don’t Need To Teach Us How…’