Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the north vs south debate: All barriers have gone down

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has weighed in on the north vs south debate. The actress is promoting her upcoming film, Mani Ratnam’s ‘Poonniyin Selvan’ in various cities. On Monday, Aishwarya along with other cast members of the film spoke to the Delhi press.

Aishwarya said she believed the present time was the best time for the Indian film industry as the content of various languages is now ‘accessible’ to top people through various platforms and they know “our cinema nationally”.

The actress feels that it is an ‘amazing time’ to break away from the “typical way of looking at artists and cinema.”
“I think it’s a great time right now, where all these barriers (of North and South) have gone down. People know our cinema nationally. In fact, they are wanting to see the cinema from every part.” The actress was speaking in reference to a question asked to her co-star Karthi, who is a well-known face in Tamil cinema and making his debut in Bollywood with PS-1.

Aishwarya stated that the audience needed to see actors unconventionally, beyond the boundaries of language or region. She added, “Everybody can view cinema for what it is, across India. So I think we need to kind of break away from this conventional way of thinking and help our viewers, our audiences, and our readers also to not slide into that typical way of viewing.”

“Art has always been there, found the audience, and has been appreciated; so, have the artists. But avenues were limited. Today is a great time when it has become accessible to everybody. And proof of the pudding is in the eating, right? It is so evident that people are embracing and lapping up cinema from across the country,” the actress further added.

Directed by Mani Ratnam, ‘Ponniyin Selvan-1’ is a period drama which is set in the Chola Kingdom in the 9th century. The film is a multi-starrer and features Chiyaan Vikram, Trisha Krishnan, Jayam Ravi, Sobhita Dhuliapala, Karthi and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead. The film is releasing in theatres on September 30.(WION)