Barriers have gone down: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on north vs south cinema debate

The actor was speaking at an event in Delhi, while promoting her upcoming film ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’ directed by Mani Ratnam

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during a press conference for her upcoming film ‘Ponniyin Selvan: I’, in New Delhi

Amid the ongoing north vs south cinema debate, as the latter industry has been pumping out massive pan-India hits, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan recently expressed her views saying "we need to break away from the typical way of looking at film industry."

“I think we need to break away from perceiving typical way of looking at artists and cinema. It’s such a great time right now, where all these barriers have gone down. People know our cinema nationally and in fact, they are hankering and wanting to see cinema from every part,” Aishwarya said at an event in Delhi, while promoting her upcoming film Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1.

Aishwarya also shared how the films from the south are doing good across the country. “Everybody can view cinema for what it is, across India. So I think we need to break away from this conventional way of thinking and help our viewers, our audiences, and our readers also not slide into that typical way of viewing art. Art has always been there, found the audience, and has been appreciated; so, have the artists. But avenues were limited.”

She urged the audience to work together on the liberation. “It is so evident that people are embracing and lapping up cinema from across the country, which is a great time, very liberating for all of us. We collectively need to kind of give more power to this liberation together,” the actor continued.

Mani Ratnam with actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Sobhita Dhulipala and others during a press conference for their upcoming film ‘Ponniyin Selvan: I’, in New Delhi | Photo Credit: -

Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 is a cinematic adaptation of author Kalki Krishnamurthy’s Tamil novel of the same name which was released in the form of a series during the 1950s. It marks the third collaboration of Aishwarya with actor Vikram after their critically-acclaimed film ‘Raavan’ in 2010.

In the film, Aishwarya will be seen in dual roles. She will play queen Nandini, the princess of Pazhuvoor, who is on a mission to seek vengeance in the historical drama.

Apart from Aishwarya, the film also stars an ensemble cast of actors Vikram, Trisha Krishnan, Karthi and Jayam Ravi. The A.R Rahman musical is all set to hit the theatres on September 30, in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.