Aishwarya Rai Bachchan weighs in on north vs south debate: ‘Conventional way of thinking’

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who made her debut in the Indian cinema with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil drama Iruvar, believes that the current time is the best for the Indian film industry as the content of various languages is now ‘accessible’ to people through various platforms and they know “our cinema nationally.’ Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Aishwarya weighed in on the ongoing North vs South debate.

She is of the view that it is an ‘amazing time’ to break away from the “typical way of looking at artists and cinema.” Addressing the media, the actor opined, “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.”

Aishwarya believes people now need to think 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.”

The actor, who is currently promoting Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 1, continued, “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.”