Rakesh Roshan is a Hindi film producer, director, screenwriter, and actor from India. He is the son of Indian music director Roshan and Ira Roshan, an Indian Bengali singer. He appeared in 84 films from the 1970s and 1980s until 1989.

Rakesh Roshan, the filmmaker, turned 73 yesterday. On this joyous occasion, he revealed why Bollywood filmmakers are unable to produce commercial hits and who can create pan-India films.

Talking to Bollywood Hungama, Karan Arjun director said, “In the South, they are still sticking to rooted stories and they are presenting them in a very upgraded way, keeping in mind the commercial sensibilities. If you see films like RRR and Baahubali, they have beaten-to-death stories. Baahubali is very similar to Karan Arjun. But it was presented on a bigger scale. Even the songs were larger-than-life and hence people were enticed. Aur hamare Bollywood filmmakers ko pata nahin kya ho gaya hai. They have drifted away from the roots of Indianness. They try to make so-called ‘modern cinema’ but it works with only 1% of the population. It does not cater to B and C centres. So if you pick subjects that cater to the C, B and A centres and present them in a very novel way, it’ll appeal to everyone”.

The filmmaker also discussed the social media boycott of Bollywood calls and whether the trend has affected the film’s business. Rakesh Roshan said, “I don’t think that because of boycott calls, people don’t go to see films. If a film is good, everybody throngs the cinema halls to check it out. Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan had been released together. The former was ‘boycotted’ while the latter was not. Yet, the business of both films was very low as the audience must have not liked the content”.

Furthermore, he also talked about the type of songs used are no longer sufficient to make someone a superstar as they once were. He stated that people remember a hero based on the music of a film, and that we do not understand the dynamics of commercial cinema today. “Aap puraane gaano se hero ko yaad rakhte hai,” she says (You remember actors because of old songs). When you hear old classics, you remember the heroes who appeared in those songs. Nowadays, since there are no songs, toh hero yaad nahi aate hai (no one remembers the hero). As a result, becoming a superstar is very difficult at present,” he explained.

Rakesh Roshan is currently working on the highly anticipated Krrish 4 starring Hrithik Roshan.