Bollywood lashes out at South producer Naga Vamsi over comments on Pushpa 2 BO collection

A war of words marred the smooth transition from 2024 to 2025 for Indian cinema as several Bollywood directors reacted strongly to Telugu producer Naga Vamsi’s recent comments about the Hindi film industry's limited focus.

During an appearance on the Galatta Plus Mega Pan India Producers’ Round Table show on Youtube, Vamsi, who has produced South hits like ‘Lucky Bhaskar’, stated that Bollywood remains confined to making films for specific Mumbai localities, unlike the South industry, which has seen a significant impact with movies like ‘Baahubali’ and ‘RRR’.

Incidentally, he had also highlighted in the same talks that Mumbai was abuzz with activity when Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ grossed over Rs 80 crore in a single day.

The episode, aired in segments between yesterday and today, has faced severe criticism from several Bollywood directors. 

Hansal Mehta, director of ‘Scam 1992,’ responded on X (formerly Twitter) by accusing Vamsi of borrowing ideas from his hit series for ‘Lucky Bhaskar.’

Since this person Mr Naga Vamsi was being so arrogant and now that I know who he is : His latest hit as a producer Lucky Bhaskar has borrowed liberally from the Scam series. Reason I brought this up is that I feel happy that stories travel and a film in another language suceeds… https://t.co/R4oC0kNHKc

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) December 31, 2024

Soon enough, filmmaker Sanjay Gupta criticized Vamsi for his disrespectful tone towards veteran producer Boney Kapoor, emphasizing the importance of respect in the industry with similar comments also coming from director Siddharth Anand, who defended Mumbai, highlighting its vibrancy and resilience on X (formerly Twitter).

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In the show, Boney Kapoor himself disagreed with Vamsi’s assessment, acknowledging the contributions of Telugu cinema but rejecting the notion that it has solely taught Bollywood new ways.

Notably, the Bollywood director’s comments come at a time when one of their counterparts, Anurag Kashyap, recently expressed frustration over the state of affairs in the Mumbai-based film industry.

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In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Kashyap lashed out at Bollywood for its reluctance to take risks while claiming that it contrasted with the South Indian film industry's support for filmmakers.