Actor Siddharth, who has predominantly worked in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films took to Twitter on July 21 to react to the Twitter war between Kollywood and Tollywood fans. Sharing his thoughts about the controversy, Siddharth pointed out that streaming platform Netflix had recently launched an exclusive handle for south Indian releases. Commenting on the move, Siddharth noted that Netflix has clubbed all south Indian film industries under one handle as Netflix India South, instead of launching a separate handle for each film industry. He also said that it is important to give due recognition to each language and change the narrative that Hindi is considered to be better than south Indian languages.
“For geniuses fighting #Tollywood Vs #
On July 7, Netflix India launched an exclusive handle to post updates about south Indian films that are available for streaming on Netflix. Following the launch, the Over-the-top (OTT) platform also released a single titled ‘Namma Stories- The South Anthem’, featuring rapper Arivu, The Family Man fame actor Neeraj Madhav, Kannada rapper SIRI and rapper Sooraj Cherukat aka Hanumankin
For geniuses fighting #Tollywood Vs #Kollywood on twitter today, a small thought.
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) July 21, 2021
Netflix has clubbed all industries below the Vindhyas as @Netflix_INSouth
Let's first change that. Each language must be given its own place. This Hindi > South narrative must change. Change it.
The Tollywood versus Kollywood controversy erupted shortly after the release of Venkatesh Daggubati and Priyamani starrer Narappa, which is the remake of director Vetri Maaran’s hit 2019 Tamil film Asuran, starring actors Dhanush and Manju Warrier in the lead. Following the release of Narappa on Over-the-top (OTT) platform Amazon Prime Video on July 20, a section of netizens criticised the Telugu remake and said that the Tamil version is better since the Telugu remake has diluted the caste conflict in the original. Many also said that Dhanush had performed the role better. Some, however, argued that the Telugu remake was better.
With fans drawing comparisons between Narappa and Asuran, and between lead actors Venkatesh Daggubati and Dhanush respectively, the fight soon turned into a debate between Kollywood versus Tollywood. Several fans also went on to compare other popular Tollywood and Kollywood actors such as Pawan Kalyan and Vijay, who were neither part of Narappa nor Asuran.
It is to be noted that on the same day, fans also tweeted and fought over veteran actor Balakrishna’s remarks about musician AR Rahman. While discussing composer Ilaiyaaraja’s music in Balakrishna’s hit 1991 sci-fi film Aditya 369 in a TV9 interview , the actor passed remarks belittling AR Rahman’s work and the recognition he has received over the years. “I don’t know who Rahman is. I don’t care. Once in a decade, he gives a hit and gets an Oscar award,” Balakrishna stated. A section of Twitter users have been drawing parallels between award-winning composer AR Rahman and popular Tollywood actor Balakrishna’s achievements.
Siddharth will be next seen in Netflix’s nine-part anthology Navarasa.