Rahul Dev says south films still ‘follow the template of 70s and 80s’: Their films are performing well but…

Actor Rahul Dev was seen alongside Sara Ali Khan, Chitrangda Singh and Vikrant Massey in Gaslight, which premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on March 31. Rahul was asked in a recent interview about acting in more regional films compared to Bollywood. He said ‘creativity can be expressed in any way’ as he spoke about movies from the south Indian film industries. Also read: Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar are also outsiders, says Rahul Dev on nepotism

Rahul admitted that Bollywood has ‘underutilised’ him while talking about the kind of roles being offered to him. He further spoke about how movies from the south were ‘performing well’ despite following the same ‘template of 70s and 80s films’ and essentially ‘telling the same story’. He said in south Indian films the dialogues and actors are ‘larger than life’, and the action and fight sequences are ‘over the top’, unlike in real life.

“If you look down south, their films are performing well but they all follow the template of 70s and 80s films. The dialogues, actors are larger than life and there are some over the top action and fight sequences which doesn’t happen in real life. But the style of narration and telling the same story, the way you tell the story, the way you move and captivate the audience while telling the story, those are the things that matters. So it’s just the way the story is expressed and how people perceive it. I hope such roles come my way,” Rahul told News18.

He also spoke about his journey as an actor, and said, “The skill format of an actor today is a very natural format especially in the OTT. I am from an educated school and background so in a larger than life films, you have to leave your brain and wits back at the home. Two people are fighting. In real life, do you tear each other’s shirts or flaunt your physique to them? It happens in commercial format and it’s not bad because many people like watching that. Who are we to decide what is right or wrong? Creativity is only an expression. And it’s the sort of the expression that you can express in any way.”

Rahul, who has worked in films like Champion, Omkara, Torbaaz, and Raat Baaki Hai, among others, was recently seen in the Kannada film Kabzaa alongside Kiccha Sudeep. It also stars Upendra and Shriya Saran. The film was released last month.