Kannada film star Kiccha Sudeep gave an epic reply to a reporter who asked him if his upcoming movie ‘Vikrant Rona’ was going to make as much money as Yash’s colossal blockbuster KGF: Chapter 2. KGF 2, which was released in theatres on April 14 this year, has crossed the big milestone of Rs 1200 crore and become the third highest-grossing Indian film.
At the trailer launch of ‘Vikrant Rona’ in Mumbai, Sudeep was asked if his movie was also a “Rs 1000 crore-club film”. The actor wittily responded, “I have seen a man who is driving one lakh rupee salary also very happy and I have seen someone (you) equally happy. If 1000 crore is what’s going to make a person happy I don’t know maybe I will do Rs 2000 (crores) then. But if success is what going to make me happy I think you asking me this question is already making me a very successful man.” The actor’s response drew loud cheers from the audience.
Directed by Anup Bhandari, ‘Vikrant Rona’ will be released in six languages including Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and English. Sudeep, known for starring in blockbusters like ‘Eega,’ ‘Veera Madakari,’ ‘Kempe Gowda,’ ‘Maanikya,’ ‘Pailwan,’ and ‘Dabangg 3,’ further said that the sudden rise in the popularity of South films is not surprising for him as they have always had a universal appeal.
“There is commerciality in every state. It’s just probably that you are not aware of it. You are getting aware of it now so welcome to our film industry too. We watch all the OTT platforms. Today if Covid had not come I don’t think you’d be so much aware of Korean series or films,” he said.
Sudeep continued, “We all had time to look into these lives and then we suddenly realised that a lot of people in the world are making very good films. Now, it doesn’t necessarily have to have a comparison of any sort. So when we say the Telugu industry is coming pan-India with its commercialities, we are not taking them as a comparison. We all tell our own stories. Here Kannada film industry is surviving very long enough to proudly say that we are also here and we tell stories. It’s just that theatrically we never used to have releases and it used to be only satellite and dubbed. Now, we are coming theatrically so people are getting aware of all the kinds of languages in India. It’s not just South India but I think every other language deserves to have a theatrical release.”
‘Vikrant Rona’ will be distributed by Salman Khan’s production company Salman Khan Films (SKF). Salman will also launch the Hindi trailer of ‘Vikrant Rona’ today at 5:02 PM.
Talking about his bonding with Salman, whom he worked with in Dabangg 3, Sudeep said, “We didn’t discuss anything about this movie during Dabangg shoot. I totally believe that my relationship with him has nothing to do with give-and-take policies. Dabangg was my gesture towards his film and this is his gesture towards my film. Salman Khan sir, the human I know, he is very okay to come and do a song or a cameo or anything of that sort. But SKF is very close to his heart so I don’t think he will associate with our film until and unless he is quite confident about the content. It’s much later that he saw the clippings and came up with the idea if there was anything he could do. He came in as a presenter and today he is taking a lot of initiatives. He wanted to be here today but because of his protocol issues, he is not. That is a very huge elephant strength we have got on the first title coming from SKF. He’s always been welcoming to me.”
