Bollywood is badly stereotyped: Adoor Gopalakrishnan

The national award-winning filmmaker said that even in south, the films have become commercially-driven

National Award-winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan feels Bollywood is different from Hindi cinema as the former follows a stereotypical pattern of stories.

The director says there are people making attempts to come up with content-driven Hindi films as compared what is happening in mainstream.

"I wouldn't call the cinema made in Mumbai as Bollywood. That's a different kind of cinema. In Hindi cinema, there are people making better films. There are attempts being made," Adoor told Press Trust of India.

"But Bollywood cinema is a different world. It is badly stereotyped. It is like a mould where everything fits in."

The 75-year-old director's first film "Swayamvaram" in 1972 is credited to have started the 'new wave' cinema movement in Kerala.

Even in south, the films have become commercially-driven, feels Adoor.

"The audience is going towards films which have violence. In Malayalam cinema, it has become a commercial element with a lot of bloodshed, killing and rowdyism. That works. There is an audience for that."

The director says when he saw some of the films with high violent content, he thought they wouldn't work with the audience, but he was proved wrong.

"In the past, women would not turn up to see those films, now it has changed. I think it started with films like 'Paruthiveeran' and others. Those films were so terribly violent that I thought they won't work with the audience.

"But they did so well I thought there is something wrong with the audience. A good society should never celebrate films like these."

The filmmaker has returned to the big screen after a gap of eight years with romantic-drama "Pinneyum", which marks his 12th feature film.

The movie, released this Friday, brings the popular pairing of Malayalam cinema, Dileep and Kavya Madhavan.

"It is a simple story. It is romantic with love and family as a backdrop but it is not the typical running-around-the-trees romance... I knew I had an audience here so, I wanted the film to have a wider release outside Kerala.

Adoor says taking a long gap was not a conscious decision but he was waiting for a story worth telling.

"It was not a conscious decision to take such a long gap. But I needed an idea, which is novel and something worth telling. It should be exciting enough for me to go through the whole process of filmmaking. 'Pinneyum' was that."

The filmmaker also feels today cinema has dumbed down romance and has been reduced to something which is borderline vulgar.

"These days for romantic scenes, you need 40-50 extras, both men and women. Men should look rowdy, women should look like very loose characters. This is romance.

"They either sing with the hero or heroine, or dance with them. That has become the norm. When you make a film and show just simplicity, they (audience) say 'We don't understand'. But they understand this ludicrous thing.