Aditi: I don’t get why non-Hindi films are
Called regional films
In a career spanning 16 years, actor Aditi Rao Hydari has worked in films in several languages — Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu. But for her, it has always been about being part of the Indian film industry. So naturally, the actor finds the current debate around Hindi vs south films very strange. “I don’t understand why non-Hindi films are called regional films to begin with. First of all, there are four languages in the south, we club them all as south films. We also have Bengali cinema and so on… They are all thriving film industries with some incredible content,” says the 35year-old, recently seen in Hey Sinamika. Hydari, who made her big screen debut with the Malayalam film Prajapathi (2006), continues, “I had even said this when I first started doing films. We’re the Indian film industry. I’m an Indian, I want to be part of Indian cinema, and speak different languages, be a part of the vision of different directors. My wishlist began with directors Mani Ratnam, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rituparno Ghosh. I wanted to be the heroine of these directors. They are all from different language cinema, but I never looked at it as such.”
She emphasises on Indian films having one identity. “We term those films as regional cinema, but it’s Indian cinema, as much as Hindi films are... I am happy that these lines are blurring today, and there is greater inclusivity,” Hydari says, adding that the audience doesn’t judge content based on languages or geographies now. “People are looking at actors of Indian, Italian or even Spanish origin for films, depending on the content,” she ends.