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Sunny Deol discussed the North vs South cinema debate at News18’s Rising Bharat Summit 2025, noting Hindi films weren't connecting with audiences, boosting South Indian films' popularity. Sunny Deol, awaiting the release of his upcoming film Jaat, reflected on the controversial North vs South debate of 2022. The actor was a guest speaker at a session held during News18’s Rising Bharat Summit 2025 on April 8 , celebrating the power of India’s youth as the driving force in the journey toward a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Sunny Deol reflected on what propelled the North-South debate. He told us, “Season se cheezein badalti hain — jab ek tarah ka cinema zyada chalne lagta hai, to log waise hi filmein banana shuru kar dete hain, lekin ek waqt ke baad audience bhi usse bore ho jaati hai (Things change with the seasons — when a certain kind of cinema starts doing well, people begin making more films like that. But after a while, even the audience gets bored of it).
" “Hindi cinema mein jo hum bana rahe the, woh asal mein hamare samaaj aur hamare zyadaatar viewers (jo 99% hain) se jud hi nahi pa raha tha. Isiliye South ki filmon ko dub karke dikhaya gaya, kyunki wahan ki kahaniyaan logon ki pyaas bujha rahi thi, unhe ek tasalli de rahi thi. Mujhe nahi lagta ki ismein kuch aur wajah thi (The kind of films we were making in Hindi cinema weren’t really connecting with our society or with the majority of our viewers (who make up 99%).
That’s why South Indian films were dubbed and shown — because their stories were satisfying the audience’s thirst, giving them a sense of comfort. I don’t think there was any other reason behind it)," he further added. The North vs South clash in 2022 gained momentum after significant box office success of films in Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil languages.
It was fuelled by Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep and Bollywood star Ajay Devgn’s X (formerly Twitter) war, with the former stating that Hindi is no longer the national language. Devgn responded angrily to Sudeep’s post on X with a sharply worded message in Hindi. Their social media spat continued, igniting the North-South debate further.
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