Aishwarya Rai Bachchan On North vs South Cinema Debate: "Barriers Have Gone Down"

"People know our cinema nationally and in fact, they are hankering and wanting to see the cinema from every part," said Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is on a promotional spree for her upcoming movie Ponniyin Selvan: I, spoke about the north vs south cinema debate during a promotional event in Delhi. The actress said that we need to break away from the conventional way of looking at the film industry. She added that it's a great time when people want to see the cinema from across the country. "I think we need to break away from perceiving typical way of looking at artists and cinema. It's such a great time right now, where all these barriers have gone down. People know our cinema nationally and in fact, they are hankering and wanting to see the cinema from every part," news agency ANI quoted Aishwarya saying.

The actress added, "Everybody can view cinema for what it is, across India. So, I think we need to break away from this conventional way of thinking and help our viewers, our audiences and our readers also not slide into that typical way of viewing art. Art has always been there, found the audience, and has been appreciated; so have the artists. But avenues were limited. It is so evident that people are embracing and lapping up cinema from across the country, which is a great time, very liberating for all of us. We collectively need to kind of give more power to this liberation together."

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be returning to the big screen with her upcoming movie Ponniyin Selvan: I. Helmed by Mani Ratnam, Aishwarya will play a dual role in the magnum opus - Nandini, a Pazhuvoor queen and wife of Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar and Aditha Karikalan's love interest.