Bhojpuri film industry has become Rs 2000 cr business, says Manoj Tiwari

Ranchi: The Bhopuri film industry has become a Rs 2000 crore business, but it could be difficult for it to catch up with the South, Bhojpuri star Manoj Tiwari said today.

"The Bhojpuri film industry has completed 50 years and is a Rs 2000 crore business now with over 60 films being released every year," Tiwari told PTI here. "Its future is bright. But it can be difficult for the Bhojpuri film industry to catch up with the south," he said. "Leave aside costly Tamil and Telugu film projects. Even Odiya and Bengali films have a budget of about Rs 1.5 crore, while Bhojpuri films are made with less than Rs 70 lakh," he said. "Less budget means, less quality and less turnout," he said. He said the Rs 40 crore business done by `Sasura Bada Paise Wala` in 2003 gave the Bhojpuri film industry hope. "Talented script writers and directors can bring film goers to theatres. Now only one crore of 20 crore Bhojpuri-speaking people watch our movies. Talented hands can add four crore more people, for which there should be good payment to script writers and directors," the singer-actor said. Tiwari, who is here for the February 24 Celebrity Cricket League tie between his Bhojpuri Dabang and Reitesh Deshmukh-led Veer Maratha, seemed disappointed at the huge gap of super hits between `Nadiya ke Paar` and `Sasura Bada`. "What can an actor do, if the director is poor?" he asked. PTI