Mumbai | Indian cinema is being watched by everyone, including Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg, actor Kareena Kapoor Khan said on Friday as she recalled the time when the Oscar-winning filmmaker praised her 2009 movie “3 Idiots”.
At the inaugural World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) here, the actor recounted the story of how she ran into Spielberg at an overseas restaurant soon after the release of "3 Idiots", directed by Rajkumar Hirani and co-starring Aamir Khan.
"Even Steven Spielberg is watching our Hindi movies today... I was traveling somewhere and at a restaurant, Steve Spielberg was also there. This was many moons ago, '3 Idiots' had just been released. And he came up to me and asked, 'Are you the same girl who is in that famous Indian film where three students study together?' I said yes, 'I am the same girl.' "He told me that he loved the film. I don't have to act in an English film for him to see me. He watched '3 Idiots', so that is our moment in Indian cinema,” Kareena said.
The actor was speaking at the session "Cinema: The Soft Power" where she was joined by Telugu star Vijay Deverakond. The session was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar.
Kareena said she is happy with her work in Hindi cinema and has no intention of trying her hand at movies in the West.
"Films are a passion to me, films run into my blood, I was born into this (film) family. So, never say never, but chasing something is not part of my personality. So, if it has to happen, maybe a Hindi-English film will happen," the “Jaane Jaan” star said.
Kareena also spoke about the "insane" impact of Indian films in foreign nations.
"In 2023, I was in a taxi in London, the driver was a local and he started singing my grandfather's song to me because he had watched all of Raj Kapoor's movies.
"He sang the song 'Mera Joota Hai Japani' in Hindi. For me, that was really a great moment of pride... I felt the impact. He made me realise the kind of love that we, as a nation, our films, are getting," she added.
What has changed today for good is that people used to enjoy dubbed Hindi films earlier but now they watch them in their native language, Kareena said.
Johar said he is honoured to have legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese as an executive producer on his upcoming home production film “Homebound”.
“It was a huge honour for us to have Martin Scorsese be an executive producer on our film, ‘Homebound', the fact that he had made a contribution to a Hindi language film was a huge honour to hear his inputs,” he said.
“Homebound”, which is set to be showcased at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival under the Un Certain Regard segment, features Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor.
Devarakonda, who made his Bollywood debut with Johar's production "Liger", batted for a north-south collaboration to take Indian cinema ahead. The actor has emerged as a popular face in north due to his many Telugu hits including "Arjun Reddy", "Dear Comrade" and "Geetha Govindam".
"Now, it is about how does the world know more about us and be sensitive to our culture? How do they love our food and songs? How we did this was by increasing the distribution. You (Karan) helped in the distribution of 'Baahubali' in the north and that opened doors.
"How do we set up something that increases the distribution of Indian cinema to the West so that they know more and more about us? Growing up, I knew more about the USA, I could tell you 10 cities from the US. I can't tell you one city other than Dhaka from Bangladesh. Why do I know so much about the US even though none of my family lives there is all because of cinema," he said.
The actor said people around the world know more about the US because of their cinema and for that to happen in India, it was important to increase the penetration of cinema.
"It's the biggest advertisement for a country, its culture and people. you attract them to your culture, customs and country through cinema," he said.
Devarakonda said the conversation around south cinema doing well in the north is not productive. "If we're to take on the giants of world, then we need to unite, collaborate. Like, Shah Rukh's last biggest hit was Rs. 800 to 1000 crore, Allu (Arjun) aana's film did Rs. 1000 crore. Imagine if they collaborate...To get more eyeballs, the only way is through collaboration.
