Our industry needs this just like Hollywood: Rohit Shetty

Mumbai, Mar 13: Famous Bollywood director Rohit Shetty, who has directed many blockbuster movies like Golmaal series has said that the Bollywood needs the worldwide network just like Hollywood.

Talking about the correlation between budget and market, Rohit said: "I think we have access to skill, computer graphics, and other technologies. But we don't have the budget for them. We do not get the required budget because we don’t have the market. I see no reason to compare us to Hollywood.

"In Hollywood, they release a film in one language — English — and the whole of America watches it. But when we are releasing a film in Hindi in India, we are also competing with the regional film industry like Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali and other films that are also doing well at the box office. That is why we have competition within ourselves."

Shetty was taking part in an interactive session at the 20th edition of FICCI FRAMES, the global media, and entertainment conclave, here on Tuesday.

"There is no doubt that the government should help us in the matter. We should increase screens in small towns. My last film 'Simmba', which was a huge hit, witnessed a footfall of 2 crores. In a country with a population of 135 crores, this is nothing, we need more theatres.

"When we talk about theatres, the hall owners have their own issues of maintenance, staff salary, etc. But we have to come together with the help of the government to find a way out to have more screens," Shetty said.

On the piracy affecting the movie business, Shetty said: "People prefer to watch movies on their mobiles because, in an urban area like Mumbai, nobody wants to get stuck in the traffic for hours to watch a film. It is convenient for them to watch the pirated version of a film on their phones."