Director Atlee said suggested that he’s having talks with Hollywood studios after the blockbuster success of Jawan, starring Shah Rukh Khan.

Jawan’s director Atlee with Shah Rukh Khan. (Pic: PR handout)

Director Atlee, who delivered the biggest hit of his (and Shah Rukh Khan’s) career with Jawan, spoke about breaking the barriers between the north Indian and south Indian film industries, and possible directing a Hollywood film in the future. In an interview, Atlee let slip that he had a meeting with a Hollywood studio recently, and admitted that working there would be something that he’d like to do.

Asked about the blurring lines between cinema industries in India, Atlee said at the India Today Conclave, “Cinema doesn’t have any classification. This vision has come from Shah Rukh sir. Without this vision, he would have never called me. He felt it should be a national film, it should be a national collaboration of cultures. I’m thankful to the audience, because earlier, they used to say, ‘It’s south masala’. I don’t know what that is. What I used to do there, I’ve done here also. Audience knows what is good and bad.”

Atlee said that all classifications need to be eradicated, and that filmmakers should be described as only ‘Indian’. “In Hollywood, they don’t have that classification. Two days back, I had a discussion with a Hollywood studio, and they really respect us as national filmmakers. I told them I’d made some Tamil films, but they didn’t know the difference.” Asked if he had just given some ‘breaking news’ about a Hollywood project, he said, “We should. I don’t want to say I should make a Hollywood film, ‘we’ should make a Hollywood film. God willing, I will.” In a recent interview, Atlee had also revealed that he’d received calls from Hollywood technicians, who were impressed with the action in Jawan.

Reflecting on his first-ever meeting with Shah Rukh, which happened back in 2013, the filmmaker said that the star had no idea who he was then, but that he was introduced to Shah Rukh as ‘the south Indian Karan Johar’. Atlee said that he started his career by making romantic movies, which is why he was given that tag. Asked if it would be more appropriate to call Karan Johar ‘the north Indian Atlee’, the filmmaker waved away the suggestion, and said that Karan was in fact very encouraging about him making a move to Hindi movies. “I owe him,” he said.

Released on September 7, Jawan has grossed over Rs 1100 crore worldwide, of which over $14.6 million has come from the US. This is actually more than RRR’s lifetime collection of $14.2 million in the US, but under Pathaan’s $17 million lifetime haul. After the success of RRR in the West last year, SS Rajamouli also attracted the attention of Hollywood, with James Cameron publicly offering him his assistance in a move, if he ever wanted to make on.