Kingdom Needs To Expand, Says Vijay Deverakonda: Brad Pitt Earns 100x More Because People Watch His Language

Vijay Deverakonda, in strong words, said at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 on Friday, that the Indian cinema should expand its ‘kingdom’. On the second day of the biggest entertainment event in Mumbai, the actor shared his viewpoint on Hollywood vs. Bollywood debate.

Vijay was one of the panellists on the second day of WAVES 2025. Talking about cinema as a soft power, the Arjun Reddy actor said, “As an actor, a lot of times I’ve been very angry. I don’t know how to say this, I hope this does not get me into trouble, but I feel we need to expand our kingdom. That all of us are conversing in English is a big soft power win for the West because they came in hundreds of years ago and made sure all of us were speaking and writing in their language. Now it’s too late to backtrack.”

Citing an example of Brad Pitt earning 100x more than Indian actors due to excessive demand for Hollywood films even in India, Vijay added, “Because some buggers did this 200-300 years ago for whatever purpose, now Hollywood has the biggest budgets and directors because all of us know and watch films in English. If I do a film and Brad Pitt does a film, he will get paid 100x more than I just because more people are watching his language. Which is not my fault, but the fault of some guys who went and spread that language.”

The actor concluded by saying, “I feel if our ancestors were more proactive and made the world speak in Hindi or Telugu, we would all be…I have a bit of a grouse. Cinema is one thing that keeps us close to our language.”

Vijay’s next film is titled Kingdom. Written and directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri, it is being produced by Naga Vamsi S and Sai Soujanya under Sithara Entertainments and Fortune 4 Cinemas Banners, respectively. The film is to be presented by Srikara Studios. Kingdom releases on May 30.

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