Ajith & Ryan Reynolds’s Assassin Act Gives Nawaz  & Siddharth Malhotra Sleepless Nights

It’s not just Hollywood breathing down Bollywood’s neck. Now post-Baahubali, Telugu and Tamil cinema is also a  huge threat to Bollywood, specially this week when two disparate Bollywood films feature the hero as  a hitman.

In A Gentleman, Siddharth Malhotra wields the gun across skyscrapers while in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz Nawazuddin Siddiqui is  the rustic contract  killer. But both Bollywood’s  bandookbaaz are likely to be  outdistanced by Hollywood and Tamil cinema

The Hitman’s Bodyguard features veteran Samuel L Jackson as a Dawood-like internationally wanted assassin with  the very popular Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds playing the sharpshooter assigned to protect Jackson from peril

Bollywood this week sees The Hitman’s Bodyguard as a huge threat at the  boxoffice.

A prominent actor from one of  Hollywood’s action films this week wonders, “Why would audiences pay 300-500 bucks to  watch Nawaz or Sid Malhotra in the action mode when they can get the original thrills  in a big swanky Hillywood film dubbed in Hindi?

As if the threat from Hollywood was not enough this week also has  Tamil superstar Ajith playing an international hitman  in Vivegam. The  film has a seriously non-regional look and is  pitched at  providing Indian audiences across the board big bangs for  big bucks.

So  where does that leave  Sidharth Malhotra and Nawazuddin’s gun-toting act? While the former is likely to get an urban audience Nawaz’s lungi-clad killer is sure to have a very limited appeal

Tamil cinematographer filmmaker Santosh Sivan who worked with Ajith in  his Hindi  film Asoka says the actor is aiming at  an international market . “It is  no  longer  about Tamil, Telugu  ,  Hindi or Bengali cinema. You have to match international standards and Ajith is  doing that.”