In September, US President Donald Trump reiterated his plan to impose a 100 per cent tariff on all films made outside the US. Even as details about when the tariff will come into effect and how it will impact other film industries remain unclear, Akshay Oberoi — who grew up in the US before moving to India in 2008 to pursue acting — believes there may be a silver lining to it. “It will definitely take a toll, but it may also make us focus on satisfying our own audience instead of chasing global validation,” he says.

The actor, recently seen in Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, has two projects lined up in Yash’s Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-ups and Shah Rukh Khan’s King. Point out that the tariffs may affect the global audience for such big films, and Oberoi analyses, “In Hindi cinema, I think we started losing our core audience. Hindi films were trying too hard to be Hollywood. Characters started feeling like they’d landed from New York instead of being desi. Maybe now we’ll return to entertaining the common man. Trump’s policies are unpredictable, but I’m trying to find a silver lining. Maybe this will push us to create stronger films for our audience.”