Kamal never stayed back in Bombay in spite of films like Sanam Teri Kasam and Saagar for the simple reason that he wasn't getting any good offers. Perhaps the final blow was Feroz Khan's decision to replace him with Vinod Khanna in the 'official' remake of Nayagan.

What was the reason for Bollywood limiting it's interest in both Rajini and Kamal? I think it's the notion that it has which believes that south Indian heroes wouldn't work beyond a point which did them in. That's why Hindi films used them sparingly like Rajini and his Hindi roles. It's because of this I consider them to be 'exotic'. And Kamal's 'failure' to crack the Hindi market is apparent from him trying to make a point with a Hindi version of his films like Hindustan, and remakes of his own films like Chachi 420 or multi-linguals like Mumbai Express.

It's true that Indian cinema is much more than just Bollywood…a lot of good and better cinema is happening elsewhere, especially Marathi, which is by far the most exciting as far as Indian cinema goes. But the lure and reach of Bollywood is unquestionable.

Also there's a different take to the whole Kamal-Manmohan Desai tale. Turns out that Manmohan Desai couldn't get over Kamal's simple demand of wishing to see the script before he committed! That film was Allah Rakha and was made with Jackie Shroff.