INDIAN CINEMAS: Time for makeover

Cinemas, a thing which gives us ample impetus to get indulged in everlasting discourse. Being the most talked about thing it clearly is the topic of mass, right from the oldies to teenagers everybody has got their fair share to talk about. Having said that cinemas bring a huge legacy of herself from the time it evolved with some of the greatest patrons in Kapoor clan, the Dutts, and some exceptional veterans in MANOJ KUMAR, and DEV ANAND to name a few. .
Since independence the nemesis of INDIAN society has varied from landlord peasant duel to the ill fated lower class people in our society. And crowd got some really critically acclaimed stuff in mother INDIA, at the same time Indians were yet extinguish the fury lit by BRITISHERS and at the right time came SAHEED in 1948, just after independence. The true depiction of the martyr was well appreciated and received by audience. As the films like PYAASA, DO BIGHA ZAMEEN dealt with the social injustice whereas SHREE 420, and MERA NAAM JOKER which turned out to be the most sought after films in the history of Bollywood threw light on the pros and cons of urban life and its different facets. MUGHAL-E-AZAM was another exceptional from the makers of earlier phase of INDIAN cinemas and was one of the nominees along with mother INDIA for the academy awards. Truly, the era till late 60s has been rightly lauded as GOLDEN era in Indian cinemas, as most of the critically acclaimed cinemas came to the fore which placed INDIAN cinemas in the spotlight. The cinemas then made caught audience in the right frame of mind. Being just liberated from the shackles of BRITISHERS there was so much of exasperation and angst written all over their face and that drove them out to cinema halls to soothe themselves in the best possible way.

The later phase of the Bollywood was ruled by the likes of RAJESH KHANNA the first superstar known to us, RAJ KUMAR and AMITABH BACHCHAN among others, they carried the baton of Bollywood safely and maintained its decorum from where their god fathers in the industry left, and did it with panache. One of the prominent reason of INDIAN audience connecting to AMITABH BACHCHAN was that he had the charm and the audacity to pull crowd towards himself. The persona of AB resembled the anger of a common man obsessed with all the social discrimination, being barred from their rights and injustice from law thus he ended up being named the ANGRY YOUNG MAN of INDIAN cinemas. And with the varieties, flavours and shades of grey he had in his acting undoubtedly fetched him the crown from the common mass. He didn’t disappoint either as he gave few all time blockbusters in DEEWAAR, SHOLAY, ZANZEER, and SILSILA. An array of meaningful, classy and ‘stand out from the crowd’ movies started pouring in and few of them left a long lasting imprint on the soul of the masses. Some of the movies which stood out exceptionally were AAKROSH, PAAR, HAZAAR CHAURASI KI MAA in the coming decade. Though 80s hailed angry young man but at the same time some very well made comedy movies made their way and some laughter busters were NAMAK HALAAL,CHASME BUDDOOR,ANGOOR, JAANE BHI DO YAARON, NAUKAR BIWI KA and CHAALBAAZ, although CHALTI KA NAAM GAADI and PADOSAN had already set the audience rolling but they gave comedy newer and better co-ordinates with extra masala.

Though they lived up to the expectations of pundits as well as masses. Yet Bollywood lacked a global appeal. What I felt is that our industry has a knack of making films which follow the traditional genre and onus has been put on stuffing the movie with as many melodies as one can, courtesy love stories, being the fulcrum about which the cinemas have thrust their true potential. For the initial part it proved to be a major bonus but with the change of time the audience changed and so did their taste, with the passage of time it turned out to be a thing of boredom.

In the next decade we had new bunch of entertainers ready for their flight and there came the likes of ANIL KAPOOR, Jackie Shroff to the fore, ideas poured in but what didn’t change was the way of presentation and some basics which preoccupied their thoughts. Amidst that a silver lining shone and films from fictional and tech genre started being made with MR.INDIA being the premiere. 90s was the era of love stories with earlier part of the decade being ruled by some epic romantic films in SAAJAN, SAUDAGAR, ASHIQUI to name a few. For the later part fewer love stories found very exceptional writers coupled with some very genuine composers, musicians and to top it all a well versed star cast. With these formidable combo rose movies like ANDAAZ APNA APNA, DDLJ, 1942 A LOVE STORY. Yes !! this was the time the industry reckoned in the name of KHANS. But to be very true all together they would have given just a handful of blockbusters but in rest of the cases the Indian audience were caught napping and the makers made money without even bothering about the quality.

Hollywood on the other hand kept modifying their basics and succeeded in dishing out what was expected out them. They worked not only on their storyline but enhanced their effects hugely. If they made a movie on super hero or a sci-fi thriller they despite shooting it in their respective studios and labs gave a feel of a space venture or a real thrill. Of course for all that they had huge sum of money to spend but at least someone dared to. Even a biographical movie was restricted to a true lifestyle and the message it wanted to convey, thus being short and crisp. The makers were always aware of the fact that a deliberate exaggeration would mean a turn off for the viewers. And that was the thing which connected them not only to their western audience but found able audience in the far east. The hip hop and pop became the essence of music listeners with RICKY MARTIN’s livin’ vi da loca, final countdown of European band and SHAKIRA, BRITNEY setting the people to swirl to their tracks while the soulful music of TITANIC easily made its way into the heart of music buffs. Clearly people were ready to greet more from the Europe and America.

21^st century came and with it came a revolution. Some world class movies in LAGAAN which turned out to be India’s dark horse at the Oscars in foreign category. Lot of impetus was given to the then prominent issue the tinsel town was dealing with. Yes that was gangsters and underworld. The movies advocating these issues released and some neatly crafted ones were well receiver and those which failed to impress were left alone to sink.

Indian society saw a revolution in thought process, technology, with media outgrowing its fangs everywhere. The life style begun to change and it’s not that the masses were copying it in haste. They did what comforted them and what they adapted to. Now the next generation was in no mood to spare the culprits and most of them if not all had their wisdom awakened by their own conscience by analysing the level of comfort they felt. The so called remaking of old classics failed miserably as seen in case of SHOLAY, CHASM-E-BUDOOR, ZANZEER. People now wanted a new recipe at the table with new attractive and trending taste. The trend of so called social networking, internet and easy connectivity to the outer world made us more versatile and out of sheer fashion this trend begun to bring the goods. A bad movie was coaxed by everyone, whereas quality movie got lauded everywhere. But there were a set of some very genuine and distinguished directors in SLB, ANURAG KASHYAP, ANURAG BASU, RAJ KUMAR HIRANI who thought to choose the path less taken and dished out some unprecedented narratives and became the face of Indian cinema on the world stage. All the social causes based movie in the history of cinema had successfully lured INDIAN audience and few adamant people needed same taste of food in trendy crockeries, and rightly they sought as the INDIAN society is yet to come out of the shadows of evils that prevail even today. That is when these set of directors made their presence felt at people’s disposal. While CHAK DE INDIA raised issue for the reincarnation of hockey, the national game, PAAN SINGH TOMAR, and GANGS OF WASSEYPUR enlightened people about reasons that drove a loyal patriotic sportsman towards genocide and modulus operandi of coal mafia in India since independence respectively. On the other hand few mortals in the pursuit of prefixing the label of Director before their names kept throwing the awful stuffs aimed at audience, few caught the public napping rest got that back the same way. Little did they realise that huge budget movies can also spell doom for them and the least budget film can also sail through leaving a huge mark behind. Yes !!! the mass was wide awake.

The benchmark set by the Hollywood had become too much in asking because Indian audience had tasted the blood. Every act of theirs were etched at the back of the public’s mind and the expectation level begun to peak. Now the movies’ length were calibrated with that of a hollywood cinema. A close scrutiny was done on every storyline and if a director chose to stuff more than a couple of songs, well lord would help them. Nudity and lovemaking was an area Hollywood directors have always been comfortable showcasing at the bigger screen. And a touch of skin show, a raunchy item number and few intimate scenes gradually cemented its place in the list of -must be featured- list while making a cinema. But even here the pseuds misunderstood the needs and stuffed the cinema unusually. And kept bringing the bad label of poor storyline and bad screenplay into the headline. The ratio deficit kept widening and younger generation found a better charm and attraction western cinemas. There was a huge task cut at the hands of desi makers.

One may ask why an Oscar has eluded us so far. The reasons vary from poor performance levels to the technique and editing to the effects and imagination, to the most obvious politics being played at the backdrop. One can’t avoid that fact that even a real life story or an inspirational storyline compels us to think about it again and again, also bask in the beauty of creativity they adhere to, such intense is their storytelling. The likes of SPEILBERG, CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, JAMES CAMERON have already proven their mettle by giving world cinema some of the most creative and beautifully made movie And Bollywood will still need some time before it will match their imagination. Having said that I would still underline my statement by saying that we’ve had some strong performance in a few movies which failed to fetch its due. But I wonder how their governing body would ever bear with the fact that Bollywood cinema conquered their fortress.

Maybe it’s time our much experienced folk of directors realize that it’s not the same worn out storyline, a stark skin show, some foul mouthed dialogues and lengthy song which is going to give them their share of success, or for that matter if they choose the most discoursed celebrity gang, it will definitely repay them back, but when it comes to the global recognition all they would fetch will be sheer disappointment. Because when it comes to collecting accolades it has always been critically successful movies along with some tint of trendy ingredients stuffed, who have had their performance recognised and get lauded.

Time that our makers copy their instincts instead of the movie altogether. Let’s get some satisfied viewer and global recognition. What say ???