Winds Of Change Madhumita Gupta Madhumita Gupta is from Alwar in Rajasthan, India. She has been an English teacher in Dhulesia Public School (Rajkot, Gujarat), Gyan Vihar Senior Sec. School (Jaipur, Rajasthan), Arts College Alwar (as lecturer), Alwar Public School (Alwar, Rajasthan). she and her husband are presently running Aditya English Institute in Alwar. She has been an All India Radio announcer. She has been writing for Hindustan Times, Times of India and Filmfare. She currently writes for Femina.

Veer Zaara is an unqualified success, an equally pertinent Swades isn’t, a “Murder’ works but not all the thriller that followed in its wake. Page 3 has hit the bull's eye as a telling glimpse of the sleaze behind the glitter and pasted smiles of Page 3 regulars, while Kisna has been condemned as a poor cousin to Lagaan-the great showman-Ghai failed to recreate his magic.

The dictates of the B.O. in India have changed and how! What else can explain the thumping success of movies as diverse as Main Hoon Naa - a tribute to the Golden 70’s of Hindi Movies; Hungama - a side-splitting clean comedy; Munnabhai MBBS (ref. For review ‘A new kind of a don’ at www.indiacurrents.com) again an out and out comedy; new-age horror Bhoot; the down-to earth Jhankaar Beats; the reflective Mr. and Mrs. Iyer and Jogger’s Park-some of the more successful movies in recent times. If you’re looking for some common thread here, you’re going to fail miserably!

But you’ll notice instead that none of these films fall under any special category, it’s a mixed pot and search as one might, one wouldn’t find any magic-formula here for sure-shot success. The themes, stars, directors -everything varies and that is the ultimate assertion of the astute new age viewer, who is the demanding boss of the box. He doesn’t care about stars, directors, production houses or genres as such, as these widely varying themes of successful movies prove, but the ultimate product better be good!

It has been a long journey for movies and movie-goers, with as many ups and downs as any intense relationship has. Many genres, many theories were formed and the ‘ultimate’ formula for successful film hotly debated. Love story; Comedy; Action; Family Drama; Suspense. Historicals. Patriotic. Whenever a film was made, it was slotted into one of these familiar genres. After all, there were all kinds to cater to! If it was Sunny with his sledge- hammer fisticuffs, it will do well in the Northern belt; a sensitive, modern saga will have more takers in the metros; well made touching love-stories and lavish extravaganzas never went out of fashion and nor did a good laugh, and so on.

In every other field India boasts of ‘unity in diversity’. Is there no one guiding factor then, to our liking in movies? Indians, one of the most movie-mad people; India, where movies are said to set trends, guide not only fashions but lives! Can they be so far removed from the common man, so as not to reflect his collective psyche? Impossible!

Delve a little deep and Lo! We find- One tenuous thread which runs determinedly, through the entire gamut of the cinegraph, the genres notwithstanding. The movies which faithfully reflect the contemporary, collective psyche of India. They may or may not necessarily fall into any of the above-mentioned categories but are echoes of the common man’s most over riding feelings and thoughts. Reel has always faithfully followed the ‘real’.

Independence Days

Let us go back to the time when Freedom was still fresh and so was zeal-the will, the wish to change the world. And hence we had strife, struggle in all its glory-In ‘Mother India’ Nargis went through hell, with a song on her lips jeevan hai agar zahar to peena hi parega (even if life is like poison, there’s no escaping it, and it has to be drunk). She represented the struggle in front of the common man – the long road ahead, that and the unflinching deliverance of duty, which culminates in the ultimate sacrifice of killing her own son for the greater good.

And talking of her, it will be blasphemous to forget Raj Kapoor! The greatest showman that ever was, the original blue eyed boy, who gave us the wide-eyed innocence, dimming over with the pain of discovery the evil in the world and the ultimate victory of good over evil. Remember ‘Aag’,‘Boot- polish’, ‘Awara’, ‘Jagte Raho’? Or for that matter Dilip Kumar’s ‘Aadmi’, ‘Aan’ or ‘Andaz’? If Raj perfected the golden hearted tramp, sophisticated Dilip was the king of tragedy. But both the ways led to social reform. All of these had a definite theme of moral upliftment and the spirit of saathi haath barana (share and share alike) combined with ham honge kaamyab( We shall overcome)!

Along with giving us the ideals to follow, there could be seen a need to connect with our past, a quest to rediscover our roots - hence a spate of historicals like Tajmahal, Anarkali, etc. also followed at their heels.

All Play…

Once the fervour had subsided a little, the need to prove a point diminished somewhat, it gave way to light- hearted frivolity. And we had all those running –around –trees kind of films. It was time to let the hair down and revel. And so we had the effervescent, champagne-froth of Shashi Kapoor, the electrifying energy of Shammi Kapoor and the loose-jointed charm of gentleman-Dev Anand- who started out as one of the Dilip-Raj-Dev trio, but continued full blast to this era too. The main similarity in this crop was the linear, simple story line. The protagonist of these films could do no wrong (if and when he did there was always a rock solid reason behind it and he either corrected himself by the last reel or died!). The heroine, without exception was a paragon of virtue who’d scream her lungs out if the villain so much as looked at her! Remember Vyjayantimala breathing fire and brimstone at Pran and melting in the hero’s anti-septic embrace? Ditto Nanda, Sadhana, Asha Parekh & co.

Romance Rules The Roost

Then came the ‘phenomenon’- Rajesh Khanna, his era was indisputably the zenith of the carefree mush. He perfected the knee- buckling deep, deep look, which made every female from 16 to 60, worth her lipstick swoon. Though far from the archetypal tall, dark handsome mould, this chinky eyed, ample bottomed hero, achieved what others couldn’t- through sheer charisma. Romance was taken to new heights by this unlikely Adonis, ably supported by the likes of doe eyed Sharmila and the oomphy Mumtaz. Flashy clothes, dark sunglasses and irreverent long hair became the norm. Jumping Jack Jeetendra, who had no claims to acting abilities, followed in the similar mould, introducing PT style of dancing. And succeeded!

To be fair to them they did at times break the moulds, Rajesh dropped his nod to do an Anand, a Bawarchi and then there was the Gulzarification of Jeetu in Kinara and Parichay, where he actually acted.

But on the whole the lot remained at heart the giddy headed romantics.

The Rebel Is Born

And just when the sweetness was starting to cloy, and Kaka’s noddy act a little too predictable, did burst onto the scene the dashing meteor Amitabh Bachchan. This lanky newcomer was noticed in films like Anand where he stood his ground against the super star, ‘Kaka’ in an author backed role, and then again in Namak-haram where his leashed anger pushed Rajesh Khanna in the back ground, once again in a well- etched role. Here, we got an interesting glimpse of the deadly restrained fury in Amitabh’s character, which would later ignite the screen.

Zanzeer was his vehicle to instant super stardom. Though no one can challenge the fact that Amitabh was a force to reckon with, a formidable one at that; the unignorable fact also is that the angry- young- man was once again the common man- larger than life, yes, but with his sensibilities, all the same.

It was the early seventies, more than twenty years of freedom; none of the promises fulfilled; problems growing with leaps and bounds along with an escalating sense of dissatisfaction; and no apparent solution at hand- no wonder the average Indian was angry. Amitabh’s seething, simmering presence found instant identification and was a welcome change to the singing star who didn’t seem to have more pressing problems apart from winning his lady love’s heart!

Amitabh solved all the issues by bashing up baddies- whether he was on the right side of the law or the wrong, his method seldom varied. His one-man army took on corrupt biggies and came out winner. Ubiquitous catharsis just might justify the mass hysteria Big B evoked. The anger of the common man found gratification and his anger was assuaged, till the next potboiler came along. The delightful comedian in Amitabh had to be content with an occasional Chupke Chupke or Namakhalal.

What Next?

Amitabh was the last of Shahenshahs (Emperors). A super-star. A demi god. After him there was a short period of uncertainty. It was as if everybody was at a loss without the solid support of Amitabh, whose name spelt success and more importantly, the rest of the things could simply be made to revolve around him, as he towered above any deficiencies by the way of poor scripts, direction etc. His unquestionable magnetism made up for everything. Even the heroines were pushed into the back ground and had to be happy with the wall –flower status.

Without him, trial and error were the only methods to follow. In his wake followed stars like Anil Kapoor, the three Khans- Shahrukh, Aamir and Salman. However, this new lot was not averse to experimenting and we had Anil’s halfwit Eeshwar along with the gray Bazigar within a few years of each other. Some of these experiments succeeded; others, obviously didn’t. But the magic formula of sure shot success continued to evade the filmmakers.

Generation Next Takes Over

By this time an important change had come in the age group of the viewers- the average cine-goer had become younger. He had also shaken off the post-colonial hangover and it was no longer considered an infra-dig to watch Hindi movies, people didn’t turn up their noses at them any longer. But, the young audience demanded someone their age and hence lapped up the frothy, light-footed Khans, who spoke their tongue, looked like them, dressed like them and echoed their voices. And they on their part carved out special niches for themselves, without trampling over each other’s toes, and were rewarded with huge fan followings and astounding remunerations.

It was also change over time for the captain of the ship- the director. Suraj Barjatya, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, inherited the directorial batons, while outsiders like Ramgopal Verma started making their presence felt and appreciated.

The Winning Combination, At Last

It was around this time when someone hit upon the winning combination of ‘West is west and East is east and the twain shall meet on the bollywood beat’ - so the gear became western but phir bhi the dil remained Hindustani. A westernized outer covering with an Indianized soul- the formula was a winner and worked fine right from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to Kaho Na Pyar Hai to Mujhe Kuch Kehenaa hai.

But then every Tom, Dick and Harry jumped on the bandwagon. Quite forgetting that the indiscriminate, whipped –up –in –a jiffy fares were certain to take out the fun and become boringly repetitive. This also meant that the time was ripe for another change.

Yeh Dil Mange More

The audience, on whom the indifferent fares were blamed earlier with platitudes like ‘Oh! What can we do? The audience wants this!’, had by now wisened up, thanks to the channel explosion and refused to tamely settle for second hand stuff. The brave young audience weaned on western flicks, was quick to thumb down third rate Indianized potboilers like ‘Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’ as he had easy access to the original ‘While you were sleeping’. Fooling the audience was no longer easy. As in every other field of life, the audience’s ‘Dil’ craved for ‘More’ but the tacit understanding was that this ‘More’ better be good! And so we had a buddies of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’; the first fictional triumph over the Raj in Lagaan –a brilliant amalgamation of nostalgia with our evergreen passion for the willow; a going back to good ol’ values with oh –so- good ol’ big B and dream dadima in Baghbaan!

No Fairy Tales Please - We've Grown Up

As the young Indian finds his feet in the world, he finds it easier to take pride in his Indianness. He is finally easy in his brown skin and finds it acceptable to be Indian. This Indian youth has his feet firmly planted in reality and he doesn’t live in the fancyland of pink sunrises and purple sunsets any longer. He has also burst the myth of black and white people. His world consists of all the browns, blues and is peopled with intriguing gray. A world, which he expects to be reflected in, films too. He doesn’t demand an invincible hero or a satanic villain- gone are the days of Mogambo!

Bollywood is finally getting real. The biggest ‘hit’ formula today is ‘no formula’. Honesty, if nowhere else, is the king in Bollywood. Take a good story on the unbeaten track, pour in dollops of honest work, good music (our heart beats to beats), steer clear of beaten tracks and pretentious ‘art’ and yes, keep in mind the multiplex mindset- intelligent, trendy, ‘with it’ and you have it made.

Finally, it seems, we have achieved that fine balance between the ‘canny compromise between Art and commercialism’! Just as in Life we’re finally, happily, somewhere comfortable between consumerism and spiritualism- The mahatma and the mall! Well, almost.

Start a discussion on this article