written on friday,june 08,2007
Few months back one of my friends and his family was going to watch the movie “Umrao Jaan” at the theatre. I was telling him that the review of that movie was not that good. For that he replied. "I know the movie is bad. But my wife wants to see the dance and costumes of Aishwarya Rai in that movie and that is why we are going.” This statement sums up the mentality with which most people go for Hindi movies. They know the final product is bad but still go in the name of entertainment. For my friend’s wife seeing Aishwariya’s costume is the best form of entertainment. My friend (a Tamilian) won’t be going for this movie if it was made in Tamil with the same costumes and same dress and most probably he might have told “Why waste money on such a crappy movie”.
If you are a bachelor you go to a Hindi movie to watch the heroine who always reveals more than she covers and to increase your blood circulation to some parts of the body. For a teenage girl she goes to the movie to see the bare chest of the hero and gets satisfaction from that. These girls are also interested to see the latest fashion represented by the costumes of heroines. Very few go to watch a good movie. If they get what they want everyone is satisfied. They don’t care if the movie in totality is good or bad.
I always used to think. What are the qualifications needed to become a Bollywood hero or heroine. To be a hero you should be chocolate faced, should be able to dance well, have a well built body and more important should be in the middle of one or more controversy. The controversy can be created by having links with terrorists or killing people by driving under influence or by changing girl friends every other day. To be a heroine it is easier – be lean, should be willing to show all your assets, should be a passionate kisser and again every other day should stir up some controversy or other. Did I mention you need to know acting to become a Bollywood hero or heroine? The least acting you know the better hero or heroine you become in Bollywood. To understand the dearth of acting talent in Bollywood just see all the movies remade by Priyadarshan in Hindi from Malayalam and compare it with the acting of Malayalam actors in the original version. Then you will understand what I am talking about.
Now coming to the quality of Hindi movies – I agree a “Black” here or an “Omkara” there come once in a blue moon. But majority of the Hindi movies are just old wine in a new bottle. Now the latest trend is shooting all the movies abroad. If one sees all the Hindi movies that are getting released these days and get the false impression that all the Indians have migrated to Western countries he cannot be blamed.
Now why are Hindi movies moving from reality? People who defend Hindi movies argue that movies are a form of entertainment and no one wants to pay and see a movie full of tragedy. They want to enjoy every moment they spend in the theatre and also want the hero and heroine to do stuff which they fantasize every day but can’t do.
I feel to make people enjoy and get the worth of the money you don’t have to move away from reality or shoot the entire movie abroad. Just see the South Indian movies especially Tamil movies. Most of the stories are based on the people/story we can easily identify. You can easily identify with most of the characters in the movies. I recently saw a hit movie “Chennai 600028”. Each and every scene I could identify with my childhood days. If such a movie gets released in Hindi it will be a great flop (remember movie Iqbal). Another movie that comes to my mind is “Autograph”. No price for guessing it correct – if this great movie was ever to be taken in Hindi it will be a great flop. The reason – Hindi cinema audience don’t know what a good movie is, for them more the masala the better the movie.
Nanditha Das, the award winning actress has beautifully summed up about the state of Hindi movies in one of her interviews –
In fact, if you see the Hindi films, which we call Bollywood films, they represent not even one per cent of the Indian population because it is all about South Bombay. Even within that, everything is abroad.
LET US HOPE FOR THE TIME WHEN HINDI MOVIES REPRESENTS 100% OF THE POPULATION - But will that ever happen?
By Prof. Brijesh Nair
