Is Bollywood (finally) coming of age?

It was a small piece in an English-language publication that caught my eye. It spoke of how Bollywood seems to be, at long last, keeping its tryst with destiny with forays into exciting new terrains – geographically, thematically and psychologically – that provide riveting, interesting and totally refreshing cinematic experiences. As a film critic who has been writing on and about cinema in general – and B-town in particular – for over three and a half decades, this news flash got me thinking… yup, it was sweeping, bold but hey, perhaps true as well!

Coming to think of it, in the very recent past, breakout films and shake-em-up performances have indeed grabbed audiences by the short n’ curly, shocked (and delighted?) the mickey out of them, but most importantly (surprise-surprise!) registered thumping hits at the BO!Suddenly the traditional boy-meets-girl formulae accompanied by the attendant melodramatic hi-jinx have given way to some semblance of realism in subject, story-telling and performance.

The ‘Hai Mein Mar Jaoon’ brand of blushing femininity has been replaced by a much starker form of representation couched in bolder dialogues and body language. Alongside, make-up and clothes have also undergone a realistic makeover, as have locales. Old-fashioned Darjeeling, gritty, unglamorous ali-galis of Kolkata and badlands of Chambal and Wasseypur in Dhanbad share the frame with the wilds of U.P… all, in hard-close-up, determined to seduce audiences into succumbing to a new cinematic experience. 

Take The Dirty Picture, Kahaani or Wasseypur and Shanghai as some recent examples, not forgetting the wonderfully original Vicky Donor or the Chaplinesque Barfi or the recent English Vinglish. Can you imagine any one of them getting through even the ‘narration’ stage to any Director/Production House a decade ago?Glamour-less, star-less and sans the usual masala must-have ingredients, these bold, stark, realistic themes would have been swiftly dispatched to the file marked ‘Out’.Today, as the piece pointed out, “a more mature audience shows a willingness to celebrate nuanced, off-beat tales, much like an educated and pretty, young divorcee banker falling in love with a flamboyant, rough, grungy, attractive… sperm donor! Or a sleazy extra/starlet clawing her way to the top and the morals be damned! Or a pregnant woman desperately combing the alleys of Kolkata searching for a husband! Or gangs, warfare and raw living in the killing fields of Wasseypur! Or even a deaf-mute turning out to be perceived as a safer and more caring lover than a normal, richie-rich husband! Frequently abandoning tried and tested formulae, these represent an edgy, welcome change in the way films are being conceived, made and consumed.”

Not everyone seems convinced, Veteran film scholar, historian and critic Rauf Ahmed believes that while this parallel cinema (led by Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee) is commendable and does indeed make a strong case in leveraging change, these guys and their products still form only a tiny part of the larger movie consuming universe. “The recent hoo-haa created by the press and by word-of-mouth (of the more evolved audience) has led people to believe that change has arrived! That is laughable! The bigger banners and the superstars stick to their masala and formulae and rake in the loot - be it yesterday’s Ek Tha Tiger and Rowdy Rathore or the to-be released Talaash, Dabangg 2 and Jab Tak…Occasionally a Wake up Sid or Chak De does mosey in from the Karan Johar or YRF camps but by and large, formula rules.” Veteran TV and movie actor Aloknath agrees. “Sure this new breed of films are realism driven (raw and hard-hitting) and are making waves with a section of the audiences, but that can hardly qualify as influencing or disturbing the status-quo! It’s like this. TV, today, is a monster and to combat it, viewing experiences has to be special, unique and something that cannot be replicated on TV. The big banners combat it with hi-glamour and star-power; the small-budget guys, with adventurous forays into little known Wasseypurs!” Alok believes that desperate times call for desperate measures and that’s how the scene is panning out. “Koi breakthrough or coming-of-age hua nahin, Boss… Survival!”

An author (The Last Train to Nowhere) and director (Love Songs) is up next. Kolkata based Joybroto Chatterjee is of the opinion that while the “Bollywood circus continues, certain side shows have come into play. The have-nots seem to have been kicked upstairs! Suddenly the disabled and hinterland tales have come to centre-stage and are treated with fresh, honest insight and sensitivity, something that was totally missing in the earlier movies. Simplistic, the hinterland earlier was either an idyllic space corrupted by the city-slicker or the back-of-beyond terrain of the underprivileged, ganwaar, ignorant of sophisticated metro driven taur-tarika. The disabled, too, were usually caricatured or perceived as objects of ridicule. Today, with the Wasseypurs, Ishqzaades and Shanghais, Guzarishs and Barfis, a new caring, compassionate look has replaced the earlier jaundiced one. Also drama, colour, passion and honesty powers these new narratives. That’s truly wonderful. However, overall the tiger growl still rules and these films are instantly wiped out when any of the Khan releases happens. Sideshows, that’s what they are!” Reputed critic Saibal Chatterjee agrees! “While appreciation is definitely due to all these film makers for providing diversity and a larger spread of interesting films, the mainframe remains intact. No big banner wants to take risks. The day mainstream star hunks and glamour babes are replaced by genuine, brilliant actors in even moderately budget starrers from the big production houses, that’s when real change will happen. Until then, these will provide exciting diversions; important, necessary but nowhere powerful enough as a movement to threaten B-town or influence the star-crazed junta.” Kolkata based film-maker Rituparno Ghosh up next, wonders whether any discussion is even warranted because it’s just not a fair and even playing field. Barfi, for example, is a fine effort, is the talk of the town with press and social networks going bananas! Are regional films (equally good) ever given a chance to attain such visibility? Besides, mainstream actors engaging seriously with parallel cinema simultaneously is stale news in Kolkata! Way back in the sixties, top leads like Soumitra, Sharmila, Aparna even superstar Uttam Kumar starred in both these genres with great success. I am sure this has happened in the south too. Sadly, Bollywood and its crazed audiences have confused the difference between internationalisation and globalisation. One is cutting across, powered by its universality while retaining its cultural identity.

The other is flattening out; uniformity; assembly line stuff.” Ghosh believes that the essence of the real Bollywood, in their hysterical attempt to go global, is sadly fading. “How I miss those larger than life projections! I am a true fan of what the old Bollywood stood for. This one is neither here, nor there”, he concludes. Director Leena Nayak believes that apart from their merit, these films have created waves because of the economics and marketing. “In these consumerist times, quality is not enough; they need to be sharply marketed. Once this is done it attracts eyeballs and pre-empts theatre footfalls. The new breed of filmmakers is totally in the loop about these things and compensates their small-budget efforts with interesting non-formulaic content and very cleverly pitched promos. The combination usually works. However let’s not even begin to talk about creating a dent for one very special reason - To the Indian masses, movies mean escapist entertainment and no one does it better than Bollywood. Even the more educated, intellectual, sophisticated and evolved will reach for the stars!”

Ok, Ok, Ok. But what about heroines? Could one imagine a mainstream heroine having the guts to essay the role Vidya Balan did in The Dirty Picture? Or mainstream hotties doing deaf-mute and autistic roles, like Ranbir and Priyanka in Barfi?Or even pulling out the stops and going the distance like Sridevi in English Vinglish. For a moment let’s be a little less cynical and look at English Vinglish in a normal, un-arty way in a normal movie-viewer mode. For one, it pays old-fashioned and charming homage to the homemaker and for a change does not project kids as the typical ‘cheewty pie’ or precocious monsters playing catch-up with grown-ups, but normal kids. Sans cliches, melodrama or chest-thumping in the corny, filmy, patriotic fashion; it hits the socially liberated button and comes up trumps because of the innate honesty that lights up this journey. Maybe it’s not a perfect film but hey, we don’t live in a perfect world!

At the end ofthe day ,while its true that Bollywood and a dumbed-down media is forever either in congratulatory or mourning mode, this new bunch of films, directors, production houses and stars definitely need a big shabashi!

However, none of this would ever be possible without the most critical driver of this glorious movement – a mature and evolving audience! Sure the Khans & Khannas, Kapoors & Kumars will continue doing their mainstream blockbusters – God bless ‘em! – but alongside, when you have such a gloriously diverse fare, suddenly, life is beautiful… So stop playing kill joy and enjoy the glorious buffet!