Indian Movies Thread V

ramana · 07-04-2008, 04:07 AM

From Stateman, Kolkota,

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The West is talking of not one, not two, but of at least three Bollywoods, all co-existing within Hindi film space, writes Derek Bose 

Bollywood is a bad word. Not only does it mock at Hindi cinema, it questions the very credibility of the most prolific film industry in the world. It makes us look seriously fake and frivolous ~ as upstarts or wannabe Hollywood.
Unfortunately, not much can be done about this insinuation now, as the word has already entered the English lexicon.
The West is however, not stopping at that. Today, they are talking of not one, not two, but of at least three Bollywoods, all co-existing within Hindi film space. All three are supposed to equally active, industrious and yet, mutually exclusive of one another.
The most over hyped and obviously, visible Bollywood is the one represented by films like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Krrish, Om Shanti Om, Jodhaa Akbar, Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic... These are lavishly mounted, big budget productions powered by names like Yash Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar.

Second, there is the cinema of Ramgopal Varma (Sarkar Raj), Vishal Bharadwaj (Omkara), Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par), Mahesh Bhatt (Jannat) and so on. In spite of their stature and track record, they are not perceived as dominant heavyweights. But they are no lightweights either.

Third, there is the Bollywood led by the likes of Pritish Nandy (Ugly Aur Pagli) and Ronnie Screwvala (Aamir). These are the corporate types ready to take risks, experiment with the film form and are constantly on the look out for fresh talent. Their films have not always been commercial hits but they are the ones attracting much of the foreign capital for filmmaking in India.

There are also certain low-end films (Don Muthu Swamy) and C-grade (including soft porn) productions, which do not count for anything. At the other end of the spectrum are the occasional highbrow art house cinema of Shyam Benegal (Mahadev Ka Sajjanpur) and others, which do not similarly qualify as mainline Bollywood.

A distinction needs to be also made between the Hindi films churned out by Bombay and those produced elsewhere in India ~ particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar. The latter are in the nature of niche productions (much as the source of inspiration is unmistakably Bollywood) as against what is perceived as mainstream Hindi cinema.
Till recently, Bollywood films were recognised by certain characteristic features ~ extravagant celebrations of glamour and spectacle, persistent devotion to mythology, an almost slavish reliance on songs and dances, convenient coincidences, larger-than-life characters and happy endings. Tales of heroism, love and hate, justice and equity and of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances made for this brand of cinema.
These clichÃ©s persisted until such time satellite television and multiplexes changed the dynamics of film business during the late 1990s. By 2000, the FSS (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) factor put an end to the phenomenon of jubilee runs at the box-office. And a new, so-called âmultiplex audienceâ ~ typically, a generation of young, upwardly mobile cine-goers with huge expendable incomes ~ was demanding a kind of cinema that had to be at once believable, entertaining and different from what their parents patronised.

This is when the first cracks developed in the film industry. A new Bollywood began to take shape with some honest, low-budget and well-grounded entertainers like Farhan Akhtarâs Dil Chahta Hai, Ramgopal Varmaâs Company, Madhur Bhandarkarâs Chandni Bar and Ravi Chopraâs Baghban turning into monstrous hits. Significantly, the older Bollywood was doing just as well with its hugely-budgeted, multi-star extravaganzas like Karan Joharâs Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Rakesh Roshanâs Kaho Naâ¦ Pyar Hai, Farah Khanâs Main Hoon Na and Sanjay Leela Bhansaliâs Devdas also keeping the registers ringing.
This schizophrenic phase of the early 2000s was viewed as a period of transition ~ of Bollywood trying to forge a new identity through a process of internal agitation, much like the mythical churning or manthan. A big ticket director like Subhash Ghai got tossed out with Kisna. Ditto for Sooraj Barjatya with Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, JP Dutta with Line of Control, all Govinda starrers... Even Yash Chopra had to put the brakes on his directorial career after Veer Zaara.
None of these filmmakers have since found their moorings. Strangely, the successful ones are also just as tentative, be it Karan Johar or Bhandarkar, Bhansali or Rakesh Roshan. Meanwhile a newer generation of young, enthusiastic filmmakers emerged, resolutely bucking all trends and asserting themselves at the box office with refreshingly unconventional stories. Names like Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai), Shimit Amin (Chak De India), Sanjay Gadvi (Dhoom), Dibakar Banerjee (Khosla Ka Ghosla) and Sagar Bellary (Bheja Fry) are increasingly grabbing world attention as harbingers of a âneo-waveâ in Indian cinema.
This is the third Bollywood. Not only does it enjoy the confidence of corporate biggies ranging from Anil Ambani and Subroto Roy to Ronnie Screwvala and Pritish Nandy, it is drawing a host of foreign production houses like JC-23 Entertainment, Playtone and Everymanâs Pictures to India. They all recognise the fund of creative talent available and the spirit of enterprise in the new group of young filmmakers who are better equipped at relating to the psyche of present-day audiences and more importantly, guaranteeing much higher and faster ROIs (returns on investments) than their predecessors.
Unlike a Ramgopal Varma or Bhandarkar, they do not require months (even years) to complete a film. Nor do they require top ranking stars to produce a hit, the way the Johars and Chopras do. As first generation filmmakers, the Hiranis and Gadvis are eminently market savvy, imaginative and capable of turning out smashing hits without top stars or heroines, even songs-and-dances or fancy locations. Their films are wrapped up in four to five weeks flat at minimum costs.
Today, if Reliance Big Entertainment is prepared to commit its billions for a âfilm developmentâ corpus or if Pritish Nandy] Communications is getting Sony Pictures to fund its projects, the real beneficiary would be this third Bollywood. The first Bollywood of the superstars (as Shah Rukh Khan once said) does not need anybodyâs money. And the second Bollywood of middle-rung filmmakers are still left with a load of baggage from the past. Even if some of them are willing to change, nobody is really trusting them with the kind of big budgets they require. For any investor, it makes better business sense to distribute risks across multiple projects, rather than put all his eggs into one basket.
This is however, not to suggest that the three Bollywoods are operating in rigid, compartmentalised conditions. A good deal of interaction goes on between them. For instance, Ramgopal Varma would invest heavily in a film he directs like Aag or Sarkar Raj, but when he finances Jijy Philipâs My Wifeâs Murder or Manish Shrivastavâs Go, he slips from the second to third Bollywood. His cameraman Amit Roy may be committed to all RGV films, but he can always find time for a Ken Ghoshâs Fida or Sanjay Guptaâs Dus Kahaniyan. Similarly, a tunesmith like Pritam Chakraborty could be working with Mahesh Bhatt one day and with Gadvi the next. Such sharing of talent is bound to coexist with a clash of interests, so long as the practice of freelancing continues.

Ultimately, it is the product that determines its origin. Any layperson in the audience can figure out from the look of a film where it comes from. The storyline, its treatment, star cast, locale, production valuesâ¦ even pre-release promotions speak for themselves. You do not need the guile of a Naaz Building operator to know where exactly to place a Bollywood film. Ask any black-marketer outside any theatre ~ first-day, first-show ~ and he will tell you. He can never be wrong.

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