“Some Hindi Movies are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested.”- This quote is a slight variation from Francis Bacons quote about books, but very apt to Hindi movies too. Bollywood churns out tons of movies every year, and our desi population sees it, swallows it and digests it all. Of course some are very tasteful, while some cause an upset stomach, other few are placed on the connoisseurs banquet.
Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world in terms of the number of movies it makes. About 800 to 900 movies are made in India per year; almost twice the number Hollywood produces annually. By the way, after Bombay to Mumbai, shouldn’t ‘Bollywood’ be called as ‘Mollywood’or whatever! In order to retain their world record, the Bollywood industry has made an easy formula, or a short cut recipe for movie making.
Bollywood has ‘Productized’ the Movies - Technically ‘‘productized’’ and ‘patternized’ is nothing but films built further from a pre-made product. Here almost every thing is pre-made and ready; the directors just has to shake it and bake it! Of course he adds some songs for seasoning, a pinch of melodrama and a dash of heroism! Movies keep repeating the theme and style of a successful movie hoping for another success! But same chicken recipe with a different garnishing doesn’t make it different and old wine in new bottles doesn’t necessarily sell. Since the success of ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ and ‘Hum Apke Hain Koan’ there have been many movies with the large joint families in their movies. Yes, some were successful like ‘Dilwale Dulhani Le Jainge’ but some others like Hum Saath Saath Hain were pathetic flops. Alokh Naath and Reema Lagoo are typecast as parents, while Anupam Kher is the stereotyped uncle who is always a friend to the hero or heroine. Johny Lever has perpetual presence to add comic. The wedding setting and mehndi song is one more essential part of the total pre- packaged product of the film. For your record, if you list all the movies you saw recently, arguably you will have plenty with the same ‘formula’.
Another shortcut recipe used by our Bollywood guys is aping the Hollywood movie. Sometimes the length of the Hindi movie even covers scripts of two English movies. Of course to this is added the pre-packed ‘Movie Masala’ just like the ‘Shaan Tandoori Masala’ or ‘MTR Chaat Masala’, ready to be added to almost every movie! Next time you see an English movie, think if you can fit in our Bollywood actors in the respective roles of the movie, for example Preity Zinta as Drew Barrymore, Aishwarya as Julia Roberts, Kareena Kapoor as Alicia Silverstone, Govinda as Jim Carrey, Hrithik Roshan as Brad Pitt, Sharukh Khan as Tom Cruise, Amitabh Bachan as Sean Connery or various other possibilities and ‘Indianize’ it a little and imagine and play it in your mind. If you succeeded, you have predicted the next movie in the making in Bollywood!
But there are some exceptions to this industries output. Recently some excellent movies were made which have individuality and character- Lagaan, an Oscar nominated movie, which also has become a case study in Indian Institute of Management for leadership and team building skills; Dil Chahtha Hai, a new generation movie for the educated audiences; Zubaida, a classic story with excellent performances; Astitva, a woman’s struggle to make an identity of herself; Aks, a lift from ‘Face off’, but handled surprisingly well for Indian audiences; Ajnabee, a Hollywood remake of ‘Consenting Adults’ without the typical masala and ABCD, an American Born Confused Desi’s impasse lifestyle; to state a few, which have carved an identity of its own.
The Hindi movies seem to be gradually evolving from this masala business into more individualist entities, with deeper content and closer to life themes. Lets just hope our desi audience grows out of savoring the ‘ghisipiti’ recipe and we get to see more beautiful and tasteful movies ahead.
Also on http://www.sawf.org/bollywood/opinions/hindimrecipes.asp?pn=Bollywood&cn=7
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