Indian cinema is desperately looking for new ideas to assure box office success. All the recent films happen to be repetitions of old ideas. It seems that Indian filmmakers are not prepared to take risks with new ideas. True, Khalid Muhammad with "Fiza" and Amir Khan with "Lagaan" did try to infuse some new concepts.
It has been customary in Bollywood to stay on a well-worn path. In the 1950s and 1960s it was either portrayal of peasant exploitation by feudal lords or pure love stories with plenty of melodious songs. "Do Bigha Zameen," "Mother India," "Mujhe Jeene Do" and "Ganga Jamuna" are some examples. It was an era in which outlaws were symbols of rebellion against the feudal lords. This clicked with millions of poverty-stricken Indians who identified with one or another of the on-screen characters.
Industrialization as well as mass migration from villages to cities gave the cinema a certain glamour and from late 1960s to 1970s, Indian movies revolved around love triangles. "Sangam," "Dil Diya Dard Liya," "Admi" and "Fareb" are typical of this trend. Predictably, Indian audiences got tired of the same old thing and it was in this period that directors such as Manmohan Desai, F.C. Mehra and Ramanand Sagar produced films which were pure entertainment. These were called "masala" films or formula films and had a bit of everything: A love story, some crime and suspense dotted with fast numbers. "Ankhein," "Deewar," "Sholay," "Ram Balram" and "Shaan" epitomize the changes.
But soon the Indian audience was again tired of these storylines. It was at this point that Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Girish Karnad gave audiences parallel cinema — or art films. "Ankur," "Manthan," "Akrosh," "Bhumika," "Junoon," "Albert Pintoo Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai," "Arth" and "Ardha Satya" ushered Hindi cinema into a new era. What was first considered art cinema became popular cinema in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
But then producers wishing to bring in something new vulgarized this trend and based one film after another on the Bombay underworld and Bombay slumdwellers. As always, Bollywood producers, big and small, showed their lack of initiative and repeated the same storyline over and over. Finally, the producers realized that the audience wanted something new and Tarachand Barjatya came up with "Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun." This set a new trend for family drama. And the audience once again was subjected to one film after another with the same theme.
Not every producer and director followed that track. There were daring producers who came up with new ideas and did very well on the box office. "Darr," "Baazigar," "Border," "Hindustani," "Sarfrosh" and "Mission Kashmir" are few such attempts. The success of "Border" prompted producers to cash in on misplaced patriotism and one film after another on nationalism and patriotism crashed at the box office.
Historical stories have always fascinated Indian producers and every era has seen some big historical films. Whether the first Hindi talkie, "Aalam Ara," or the all time hit, "Mughal-e-Azam," or its earlier version "Anarkali," they all caught the audience’s imagination.
Strangely, in the last 25 years very few producers tried to make historical films. "Asoka" was one that crashed at the box office. Indian audiences want well-made historically accurate movies. Today, the IT revolution has changed the lifestyle, even in rural India. Audiences want entertainment with social relevance. It is time for directors such as Shayam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Saeed Akhtar Mirza to take the initiative and give us something new. The current producers simply have no ideas. Where is the leader to give a new direction to Indian cinema?
Arab News Features 19 December 2002