Mumbai, October 02: To pay a toast to where we are today and celebrate our combined successes, nostalgia can’t help, but take me back to all the swings, soars, rumbles and romance our cinema has been through in the kal.
Because it’s the anniversary special, let’s start by giving a bow to the aptly named, ‘Golden Era of Cinema’, the 40s and the 50s where Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy graced us with films in their simplest, most entertaining form. Awara and Madhumati, Kaagaz Ke Phool and Mother India… My list can go on and on, but to pay tribute to what most of my peers will consider an education in cinema, that can affect you to your core, is something I can’t tire of.
Intensity needed a little fun and joviality, so the 60s came and moved us to the hill stations where the ecstatic ‘Yahoooo!’ from Shammi Kapoor emitted more than just joy and elation from the audience. The decade embraced and heavily committed to the notion of innocent love, of a carefree spirit, because all’s well that ends well and it’s healthy to escape every now and then.
But maybe we overdid it a little, because eventually reality struck home and summer vacation was up. Socio-political issues that plagued India in the 70s changed what we saw on a night out at the movies. The angry young man had a bone to pick, and we were hooked, enraptured, just watching. Salim-Javed ruled the roost and flourished upon us an icon to voice the social angst and building sentiments of anti-establishment. Audiences fervently lapped it up, as did producers, and Amitabh Bachchan became a beacon for India and the industry.
The 80s, I regret to admit, found the industry at its lowest creatively. Original ideas were only just chugging along, and the misses overpowered the hits. Big hair and garish wardrobes weren’t the only clichés we were adopting. Potent melodrama, raunch in abundance, well-intentioned filmmakers took to borrowing ideas from the prolific filmmakers of the South saw us flat-lining a little, but fortunately, only a little. Parinda, Maine Pyar Kiya, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Chandni, these films found their way back to all the virtues of story, screenplay, and treatment. Performances that are talked about till today, love stories that mended a million hearts, and the young stars who were born to reign.
The 90s, my personal favourite, Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! exploded onto our screens, sucking us into a mood of constant merriment. The decade for romance in full bloom, every other genre took a beating. Audiences were mesmerised by tales of abandoned romance that lifted Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, to heights unseen before and woke up the diaspora audience. A contemporary love triangle set against a modern musical in Dil To Pagal Hai and of course, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai a film that affirmed that love is friendship, that it’s never too late for romance.
The millennium brought about an almost cosmically designed change in the choices we made as filmmakers, and the healthy demands we had as an audience. A new India sprung up to simulate new ideas to reflect new ideologies. 2001 was a true anomaly for the industry. The year gave us Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Gadar, Chandni
Bar, a perfectly-balanced palette of entertainment.
The confidence of that year has created a ripple effect that continues to challenge, inspire and motivate a generation that has played witness to a corporatisation that sometimes threatens to tempt our homegrown appetite for vibrant, unapologetically, unabashed entertainment. The foreign scaffolding is bringing in a new kind of structure, but nothing is fresher than our thoughts today. The more that is invested in us, the more vested we’ll be in our films. A new kind of scintillation from the media, teases and keeps us on our toes, and a hunger to be bigger, better, and so much more visible in the highly-sought after global spotlight.
Aaj/Today, content is the new sales pitch, the quirkier your narration (and now, your script), the better. Subtlety is the new demand with our actors, creatives, crew and technicians strive to master their craft.
Most importantly though, ingrained in us is a sentimental spirit that will bring us back to where we started. Ten years from, we’ll be back in the golden period, basking in the glow of knowing that we would have conquered our own challenges and conventions and held our own voice. Only in India will you find an interval. Only in India will we be able to blend the drama with the romance so beautifully that what resonates is a well-balanced, well-deserved bitter-sweet comedy that truly makes ours an industry worth watching. Cheers!
—Agencies