A whiff of fresh air

ANUJ KUMAR

The winds of change blew through Bollywood in 2005 and the audience allowed themselves to be swayed.

LOOKING BEYOND CLINCHES: Black, Sarkar and Salaam Namaste.

If cinema mirrors life, 2005 turned out to be a landmark year for the Hindi cinema. Bollywood dared to look beyond the formulaic, and the audience applauded the urge to change. That the effort came from mainstream Bollywood added allure to the experiment. "Black," "Page 3," "Salaam Namaste," "Iqbal", "Sarkar", "Kalyug" all came from big banners and each had plots intertwined with moments that Bollywood earlier refused to tread, sometimes in the name of commerce and at others for the simple obsession for clichés.

"Black" not only proved that disability could be heroic, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film also explored the physical needs of a disabled person. Madhur Bhandarkar, on the other hand, delivered a hard-hitting drama "Page 3" essentially showcasing the beasts that pass off as social animals.

Then came Yash Raj banner's "Salaam Namaste". Again the theme of live-in relationship was novel, but more than that we had a hero who cried, who threw up at the sight of blood. And of course who wore pink. Still he could perform what is expected of a man.

Changing jobs

2005 was also the year, when the real life reflected in the hero's cine professions. In "Salaam Namaste," Saif Ali Khan was shown as a trained architect, who works as a chef for a living. For the first time, we had the hero playing a bouncer in "James" and a video editor in "My Wife's Murder." "The characters are written according to the times. The definition of the common man is changing. You can no longer keep showing tales of the men from the street making big in life because we do see lots of young men opting for professions unheard of a few years back, driving their own cars in their early 20s, wearing nice clothes," says script writer Javed Akhtar who made "Aadmi Sadak Ka" a phenomenon in the `70s.

Subhash Ghai's "Iqbal" followed suit. Again we had a hero with disability. Again he had a passion to succeed, but Nagesh Kukunoor's film subtly told us that armed forces is not the only option for a village boy, he could destroy the opposition on the cricket pitch as well. Never before cinema had presented sports as a career option for the common man as "Iqbal" did.

"Sarkar" might not have had novelty in terms of script, but Ram Gopal Varma showed remarkable confidence in the ability of his audience's understanding of technique. Not a frame was extra, not a single effort was made to state the obvious. It was just the magic of silence, the drama of expression delivered with élan by the Bachchans and Kay Kay Menon.

Towards the end came "Kalyug", where the Mahesh Bhatt camp belied its recent reputation to titillate. The film tackled the issue of porn business without taking cinematic liberties.

Script is star?

The box office success of these films also proved the star quotient theory wrong. For if "Black" and "Salaam Namaste" had the desired star power, "Iqbal" and "Page 3" thrived on an ensemble cast. "Salaam Namaste" worked at the supposedly conservative centres like Chennai and "Black" reached smaller centres like Aligarh despite the fact that a major portion of the film was in English and there was no music album to raise the curiosity levels. Says Boman Irani, who was part of "Page 3," "Audience always love novelty but it should not be just for the hack of novelty." Javed points out audiences are no longer a monolith, "Different genres can work simultaneously."

Gone are the days when a hit film meant each and almost everybody in your locality had seen the film.

That's why the major credit for the commercial success of these films goes to the multiplex boom, where one seat sold is equivalent to four to five seats sold in a single screen theatre in smaller centres. "This helps in the recovery of costs much faster. Depending on the budget of the film, at times a couple of good weekends are enough," says Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts.

However, the small step should not be construed as a leap. At times the change seemed cosmetic for the soul essentially remained the same - Bollywoodish.

Yes, the cocktail of Hollywood for inspiration, North India for detailing continued to be served in 2005.

Not to talk about the "Barsaats" "Kya Kool Hain Hums" and "Neal `N' Nikkis", even the seven successful experiments reminded of the obstinate past. For Madhur still needed a "Kuan Main Doob Jaoongi" to promote "Page 3". For you still have to set "Salaam Namaste" in the safe terrains of Australia with no reference to the family of the protagonists. For then the filmmaker has to take a social stand. For Bhansali still has to make Rani do loud gestures to express her disability, for you know Naseer's brilliant but restrained act of a blind could not save the day for Sai Paranjape's "Sparsh" at the box office, many moons ago.

For Nagesh still has to fiddle with the original idea for it's cricket that woos the market. For "Kya Kool Hain Hum" makes it to television screens on the New Year eve but a film like "Parzania" is stamped with adults only certificate.

For when terror has come into the precincts of educational institutions, Censor Board has yet to decide whether the kids need to be educated against hate. For the Government could not stop smoking in real life but wanted it banned on screen.

If the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had its way, a film on Winston Churchill has to be made without cigars.

Says Mahesh, "I didn't show anybody smoking in `Kalyug' when it could have easily gone with the theme, but I am against this tyranny on creativity." Arguing fleshing out of a character is a director's prerogative, Ram Gopal Varma says, "They used `D' pictures to highlight their point, but refused to see that the same character doesn't drink in the film."

For banners like UTV still take high moral ground when they produce "Swades" or "Namesake" but sing to market when they support "Kya Kool... " For Mahesh still has to make Emraan Hashmi say "Ali Ka Imaan Bikaau Nahin Hai".

Why not just Mera Iman Bikau Nahin Hai? Why the Muslim character has to plead to take note of his religion? Reasons Mahesh, "I admit I play to the gallery but you have to keep in mind that during the BJP regime, the concept of Muslim friend vanished from the screen."

There is a whiff of fresh air, but a few flowers don't make a garden.

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