What is only 5 hours long, has lots of dancing, lots of love and lots of violence? That is right, a Bollywood movie! According to my version of the Oxford dictionary, Bollywood movies are just what I described them as and your typical movie always has or had the mentioned ingredients or movie makers ‘masala’! But with time, Bollywood is seeing steady refurbishment and now the industry is dishing out movies that truly reflect a changing society! Let’s study the change.
The Incredible, Romantic Hulks Of
Bollywood
In the past a Bollywood film maker would speak to himself of his upcoming chart busting movie like this-my movie must have the framework of a stupid Romeo and Juliet. The hero must fall in love at his college or the road and must crazily seek the heroine’s heart with stunts and songs. But wait! What about the time? Well then, the heroine will never fall for the hero but for one day when he jumps from the ground floor to the 100th floor to save her from being attacked from bad, bad boys! She then will spend sleepless nights and endless days to thank him, but whenever she does the hero’s hippo like ego refuses to pay attention to her. All will seem over when suddenly the hero hears of her being forcefully married to a rupee hoarding cousin who studied in the states-AMRIKA-bringing out the lion in him-this is when we shall have an interval, around about two and a half hours from the start!
Then the hero will storm the temple and create a noise during the wedding and the girl will commit the cardinal sin of going against her father and jumping into the awaiting hands of the hero. He will then rush her off to safety but they will not live happily ever after! The father will disown his daughter who has shamed his pride and will send the evilest of the town in search of the boy to beat him silly!
As hero and heroine head to home singing and dancing like they just do not care, the villains begin their work and begin a regular series of fights till the final championship battle, when winner takes all-the girl! The fight begins and the hero all alone super man’s through his attackers with a “POW” and a “WHACK” and a “DUZZ” effect on them until one of the evil doers takes out a gun and shoots! The tension is high; the bullet is fired and caught by the hero! Another is fired and slit into two by a knife, killing two attackers who were coming from behind. It is now just one villain and the hero, but somehow the villain shoots and hits the hero on his heart, leaving him to die a cold death and his Juliet to cry a painful “NO” or “Nahiiiiii!”. She is dragged away into the tinted padmini car when suddenly the hero comes back from the death and kicks the villain to death! I will end it with a song and credits! And yes, let me have 10 to 15 songs?
A perfect industry quaking movie that will attract throngs of movie watchers to the cinemas.
The Production Line
Funny isn’t it how so much of Bollywood’s past reflected something along the lines of the above? To us students, such an industry would really not mean much to us, let alone have us interested. But India’s undeniably a role-model nation, a nation with active people and this action has come with a revamp of the entire bollywood production line! Movies from Bollywood are now exemplary examples of our daily lives and apart from mere entertainment, the movies are now teachers and thinking promoting instruments that get you to reflect and ponder-songs and dancing have not changed though, but improved to reflect the changing times.
Bollywood movies now are close to home- it is hard to think that rosy romance and vicious violence is all that exists in our lives and the movies now are constructed to address our lives. Movies from bollywood now address topics from taboo to global-sex, injustice, racism, cheats and various social issues. Movies like Kalyug-an expose on the pathetic porn market- or even Salam Namaste- a story of an unmarried cohabiting Indian couple in Australia-reflect and respond to the times and result in the production of movies with meaning, a rarity once upon a type! There is hardly any repetition in story lines and directors seem to be digging into the society and coming up with novel ideas. Films like Black and Rang De Basanti, transport real life onto the cinema screen and as viewers we are given a chance to see the result of situations which could happen on us! Of course, your love stories always prop up from somewhere, but they are a lot more life like and reality based and bare it all, to say the least! And the violence is improving from superman and robin to WWF takes- it is getting to be real, but will take some time!
To me, Bollywood’s buzz is worth every minute now and the movies it gifts the society are worthwhile. I was particularly fazed by the movie Baghbaan- a movie on ungrateful children-and like me many of you stand to see and learn a great deal. And if Hindi is not your tongues talk then subtitles give you an extra reason to watch and learn….so go ahead and walk through the woods of Bollywood-an exploration through our lives!
Author: Ali Abbas
