The mass makes or breaks the popularity charts in India. Unfortunately, the mass likes ’’Oye Oye’’ and ’’Sarkaye Leo Khatiya’’.
The mass likes low camera angles and revealing cleavage. The mass likes rape scenes and heroines under waterfalls. The mass doesn’t accept a hero if he doesn’t win in the end. The mass hates movies which make it think. Heck... the mass decides the fate of a Bollywood movie. But that doesn’t stop Bollywood guys from breaking the formula once in a while and going against the grain. Sometimes it works. Sometimes...
Here are a few Bollywood movies which moved me much but I think failed to ’hit’ a common chord with the masses...
1. Akele Hum Akele Tum: Why shouldn’t a talented woman succeed?
This movie was bold. It challenged male superiority, without making a woman don the garb of a ’devi’, with a trishul and all (like in the climax of the old ’daaku’ movies).
The story is simple - Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala are talented singers looking for the big break. Sharing a common dream, they fall in love and marry and have a kid. And the fairy tale ends with their marriage. The hero gets busy in making ’his’ career and leaves the heroine to do ’jharu-poccha’ (household chores) and look after their kid.
Despite all odds and zero support from her husband, she goes on to become a superstar. How that happens is where the film excels. It’s a good dose of reality for the male ego, which makes it difficult for it to be a hit in Indian theatres... not as yet at least.
2. Main Azaad Hoon: Yes... you CAN change the world!
This a movie with Amitabh Bachchan (AB) in it. So what’s it doing in a non-hit category? Some could say it was a mild hit, but if you look at the usual AB movies, this one missed the hit mark.
Amitabh Bachchan, a common man with charismatic leadership qualities, rises from an unknown do-gooder to a man who thousands of people are ready to follow... because they believed in his conviction. This becomes possible with the support of a few clever members of the media and politics who want him to pay them back once the gullible public is ready to follow him blindly. He refuses and is cleverly made the public villain by the same selfish politicians. Truth triumphs against all odds in the end.
You can catch ’Main Azaad Hoon’ on TV channels again and again - but may not want to spend money on it in a theatre or take your family to see it. Thing is, it’s a movie that makes you think, it makes you want to change things, it makes you want to stand up for what you believe in, it shows you the power of the common man on the street. Unfortunately, movies which make people think don’t make the box office figures surge.
If people went to cinema halls for inspiration rather than entertainment, this movie will rule !!
3. Khamoshi: What to do when you are a singer and your parents can’t hear you...
This movie made me cry. It’s about a girl with a beautiful voice born to a deaf and dumb couple. The cast is so interesting... Nana Patekar (known for his deft dialogue delivery) plays the deaf and dumb father and Seema Biswas (known for her eerie role in ’Bandit Queen’) is the deaf and dumb mother... and they do great justice to their roles !!
Manisha Koirala (yes, I like her !) is their talented singer-daughter. It’s like being born a painter to blind parents... heart wrenching. This movie has everything... great story, great character roles, great direction, great songs... but it failed to hit the top of the charts. Probably because there are no ’latkas’ and ’jhatkas’, just sensitivity and insight. And maybe because it makes you cry... .
4. Daddy: How a dad gave up drinking for his daughter...
Everyone drinks in Bollywood. A hero drinks and sings a boisterous song, a heroine drinks and does a strip tease, a villain drinks and rapes the hero’s sister. Drinking is never a big issue however. But in the movie called ’Daddy’, drinking is completely uncool and that’s what makes this movie so different ! It’s a daughter’s (Pooja Bhatt) touching struggle to make her ’Daddy’ (Anupam Kher) give up drinking.
Daddy has resorted to alcohol because of his ’dukh-dard’ (the ’ghisa-pita’ Bollywood excuse for drinking since times immemorial) although he has great talent. This movie deserves to be seen by all families struggling with an alcoholic in their midst (and I know for a fact they are enough unfortunately in number to give this movie a few house-fulls).
5. Muskurahat: How to win friends by making them laugh.
Moving on from sad and poignant movies to one that can cheer you up on the gloomiest of days - Muskurahat.
In ’Muskurahat’ (literally ’smile’), Revathi, a young and slightly little insane girl pits her wits with Amrish Puri... an old, inflexible man who has never laughed in his life. This movie is great for times when you are feeling down and need someone to cheer you up and show you how beautiful life can be, when looked through the eyes of innocence. And not by cheap, slapstick comedy but by innocent humour. Rare !
But these days, who wants anything less than sleazy when it comes to humour? Certainly not the front-benchers in our cinema halls... the guys who whistle for double-meaning jokes of the likes of Shakti Kapoor and Kader Khan. One of the cleanest comedies I have seen, apart from the good old Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt movies... but that’s another review... LOL.
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