Return of the actor
It is proving to be a year when directors are looking for a match between the actor and the character. Be it Naseeruddin Shah playing a beguiling romantic lead at 64 in “Dedh Ishqiya” or Randeep Hooda imploding as a Gurjar boy in “Highway”, honest casting created ripples over the first half of the year. Riteish Deshmukh exploring his negative side in “Ek Villain” could have lent shock value but when comedian Sanjay Mishra smashed his type in “Ankhon Dekhi” and Vijay Raaz excelled as a nawaab in “Dedh Ishqiya”, a new mould of characterisation was cast. Who would have thought a seasoned theatre practitioner like Manav Kaul would become the highlight of a Bollywood thriller or for that matter Sharib Hashmi would play a Bollywood-crazy protagonist in “Filmistaan”?
Beyond the obvious
An avante garde film on life in the sleazy C-grade film industry, a middle class dreamer in Old Delhi, who one day decides to take the world at face value, an upmarket uber cool girl falling in love with her rustic and ruthless kidnapper and in the process with a section of society she had never seen, a first-time director trying to lace a Muslim social into a suspense drama: “Miss Lovely”, “Ankhon Dekhi “, “Highway” and “Bobby Jasoos” differed in treatment but all four dared to look beyond the obvious trappings of commercial Bollywood. So did “Citylights” and “Hawa Hawaai”, which tackled the issue of migration and farmer suicide without letting them become cloying. They may not be chartbusters but the very fact that “Miss Lovely” made it to theatres and big names like Imtiaz Ali, Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan ditched the beaten path is laudable.
Queen bee
Female protagonists continue to garner mainstream space without shouting from the rooftops as “Queen” and “Bobby Jasoos” effortlessly proved. In “Hasee To Phasee”, we saw a polymer scientist stealing from her house to push her research. The suspense in “Dedh Ishqiya” hinged on a lesbian relationship. Bobby could have easily been a wannabe journalist or a hairstylist struggling to find acceptance in a conservative Muslim family of the 21st Century where the sherwani and beard may not be de rigueur, but a working girl is still taboo. Similarly Pinky, the aspiring actress of “Miss Lovely”, presents a new, complex face of the Bollywood heroine. People like Kangana’s performance, but she is not the only reason for making “Queen” find universal acceptance. It is the way she finds her feet on her own terms that makes it refreshing. So does the presence of a liberal grandmother who nudges her to fulfil her dream, a stripper with a conscientious soul and a bed-hopping friend who makes her and the audience get over value judgment.
But those who thought it had become a formula were in for a shock as “Gulab Gang” and “Kaanchi” proved to be disasters.
The dilution of formula
The tepid response to “Jai Ho”, “Gunday” and “Humshakals” prove that the audience want some meat in their masala and that reputations will last only for the first three days. Only the Akshay Kumar-starrer “Holiday” managed to have a life beyond Sunday, thanks to A.R Mugugadoss’ imaginative handling of the Tamil original.
The commercial players are realising the importance of rooted characters and relatable premises. Perhaps that’s why Karan Johar joined hands with Anurag Kashyap in “Hasee Toh Phasee”, Mahesh Bhatt backed Hansal Mehta in “Citylights” and 20th Century Fox released “Hawa Hawaai”
Healthy new crop
A new crop of stars is in the making, able to carry a weak script with their charisma and acting chops. Through the commercial success of “Main Tera Hero”, “2 States” and “Ek Villain” we discovered that Varun Dhawan’s eagerness to step into Salman Khan’s space is not misplaced. Her general knowledge may be pedestrian, but Alia Bhatt has got the talent to make us laugh and cry. When Siddharth Malhotra stood against the screen showing “Shahanshah” in “Ek Villain”, comparisons with Amitabh Bachchan were drawn. Early days, but the boy knows how to brood and blast. Similarly, if Arjun Kapoor could keep his scowls in check, he could fill the ambiguity between an antagonist and a protagonist. Amidst all these wannabe stars, Rajkumar Rao consolidated his position as the actor who astonishes with understatement. He has already done it twice this year in roles as diverse as day and night.
Political flavour
For the first time, a string of films was timed to release alongside the General Elections. However, only “Bhootnath Returns” found favour with audiences, and “Dekh Tamasha Dekh” was applauded by critics.
Once more
The writers continue to get inspired by regional or exotic stuff, so remakes continue to hold sway. “Holiday”, “Citylights” and “Ek Villain”, the three most talked about films of the first half of the year, have very little originality to them.
The LOL variety
With cinema tickets coming without any feedback forms, one can guess that the surprise success of films like “Yaariyan”, “Ragini MMS-2”, “The Expose” and “Heropanti” could be attributed to the fact that there is a young breed of audience that watches films in groups to laugh at the ludicrous content and the loony performers.
The Singh effect
Bollywood music is in for a change. The playback singer is losing value and multiple composers working on one film is the norm. On one end are Yo Yo Honey Singh, Mika and the Meet Brothers who are combining the rustic male gaze and his world view in verse. They are celebrating boozing and the disorientation caused by it in times when the Censor Board has put restrictions on scenes of smoking. Songs like “Char botal vodka, kaam mera rozka” are not the best advertisements for an industry that is trying to put together a progressive face. At the other end of the spectrum is another Singh called Arijit Singh. From the peppy “Tera Dhyan Kidhar Hai” to the poignant “Muskurane Ki Wajah Tum Ho”, Arijit is lending his voice to almost every second song being recorded these days and could be heard on a loop.
The alternative
Documentary films are slowly emerging as the alternative to the popular narrative. In fact Nishtha Jain’s “Gulabi Gang”, a documentary on Sampat Pal, took the wind out of the sails of the Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla-led “Gulab Gang”, a fictionalised account of Pal’s life. Backed by Anand Gandhi, the film was strategically released a week before the Bollywood biggie and did decent business at the turnstiles. Similarly, Nisha Pahuja’s “The World Before Her” survived on the circuit for more than a week.
The indie wave continues to make its presence felt with “Filmistaan”, a small, light-hearted satire about a Bollywood-crazy boy lost in Pakistan, managing to hold its own against “Holiday”. However, it also proves that independent films are also falling in the trap of ‘safe’ genres like comedy and romance because the audience is not game to face the dilemmas of “Manjunath” and “Children of War”.
Well, this could be the new net!
