I don't know where to start or where
to end when it comes to expressing any thoughts, views, opinions about modern
day Bollywood.
Post the “Dabbangg” spectacle, every
film seems to be an eclectic hodge-podge of the following in order to become a
blockbuster (though only God knows why):
1.Slow-motion-bottle-smashing-on-the-head
2.Insanely bad dialogues with a catchline
or two that people are supposed to remember in the history of Bollywood
3.Song lyrics such that might just
eat your brains out
4.Background score that sound the
same with the same beats on 'dhols' and the wolf-whistles,
5.A hip swishing scantily clad woman
who appears for that one(sometimes 2 or 3 these days) blockbuster song(s) who
people go gaga over.
6.A signature dance move for a
particular song that may be as simple as standing in one place,turning one's
back to the camera and scratching one's hair to the beats of the song (until
maybe,one has cleared all of his/her dandruff out.)
A movie or two in a whole year with
the above elements are cool. Instead, a movie or two in a whole year without
the above elements is what we get in the basket of films that arrive in the
year.
Every movie seems to be loud,too
full of the 'masala' and too full of slow motion action sequences with a
subplot involving some 2 people who are in love.
Result: Every movie is the
same.
And people love every of these
films.
Oh,and also,the recent spate of
songs that talk about whiskey,rum,'nasha', 'daaru' etc.I do understand that the
lyricists do not aim these at anyone or anything and they write about the
situation in the movie but isn't it now getting overdone? What is that about?
There is a segment of Bollywood that
still stays true to itself, but is it fair that the makers of films in this
section do not receive the same kind of attention,adulation, and money to go on
weaving their magic? Instead,the youth of India,who are supposed to be
the empowered ones, the ones who understand everything better, lap up movies
with the aforementioned formula. I am part of that same set of young people yet
somehow I feel sad that such movies need to be made in order to just cater to
the whims and fancies of people which frankly, seem to be just absurd. How is
it possible that the youth then goes ahead and helps rake in so much money for
these movies when there are expectations far greater from us? Does it provide
an insight into the mindsets of the people or am I wrong in thinking so?
What happened to the fantastic
stuff, where did all the magic go?
Stuff like this used to rule the
billboards as well as our heads at one point of time:
"Likhate rahe hai tumhe roj hi
Magar khwaisho ke khat kabhi bheje hi nahi
Kabhi padhana wo chitthiya
Aankho ke pani pe rakhna wo chitthiya
Tairati najar aayegi jana
Gote khati aati hui laharo pe jati hui
ladki"
And then there is this: Stuff
like this rules the billboards as well as heads now:
"Night club mai
aaya, mai toh
Mujhko rokega kon aur
kaiko
Maira mood mai dance
karega
Kisika daddy sai ni
darega
Jisko jo bi hai wo karna
wo kar lo
Idhar hi hoon mai khada
pakad lo
Ghar pe jaake tum Google
kar lo
Mere bare me Wikipedia pe
padh lo
Lungi dance, lungi
dance..."
Hariharan sang the first
one and the latter is sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh. I think that's enough to guess
why the magic is gone.
Where is the poetry,the
tunes to find solace in ,the flow of words seamlessly connecting
with our heart even in
the worst of times?
Where are the films that
we could watch over and over again for the sheer brilliance of the moving
story, for the connection we felt to the characters,for the fantastic parts
played by the actors? Except for an occasional one of those in the theater
these days, the ones you’d wanna go back to are really locked away in those
dusty VHS tapes,CD’s, DVD’s and in your own memories.
Excess of anything has
always been bad. Right from the time those Moral Science books,the teachers and
your parents told you so.
I am guessing this new
Bollywood never went to school.
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