The worst, horrendously lethal lie that I have ever come across in my life is “our movies reflect the Indian society”, as claimed by heaps of bollywood directors. Quite shamelessly they have been declaring so since decades and still continue to do so. Here I would be averring that this so called bollywood is nothing more than a crap meant to fool the Indian public and has nothing indigenous or original in it
The lack of originality starts with the name itself. The term bollywood is a copied version of Hollywood. Since ages this name was very fondly used till bollywood spread its business overseas. Bollywood personalities were mocked at the copied name and hence the new generation started calling it ‘The Hindi film industry’. But the amount of Hindi that is spoken in any award function would seriously compel you to consider the feasibility of this name. Very few actors in bollywood have a Hindi background nowadays and they are often found jibing classical Hindi and taking pride in inserting English words/phrases in their dialogues, songs and what not.
Now coming to the basic question - do our movies really reflect our society in general? Innumerable examples may be quoted. Let’s start with the basic composition of any bollywood movie – family and relations. Hot issues like rape, premarital sex, abortion etc have been dealt with such havoc in bollywood that every Indian learns this adult things right in childhood. I can bet many of us haven’t come across any such incident in reality and only face embarrassment while watching these so called family movies with family. Almost every movie in 70s’ depicted rapes under the pretext that we are showing what is happening in the society, but they only helped causing more rapes in the society. Shame on such movies and movie industry.
Most of the family movies sound more like an overdose of emotions and the irony is that the role of sati savitri is given to the most famous who** , meaning to say that actors are considered more for their face value and less for their fitness in the role. That is why you will find the great over actors like Sharukh Khan as King Khan in this great bollywood and actors like Irfan Khan, Nana Patekar, Om puri doing monotonous roles. Even good actor like Ajay devgan is rarely considered for some Yashraj banner pure romantic movie, since he is not chocolaty and wheatish people seldom love!!!
The only thing that they cannot show is some western trend of nudity or incestuous relationship due to society constraints Not astonishingly, even these have been attempted but could not create a success brigade as they got financially crippled. But thanks to Bhatt camp, one can find them again in our movies under the pretext of modern society/ young trends and other such bullshit. What about this one – even actor as old as Dilip Kumar has acted in a movie on wife swapping which is a completely borrowed subject. Hmmm, bollywood has been copying and presenting damn anything right from start.
To Be continued.........
( A very typical scenario found in every bollywood movie is the one in which young children of main lead actor or the childhood version of main lead actor is always shown being educated in some convent school under the aegis of a holy father. This scene manifests two blind assumptions at a time. Firstly, all missionaries give comparatively good character education and secondly, all aspiring youths go for English medium convents rather than some sort of Hindi medium vidya mandir. At this place, I would like that all readers should themselves probe into these blind, far away from reality depictions. One can take help of my previous posts to find out the truth behind mission of holy missionaries. So one can see how clearly our directors have been brain washing our minds to believe that whatsoever comes from west is better, no wonders why the middle class takes pride in mentioning their convent related background. Angrez chale gaye par apne kutte yahin chhod gaye. )
15 comments:
Wow, Mayank you have written on One of the issues so close to my heart. Not bashing bollywood but raising standard of our cinema and recoginizing good efforts of independent directors. I have written my bullshit on cinema enough. Bollywood is crap and it never never reflect our society in general. Nice piece of work Mayank.
And for deep understanding of our cinema and society, read Balraji Sahini speech at convocation in 1971. Speech
not quite agreed with the conclusion itself as the title..!! there are many movies which actually added the meaning to the bollywood..!! Sujata, Jaagte Raho, Shree 420, Sardar..all these movies were relevant from a point of view..sujata raised a very delicate topic of marriage of a dalit lady, Jagte raho was the mirror of the then Indian Society, Movies of Satyajit Ray-Satyakam is still very relevant, Sardar though made on one man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel but it reflected the whole Indian Society then, A Wednesday portrayed the real fist of fear, frustation and anger emerging in mass of indian society, Dil Chahta Hai too depicted a particular class of society, Dil Dosti etc too depicted a class of society..every movie can not portray every section of society, but Hindi Cinema had and have been portraying movies from and for different class of the society, not to forget Page 3, Traffic Signal etc..and as far as the term Bollywood is concerned...this should be accepted that language is human and changes are the sign of motion..it's like the same way as once "Gandhiwaad" is now "Gandhigiri" but still the notion is same..as said by Shakespeare - what's there in name??? not to forget MunnaBhai Series which too helped in depicting the Indian Society and provided with a solution too..anthr latest hindi movies Gulal and Jane tu ya jaane na though based on college life,both shown the different class belonging to same age group (college students)..the list is endless with examples..!! and these are just facts..!!only thing with which i can agree is the fact that indian actors are nowadays are getting involved with more and more english on functions..but i think this is also good from one point of view..If we want Hindi Film industry to shine globally, we shud allow liberalisation in hindi film industry also. this will increase the inflow of funds ans sponsorship to directors and they can take risk and make a movie on the subject of their choice..every director has atleast one dream story, but due to lack of sponsors they have to submit their idea and hv to take up a masaala idea..how can we expect a flood of meaningful movies then..??
I would first advise you to read tha link mentioned in second of my comments, a speech by balraj sahni
now coming to your point, Bollywood at start had meaningful films but they were and are so few that it is pointless to consider them even, u are comparing a figure of one million with just one, that sounds ridiculous. Can a college become the world's greatest college just by having one great professor..NO. Every professor and faculty needs to be great..I hope u got my point
In DCH, 40 yr old Aamir khan acted shamelessly as a teenage youth, so it is the flaw in your eye which wants to see a star in any damn possible role. Look at american pie, they dont cast tom cruise in it just because he doesnt fit
satyajit ray movies were considered mainstream movies, they are still tagged as art movies but thanks to madhur bhandarkar that art movies like page 3 got hit, but that one act makes bollywood great to you and not to me definitely.
Regarding your comments on global shining, pehle apna ghar to sambhal lo
I rememebr once u said, we should celebrate indian as well as good festivals in europe. This entire Navratri I watched u closely, u didnt even appear to be interested or did any thing peculiar or religious, so that's hypocrisy
First strengthen your home ground dear, we will see the world afterwards
I am not surprised that u want that our cinema should shine globally and hence follow the traits of Karan johar, yashraj who have done nothing so far to depict the condition of poor and only help increasing homosexuality, foreign location craze and what not
Funds? huh...perhaps u dont know that anil ambani is sponsoring steven speilberg...so who needs funds...they or us?
actually the problem is that indian middle class itself is not intersted in watching some good sensible movie, they have been habituated of masala movies and larger than life characters
mayank I am wondering if you hav gone thru some master class of Vijay tendulkar , badal sircar , swades deepak or seen any play at places like Prithvi or so .
"In DCH, 40 yr old Aamir khan acted shamelessly as a teenage youth, so it is the flaw in your eye which wants to see a star in any damn possible role" for art age no bars , if Pears Brosnan and Antonio Bandars can do so why not Amir .[:)] Please visit Hindi Bhawan of ITBHU which has ancient manuscript of Kalidasa which defined actor and acting .
what do you mean by art movies ? There is no clear cut boundary my dear .Its just money making , if we wont raise up our standard we cant expect from Bollywood , but yes one thing is true "File samaz ka aina nahin hoti hain apitu ek swakchand kala hai "
Dear I have seen art and Indian art like "Sakharam Binder", "baby", "court martial" .
"actually the problem is that indian middle class itself is not intersted in watching some good sensible movie, they have been habituated of masala movies and larger than life characters"
its true but on the other hand its a negative feedback system means both side are equally responsible .
We slams Anurag Kashyap for DEVD and Gulaal but give full marks to any bull shitt of hollywood
Theatre and bollywood cinema are two entirely different things.
But be it theater or bollywood cinema, characters are there. now in theater, actors are chosen as per - 1. popularity (even theater is not independent of this fever)
2. Context
Context is what makes any art like this beautiful. if age is no bar then why pierce brosnon doesnt play the role of an infant or child, I still find no utility in aamir playing a teenager. Perhaps instead of taking big names, I would suggest you to take some business classes and find out how bollywood movies succeed and what are the recipes that make them successful. Full packed star drama is one of the most imp ingredient of Bollywood movies, Its an open secret.
"File samaz ka aina nahin hoti hain apitu ek swakchand kala hai "
Thank God, atleast you agree with my first proposition
"its true but on the other hand its a negative feedback system means both side are equally responsible ."
You raised a good point. I would advise you to look at hollywood. They make every type of movie but sensible movies get the most money. They made good moviesand by their efforts, made people sensible too. hence I believe that the first responsibility is that of cinema, then comes the junta
"Dear I have seen art and Indian art like "Sakharam Binder", "baby", "court martial""
I could not get the context, why at all you took such big names? what were you trying to prove? I suppose you dont suppose that you are the only one who watches good things. Kindly make your point clear
"Dear I have seen art and Indian art like "Sakharam Binder", "baby", "court martial""
Baby on which chameli was based , and other two names which was raising the issue of gay , and womenizing as you mentioned that movies which related with such issues spoiling indian society .
theatre are the basics of cinematics dude .
now in theater, actors are chosen as per - 1. popularity (even theater is not independent of this fever)
its not true man go and explore most near site "the famous ravindra rangalay " of patna and kolkata .
Dude for every thing we responsible .
"kiunki saas" like serials ruled TV and crap movies likes of Farah khan ruled Bollywood .
Who care the era of Guru dutt's Pyasa or Wo saat din or Mother India.
Sometimes "Dasvidania" shocks us and we never tried to understand "No smoking".
So ppl are trying but again its masses which hindered them .
Guys like Vishal bhardhwaj , Madhur , Anurag kashyap and many more are giving and many more will join them soon but they need our support .
I still could not get you, if theater is mother or father even, what should I do
My post is over bollywood
"its not true man go and explore most near site "the famous ravindra rangalay " of patna and kolkata ."
I would advise you to look at all theater acts done by neo bollywood actors, I didn't say it happens everywhere. Even theater personalities have to earn, hence they also succumb to star power sometimes. Many of the plays are still highlighted by the actors in it. Theater is not my interest here, you are dragging the debate off context
If we talk about ourselves should we forget our parents .
I was just tried to prove that one should not call bollywood a total crap which include many scholars and artists who are also an integral part of theater , literature and other art.
If you are calling theater a crap you are abusing javed sahab , bashir badr , A.r. rahman , Yash chopra , Anurag kashyap , gulzar sahab and many more.
i agree that most of the films are not good , but even for that we are responsible . We discard films like "the last lear" and praise like"om shanti om".
All the neo bollywood directors you mentioned are damn successful
all the movies you mentioned like pyasa and mother India - they all are superhits
people have always supported a good cinema, though they were shy sometimes. Last lear was in english by the way
Bollywood involves many good people, i have little doubt over it
But the outcome is crap
Bollywood music personalities are eminent, I don't think I raised any finger over them. Music and movie content are 2 different things. I have condemned the movie content and film making process. By unnecessarily taking non-contextual names, you are making the debate go off line
Once again I refrain to comment on theater, this term has been unnecessarily dragged. I have not mentioned my views about theater anywhere. theater is the base of bollywood is another bullshit statement
Do Bollywood has a constitution which says that English films are banned .[:)].
Anyways man believe me masses donot like serious cinema.
These days with in 1 or 2 weeks producer recover their cost , who cares for a hit or flop.
I can give examples of serious cinema which was not acknowledge by masses and termed them as art movies like Pinjar, Agneewarsha, The LAst Lear, Gulaal ,1947 earth.etc.
we are creating a deadlock , if producers are trying and experimenting we called it as art movie and if go for a masala one we do criticize.
Ab karein to karein kya ?
Good points. I appreciate you
But my friend, as far as last lear is concerned, when a common man is unable to watch it, how come can it be successful/ Last lear was a good movie as per you only, I remember i read the reviews. They weren't impressive
Once again you are taking few names and proving that exceptions exist which itself is an axiom. I have blamed the film making process and the movie content. I have blamed the use of english, the use of fair coloured people, i have blamed mis - characterization (like why a well built model was chosen as villager in agneevarsha, though movie wasn't impressive either). Movie content fails and it fails in hollywood too but that doesn't mean you would turn to making bullshit. what kind of excuse is this? atleast when you are making such bullshit, dont cliam that our movies are the mirror of society.
art and commercial - this classification is done in bollywood only. by bringing out this classfication, you are basically supporting me only.
all the movies you mentioned were having some flaw which I am not going to point to, but rememeber that some good movies have become a hit too. I can give 100 names too.
So you just have to be more perfect, instead of turning back to bullshit
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