The crisis of Hindi Cinema

I think we are somehow not catching the bull by the horn or perhaps we are refusing to address the elephant in the room. And it is evident that Hindi cinema is right now in a moment of delusion; a moment of crisis and perhaps a time when ideas have simply stopped coming in. The plots are wafer thin, the story lines are brittle and fragile and the context of it all simply refuses to explore beyond the obvious. In contrast, regional cinema is doing much better. They have stories, they have plots and I would believe that there is so much happening right now in smaller cities of India, that there are tales to tell. Watching Vihir a Marathi movie on Zee 5 is a case in point. It tells you about how death in the family is mourned from a child's perspective. Death is often considered a loss for adults only. Why? Does the child not seem to bear the pain or the suffering? Does the child not see through the vacuum that gets created with the loss? Or the child does not sync with the thought or the reality of the death in the family?

A Hindi cinema (so far) is revenge driven or taking to crime driven soiree when death happens. Nothing beyond the cliché. But, Vihir, this little gem from Marathi cinema that captures the pains and the pangs so beautifully. And that is where my point is. Why does Hindi cinema not look beyond the obvious? And even if it does, there are an assembly line of films which just keeps getting churned on the same plank. A franchise if it works; then ideally build on it. We do not even do that (Don the franchise of Excel Entertainment fizzled out). Also, we seem to be very sorry or apologetic about our commercial brand of cinema. Hollywood is not, in that context. Maybe a thing about white supremacy and all that shit. I remember in a Jio Mami meet Rohit Shetty was unapologetic and went on to say that if he pulls stunts with his cars; he is questioned. But a Vin Diesel or Jason Statham (in a Fast and Furious Franchise) simply pushes aside the missile that lands in front of him with bare hands and is never questioned. The premise of Shetty was spot on. We are either too apologetic or perhaps feel sorry for what we produce. And his Golmaal, and Singham still works, because it is unabashed and hassle free. and unapologetic  

The classic 80's films coming from the Mehul Kumar genre of factory were perhaps far better placed. In all the madness, the characters were better placed and believable. The dialogues and the scenes were larger than life and a single Raj Kumar or Nana Patekar could lift the entire deadbeat plot on their shoulders. But, today a Salman starrer is believed to be cringeworthy. Why? Because audience feels sorry about the proceedings or typecast the Salman audience to be the downgrade crass and uneducated. And in the 90's the same audience laughed at Govinda's comic timing or his flair for dance or his knack for whacky costumes. I guess, somewhere, we also as audience are too be blamed and film makers also are at the receiving end of it. 

Some of the big superstars of today are at a moment of identity crisis and unable to figure out the new image they would like to carve. Still stuck catering to the NRI and the middle East crowd and a few of them have been riding on the nationalistic jingoism wave too. The Pandemic perhaps has given time to the industry (and the superstars) to sit back and look at what can work or what cannot. For one, the big banners are extremely cautious now and randomly not putting the money and especially where there is the mouth. Second, the OTT medium is now giving some gems to watch. But, it seems that OTT will soon be beaten to death. Third, I feel that the audience in the pandemic and lockdown era had time to themselves and looked at cinema differently. What happens, when hopefully the new narrative is settled in will be a thing to observe. Fourth, I hope that filmmakers also do not take their audience for granted. A lot of them did and have faced the consequences (a la Thugs of Hindustan types). 

Producers are cautious too and are unwilling to put in money on new and off-beat ideas (a few isolated cases do keep on rising). Even if it is done, the marketing of it is so limited that at the end of it, there are few who know and even fewer who see. A movie like Help released on Netflix in January came to India after two years when all the festival circuit etc. was covered. However, I doubt the shelf life of the movie would last beyond a month or so. The Lunchbox, a gem from 2013 only saw the bigger landscape after Dharma Productions backed it. And I sense, that perhaps is the need of the hour. Hindi cinema in the catharsis of ideas and the clichés needs freshness and innovation. But more significantly will need backers and big ones. People who believe in the thought and the film. 

It might also be all about the economics of film making. A small film, can work wonders if it does well (Badhaai Ho, Vicky Donor etc. etc.) and big film will anyways recover money from the numerous rights they sell. When making those smaller films or backing those it is important to delve into the context a lot deeper. Today, the country is on a cusp of new things happening. It is a dichotomy that brings in new thoughts and new ideas and perhaps it is disturbing too at times. But for filmmakers they provide the right platform to showcase. From Hathras to Hoshangabad, from Baramulla to Bareilly, from Bengal to Gujarat there are many a tales unfolding. 

Regional cinema is better placed to capture those nuances but it should not stop filmmakers from mainstream Hindi cinema to stop exploring. In a Scoopwhoop interview, Tigmanshu Dhulia said it aptly. The struggle of the first generation of Hindi film makers reflected in their work. Their off-springs never saw that struggle and it never reflects in their brand of cinema. And, perhaps a story or a plot or an idea often comes from struggle and the fight for survival and beyond. Remember, Rockstar the movie and the protagonist.  

A side take here; Hollywood in the 70's was producing some of the finest and that was the struggle that the baby boomers went through. I think struggle was at times experienced in the frustrations of underachievers or the struggles of being accepted or even maybe losing hope or may be about identity crisis. Struggles necessarily do not have to be a "Do Bigha Zameen" or the "Deewar" mode. The struggles that our millennials go through across cities are fodder for a generation of writers. Imagine struggle of a millennial in the city of Indore or Siliguri or Ludhiana or Junagadh are so heterogenous yet so homogenous. I think the Manohar Kahaniya and Satya Kathaye type of pulp fiction has made way for Crime Patrol and Savdhaan India, which has made plots worse and unimaginative. Let us get back to cinema which is meaningful and entertaining and promising and is of HOPE. Cinema must give us hope because that hope is all what we do or what we try to do. In the deepest heartlands of the country the hope is the biggest asset that the people have and cinema still remains a big vent for hope. Let us not let them down.      

By the way Marte Dum Tak streams on YouTube. Go Watch!