These days the big news in the entertainment industry is Bollywood’s changing profile. The cause for excitement is mainly the apparent surge of new, ‘‘different’’ films. Jhankaar Beats, Jogger’s Park, Kaante, Teen Deewarein, Oops, are just some of the names being bandied about as evidence that the Hindi film industry is emerging from its straitjacket of the song-dance-fight formula or the more recent family-and-country-first theme. Suddenly there are new faces, new looks, unusual subjects and an effort — if not a leap — to break out of fantasy into reality. What are the reasons for this unexpected exuberance? The suggestions offered vary from the rise of the multiplex, expanded marketing possibilities, the emergence of niche audiences, passionate young filmmakers, etc, etc. All of which sounds fairly welcome. But is it all that new?Think back, some three decades or so. When directors such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and Basu Bhattacharya were in their prime. Recall the time when ‘‘middle of the road’’ cinema was an unassailable presence. There were films then on marital difficulties: Aavishkar, Abhiman, Kora Kagaz and, in a lighter vein, Pati Patni aur Woh. There were films that dealt with the angst of living brought on by common privations: the lack of privacy for the young bride in Piya Ka Ghar or the difficulty of finding a home in Gharonda. Social realities of the time found a way into certain films (drugs and hippies in Hare Rama Hare Krishna and illegal immigration in Des Pardes), and there were films by people like B.R. Ishaara that were more on the risque side.Films then were set in trains (Baaton Baaton Mein), at bus stops (Rajni Gandha), even in chawls (Katha). Today’s films reflect a skew. On the one hand they unabashedly revel in the gizmo-filled, self-indulgent world of the prosperous (Dil Chahta Hain, Everybody Says I’m Fine, Let’s Talk). In many of these films, externals are supremely important with much attention paid to detail such as hairstyles and sets. Even the struggling young couple in Jhankaar Beats has a home with a glossy colour coordinated music studio and yuppie essentials. Language also reflects the change, with English casually and freely interjected or sometimes forming the bulk of the script.There are also, however, films set in lower class settings — in smoky dance bars such as Chandni Bar or partly in slums as in Satya and Company. The fresh faces of the past, faces that appeared to represent real people rather than the stars were the faces of Amol Palekar, Anil Dhawan, Vidya Sinha, Zarina Wahab, Deepti Naval and others. Today their place has been taken by the likes of Rahul Bose, Manoj Bajpai and Perizaad Zorabian.How will the new trend pan out? Back in the seventies, middle of the road cinema gave way to the parallel cinema, when films such as Ankur, Aakrosh and Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hain began to raise, with uncomfortable clarity, issues of exploitation and injustice. The films at the time were made by newcomers, directors such as Shyam Benegal, Goving Nihalani and Syed Mirza and starred newcomers as well. Today perhaps the difference is that much of the experimentation is actually taking place in the mainstream. Bollywood stars seem keen now to do films of a varied kind, actually seeking out challenges in some cases. Similarly, there does not appear to be a clear dividing line for directors — the possibilities of a crossover from the mainstream to the offbeat and vice versa seem far more common. Jogger’s Park, for instance, has been made by commercial cinema kingpin Subhash Ghai. While Nagesh Kukunoor’s Teen Deewarein, a fairly chilling account of prison life, starred the likes of Juhi Chawla and Jackie Shroff.There are some in the film industry who do not share the general optimism about the future of the offbeat, claiming that the box office will put paid to many of these efforts. It is a significant consideration given that it was competition from video and the need to bring audiences into cinema halls that is said to have killed the middle of the road cinema twenty years ago. On the other hand, it is also true that there is now a breed of people working in cinema and a whole generation of viewers that expect something ‘‘different’’, something ‘‘new’’.Perhaps the more relevant question these days is: how powerful is cinema in today’s world? Films — bad, good, indifferent — have never received as much coverage and attention as they do today. But are they remembered as films of the past were? Do they still have the same impact? Are they still as important?
