Scripting success
ZIYA US SALAM
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It was a fabulous year for Bollywood as it embraced professionalism.
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BREATHTAKING BOLLYWOOD Stills from , "Don"
As the year draws to a close, it is the time for critics and cinemagoers alike to rave about how Bollywood kept them smiling this year with films like "Lage Raho Munnabhai", "Phir Hera Pheri", "Golmaal", "Malamaal Weekly", and the relatively more surprising "Pyar ke Side Effects" and "Khosla ka Ghosla". But isn't that obvious? Look a little more carefully at all the hits the industry has churned out this year, and names like "Rang De Basanti", "Fanaa", "Krrish", "Gangster", "Omkara", "Don" and "Vivah", come to the mind in what has been a remarkable year for Bollywood, arguably the best in 20 years. Box office figures apart, this is really the year when the Hindi film industry has turned the corner. It has been a year when things have become more professional, script writing has become an important art, story-telling a craft, and promoting the film in the right market an essential tool. Not to forget music, which continues to be an able companion.
Says ace filmmaker Krishna Shah, who once gave us "Shalimar", then branched out to find the olive in Hollywood, "The scripts of films like `Lage Raho Munnabhai' and `Pyar ke Side Effects' have been so concise, so focussed. `Lage Raho... .' in particular, was an incredible piece of work. It had a wonderful crossover script. As good as any Hollywood studio would want. A fine script is a weapon." Incidentally, the script of `Lage Raho... ' was penned by Abhijat Joshi, a U.S.-based academic He spent two years with the director of the film, Rajkumar Hirani, going for long walks to sort out the scenes of the film.
Chips in seasoned filmmaker Saied Mirza, "For the first time ever, Bollywood is beginning to focus on scripts. Earlier we often used to criticise the industry for writing the script on the sets. It is changing now." Adds Dibakar Banerjee whose "Khosla... " surprised many, "The audiences have matured. The same guys come to see `Omkara', `Dhoom-2' and `Khosla... '. We rehearsed for 10 days, improvised, then went for shooting with a well developed script and screenplay."
"Rang De Basanti"
The point is reiterated by Ketan Mehta, whose own "Mangal Pandey" left the cinemagoers disappointed last year, "Everybody is talking of Indian cinema. This explosive growth is both a challenge as well as a tribute. The new age cinema is script-driven. Unfortunately, it is less talent driven, more star or studio-driven."
However, stars and studios were no guarantee of great returns, merely a good initial. A case in point was the much-touted "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna". It had stars, studios, everything, including the hype. All that it lacked in was substance, and the cinemagoers rejected the film once the initial reports poured in. Much like "Baabul" where in a complete bizarre scenario the hero played golf, and his uncle opposed widow marriage. Or an assembly line of films from the Ramgopal Varma school.
Says filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, "These films confused genius with good public relations and big budget. Being smarter with rhetoric is not good enough."
"Omkara"
Planned to perfection
Completely different was the case with "Rang De Basanti". "We wanted to make sure that each and every scene was planned to perfection. It took a lot of research and painstaking effort. But the film was a hit beyond our expectations," shares Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the director of "Rang De Basanti", which is also India's official entry for the Oscar's this year. Mehra experimented with the genre of patriotism, cut out jingoism, introduced the youth to the past. And left everybody happy.
Meanwhile, the good old house of Rajshri Productions scored with "Vivah". The house which gives us films steeped in Indian tradition, often regarded obsolete by the urban-centric media, kept in touch with the changing pulse. "Vivah" was released online too, becoming the first film anywhere in the world to do so. Says Amit Khanna of Film and TV Producers Guild, "We should stand up and salute the Rajshris for simultaneously releasing the film online. I don't think something like that has been done in Hollywood either. You just go to the site, pay up and watch the film. We are moving in the right direction. All what needs to be done now is a change on how we sell our films." Adds Bobby Bedi, whose film "Guru" is all set to be screened in Toronto alongside its Indian commercial release in January, "There is a large space for Indian films of all genres. Besides the traditional domestic market, we also cater to the Indian Diaspora and non-traditional markets are opening up in places like Germany and Turkey." Little wonder, according to industry estimates, the exports of the entertainment sector have netted Rs.1500 crores.
"Krrish"
However, it is not just in script writing, promoting or marketing itself that Bollywood scored. Music, as usual, worked. Backed with some soulful lyrics and soothing music, "Gangster" hit the bull's eye without any star. As Bhatt says, "It did exceptionally well. As did `Woh Lamhe'," adding, "more and more filmmakers like Rakeysh, Anuraag Basu, Nagesh Kukunoor, Mohit Suri are ready to listen to their own conscience."
Says Madhur Bhandarkar, whose "Corporate" did not do badly at the box office without setting new records, "In our respective ways, we are trying to resist the market pressure. I am an experimental filmmaker who found it difficult to have his way initially, Now, of course with the success of my films like `Chandni Bar', `Page Three' and `Corporate', it is easier to make a film with my own sensibility."
"Lage Raho Munnabhai ".
Defiant filmmaker
Not giving in to the market pressure, and preferring defeat at the turnstiles to a loss of face is Tanuja Chandra. Her film "Zindaggi Rocks" failed the test but, says the defiant filmmaker, "If you cannot make a film the way you want or succumb to every demand of the distributors, then you might as well sit at home." Her "Zindaggi Rocks" failed here but there was compensation elsewhere. "Hope and a Little Sugar", her other essay, got a screening in New York, and attracted rave reviews when it was screened at the International Film Festival of India in Goa this year. "We worked online. I had not even met my producers before landing up for the shooting," reveals Tanuja.
"Vivah"
Bhatt strikes a word of caution. "The industry has this habit of congratulating itself. Better promotion and smarter investment cannot veil the inadequacy of filmmaking, the complete bankruptcy of creativity. Bollywood needs state of the heart, not state of the art technology."
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