I wanted a change, but not this.
I am talking about the Bollywood industry. As a cinema lover and an Indian, I have grown up watching many Bollywood movies. I was not very fond of Bollywood movies. Five or six years back, you would have found me among the group criticizing Bollywood commercial movies. But that was different from now. We were criticizing commercial movies because of our love for cinema. We didn’t hate it; we wanted it to change for good. Now there is hate for Bollywood movies for the sake of hating them. They hate it due to political or religious reasons. What! How did this happen? The current Bollywood hate trend is not even related to cinema. It’s just toxic hate. Before ranting more, let me provide some context first.
Why I wanted a change? A walkthrough
My parents come from a time when cinema halls were like gathering. It was an event. There was a concept of mobile cinema theatres. It’s an event where everyone gathered to witness a spectacle unfold. Indian cinemas before the 70s are termed the golden age of Indian cinema. During the 70s, Bollywood movies shifted towards so-called masala movies. There are many good Masala movies, for example, “Sholay”, probably the most recognized movie of the 70s. That movie is Lord of the Rings or Avengers Endgame of that age. My parents told me about their big screen experience with Sholay. It really left some impression. But Bollywood masala movies of my time took only bad notes from that era.
In the late 1980s, more people began to own TVs. It was around this time the era of romantic musical movies began to become a thing in the Bollywood industry. There are many good movies. It started good but then became worse over time.
I can watch movies of any genre, be it action, drama, horror, comedy, thriller, etc., but if there is one genre for which I have a distaste is romantic movies, and I blame Bollywood movies for that.
Then came the 90s. This period is responsible for what happened in the next two decades. By the time I was born, TV was in almost everyone’s house. When I was a child, TV was the main source of watching movies for the common public.
I come from a weird generation where I am neither a proper millennial nor a proper Gen Z. I have seen floppy disks on its last days.
What did they use to show on TV when I was a child? Yes, the 90s Bollywood movies. The same cliched romantic movies like “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Hum Saath-Saath Hain” etc.
This era saw the rise of Bollywood stars like Shahrukh khan and Salman Khan. For some reason, when I grew up, Bollywood decided to mix all the previously mentioned aspects, and then came the era of Bollywood commercial movies.
Here is the Blueprint of typical Bollywood commercial movies:
- Actors are not actors but bodybuilders.
- The lead actress is there only for charm.
- There will be one item number necessarily
- Write a screenplay based on the star instead of choosing an actor based on the screenplay.
- Illogical scenes.
- The theme will always be romantic love.
- Cliché plot.
- Random musical in between the movie.
This is the type of mainstream Bollywood movie I have grown up watching. They took the joy of cinema from me. There are a few obvious exceptions, but those were overshadowed by the Bollywood commercial movies.
Was I wrong If I wanted a change?
What changed, and why am I not in support of that?
The introduction of OTTs changed how the film industry works. People discovered a whole new set of movies, and they realized how far behind mainstream Bollywood movies are in some aspects. The competition is now global. People can watch any movie anytime. For example, what were the chances I could have ever watched “Pan’s Labyrinth”, a Spanish movie? Or let’s say “The call”, a Korean movie? There is no single good movie I can think of from mainstream Bollywood movies in the last two decades in the same genre. There is one which just came into my mind, “Tumbbad”, but 1 or 2 movies in two decades are not a very good track record. This should have been a good change, but in the real world, things work differently. Maybe the audience feels betrayed.
Then there is the case of nepotism in the Bollywood industry. Maybe all these factors developed a kind of hate. Politics and religion made the situation worse. Now the movies are either supposed to be liberal or pro-Hindu. Why can’t the movie be just a movie? I wanted a constructive change. This is destructive.
Bollywood industry is still trying to figure out what to change. The latest movie, “Pathan”, checks many points from the Blueprint mentioned above. I don’t have very high hopes from the movie, but I don’t support the hate campaign either.
Why I don’t support it? Because this is hating for the sake of hating. Let me give an example of “Pathan” only. People have complained about a particular video song of the movie. I haven’t even watched the video song, but the point here is not that. They would have found any reason to hate that. I have seen these same guys cheering in some inappropriate scenes in the movie, “Pushpa”. This looks to me like selective outrage.
When I heard they were making a Bollywood remake of “forrest gump”, one of my all-time favourites, I was excited to see what they would do. The movie was not good, but at least they tried. Still, this movie can be an introduction to the philosophy shown in forrest gump. But the hate campaign took all the highlight.
These hate campaigns are a hindrance to any actual attempt of change.