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The dreams, hopes and fears of the bubblegum brigade are all finding a place of their own on the big screen, writes Asha Singh
Bollywood film-makers are getting youth-obsessed. From Dhoom and Kaal to Kya Kool Hain Hum to Kal – Yesterday and Tomorrow and Rang De Basanti, the mantra is now to celebrate body oil and bikes, lots of cleavage, sex jokes, SMS and of course foreign locations. "It’s all about English education and loving one’s family," quips Sudhir Mishra, director of another youth film, Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi. "It is about consumerism and aspiration. The post-liberalisation generation has accepted an alternative lifestyle and thinks fashion is a democratic right." While Hazaaron Khwaishen… is about three youngsters growing up in the 1970s, Kya Kool Hain Hum revolves around two "desperately in search of cool" boys 30 years later. But Rang De Basanti tries to capture five aimless young men on a discovery of India while working for a documentary of the 1930s. The themes are as varied as their storylines. But the one thing common is the influence of films like Yeh Dil Maange More and Dil Chahta Hai when the confusion of India’s urban youth in finding an identity of their own was first played up on screen. This so-called "youth angst" crystallised in the recent in the latest adventure-ghost tale Kaal, wherein every character is a walking billboard: Vivek Oberoi wears Diesel, Lara Dutta and Esha Deol wear Manish Malhotra and John Abraham wears a python and body art that spells mohabbat (love) in Urdu. "My director (Soham) is only 29 and he understands what works," says producer Karan Johar defensively. "The youth are not as mindless as we believe them to be. They don’t spend all their time in Baristas and discos. They are connected to politics and relationships at an aesthetic level." The perception works. For, according to distributors, 50 per cent of the footfall in multiplexes is of those in the age group of 18 to 30 years. The biggest spenders on popcorn and refreshments at theatres are in the 18-35 age group. These bubblegum crackers are targeted essentially at them. — MF |
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