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A new crop of directors has infused in Hindi cinema the much-needed freshness of approach, both in terms of content and presentation. This new-age cinema, presented through distinctive narrative styles, is finding favour with the cinegoers. The success of these low-budget films at the box-office indicates that people are looking for simple, sane entertainers which do not resort to the staple ingredients of popular cinema like sex, sleaze, titillations and mindless violence. Of late, there has been a blitzkrieg of films based on terrorism following the bomb blasts that rocked our nation. Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday uses the same backdrop but narrates a refreshingly new tale. The film examines the plight of the common man, who has been constantly subjected to violence in the city of Mumbai. In the film, a series of events unfold in a span of four hours on a fateful Wednesday when Anupam Kher, who plays the Commissioner of Police in the film, gets an anonymous call from Naseeruddin Shah demanding the release of four dreaded militants in lieu of information regarding bombs planted in four different parts of Mumbai. Abhishek Kapoor’s Rock On is an engaging tale of four friends who dream to make it big in the world of music with their rock band Magik. A simply story line, no melodrama and real-life situations make Rock On stand out and leave the audience touched. Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan is the story of a child’s obsession for his pet donkey. The film also opens ones eyes to the fact that children can be soft targets for carrying out nefarious and anti-national activities. Set after the train blasts that shook Mumbai on July 11, 2006, Mumbai Meri Jaan by Nishikant Kamat looks at life in the metro in the aftermath of the blasts. Ektaa Kapoor and Suneil Shetty joined hands to produce a satire on contemporary Indian life in EMI or Easy Monthly Instalments, a comment on today’s credit economy. It is about people who indulge in spending without thinking. Abbas Tyrewala’s Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Na tells a youthfully exuberant tale of love and friendship. Rajat Kumar Gupta’s portrayal of an NRI protagonist caught in a vortex of crime and communalism in Aamir had something different to say to the audiences. Rahul Dholakia’s Parzania was a hard-hitting, realistic effort that brought back the agony of the communal riots that shook Mahatma Gandhi’s Gujarat. The pangs of sorrow that continue to haunt a Parsi family whose son went missing during the riots and remains untraced to this day has been brought to celluloid sans frills. Rakyesh Om Prakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti experimented with the genre of patriotism. He cut out jingoism and introduced the youth to the past in a novel manner. The film was a blockbuster. Similarly, the concise and focused script of Lage Raho Munnabhai written by Abhijat Joshi was an incredible piece of work. Anurag Basu’s Life in a Metro brought us the traumas and trials of Mumbai life. According to trade analysts, there is more variety in content and this augurs well for Bollywood. The focus has shifted from size and style to content. Novel content, presentation and treatment in films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, Gandhi-My Father, Summer-2007, Anwar, Vivah have proved to be the success mantra of these off-beat and low budget films. On the contrary, much-touted films like Love Story-2050, Drona, Tashan, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Ekalvya, Salaam-e-Ishq with big stars and backed by reputed banners failed to click with the audience. The wafer-thin storylines and shallow relationships woven around song-and-dance sequences had little to hold the attention of the cinegoers. While these filmmakers spent any amount on the costumes, locations, hired the best technicians and experimented with every possible gimmick to lure the audiences, the millions spent in the production of such films with weak scripts went down the drain. Today, the only films the audience is willing to watch are those with original stories. A great deal of credit for the winds of change blowing over Bollywood goes to the new breed of young directors who have dared to defy the conventional. They have realised that unless filmmakers give something different, more stimulating and contemporary in terms of content, form and expression, the audiences will continue giving their films a miss.
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