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Littered with big-budget disasters, Bollywood’s 2009 progress report had very few bright spots, writes
Saibal Chatterjee
When the year began, the Mumbai movie industry seemed to be on a roll. In the last quarter of 2008, it had delivered a quartet of hits though they were not necessarily great films — Dostana, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Fashion and Ghajini. And it had an impressive series of big-ticket releases lined up for the months up ahead. Bollywood had reason to be gung-ho despite the recessionary tendencies that were gathering momentum on the horizon. Then Chandni Chowk to China happened. The first big Bollywood movie of 2009 blew away the air of excitement. It was Hollywood major Warner Bros’ maiden foray into the Indian movie production sector. The film, a turgid mess, went nowhere. And it wasn’t the only flop of the year for Akshay Kumar. Nagesh Kukunoor’s 8X10 Tasveer and Anthony D’ Souza’s Blue, too, sank without a trace. The only hit that Akshay managed during the year was Kambakht Ishq, a film so outrageously unsavoury that it probably shouldn’t have been made in the first place. But, then, who has ever suspected mainstream Bollywood of possessing good sense? The industry continued down the same path for the rest of the year, churning out much-hyped movies that simply did not have enough going for them. The worst of the lot was the multi-starrer Blue, touted as India’s first underwater thriller. Featuring Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif and bikini babe Lara Dutta in the cast, the Rs 80-crore film scaled new heights of vacuity. The hype machine went into overdrive — even as Blue ran to empty houses, the publicity spin doctors claimed that the film’s opening weekend collections had smashed all records. Two other films released on the same Friday as Blue — the Ajay Devgan-produced comedy All The Best and the Salman Khan-Kareena Kapoor starrer Main Aur Mrs Khanna — also gave Bollywood the blues. Salman, teaming up with Ajay Devgan, encountered another major reverse in the form of Vipul Shah’s magnum opus London Dreams. With two forty-something actors playing wannabe rock stars, the film had disaster written on it. Salman recovered a bit of ground later in the year with the action flick Wanted, directed by Prabhu Deva. Among other turkeys of the year were the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Aladdin, completely devoid of magic; Ashutosh Gowarikar’s first stab at the romantic comedy genre, What’s Your Raashee?, overlong and drab despite Priyanka Chopra making a strong impression; a newly toned Rani Mukherjee’s comeback vehicle, Dil Bole Hadippa, which left the audience completely cold.
One Bollywood star who spread a bit of cheer in 2009 was Ranbir Kapoor. Seen in three films — Wake Up Sid, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Rocket Singh — Salesman of the Year — he established himself as the most talented Mumbai actor of his generation. Although only one of these releases — Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, made an impact at the box office, Ranbir’s own stock soared on the wings of the convincing performances that he came up with in all three. In the ultimate analysis, 2009 was a so-near-yet-so-far kind of year for Bollywood. Mumbai filmmakers could have had the world at their feet if only they knew how to. The golden run of Danny Boyle’s remarkable Slumdog Millionaire, which scooped up major awards around the world with astounding regularity, demonstrated that the often-maligned Mumbai filmmaking idiom can be parlayed into all-conquering cinema with a bit of foresight and talent. But Bollywood failed to cash in on the giant global buzz that Slumdog Millionaire generated. The big stars tried their best, but their best wasn’t good enough. Shah Rukh Khan teamed up with the king of comedies Priyadarshan to give pure drama a shot. However, the self-produced Billu, despite a sterling performance from Irrfan Khan, received a lukewarm response from the audience. Yet another film that Bollywood had pinned its hopes on, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6, failed to live up to its promise despite A.R. Rahman’s great musical score and Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor’s well-received star turns.
As the year drew to a close, ageing megastar Amitabh Bachchan, with an unusual role in Balki’s Paa, generated some excitement among fans. The film saw him playing a 13-year-old afflicted by progeria, with Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan in the roles of the parents. The unique concept and heart-warming storyline attracted their share of attention, but, as with much else that Mumbai cinema delivered in 2009, the film fell well short of greatness. But amid the box-office bloodbath, the year saw the release of a slew of interesting debut films — Zoya Akhtar’s Luck by Chance, starring Hrithik Roshan, Ayan Mukherjee’s Wake up Sid, Nandita Das’ Firaaq and Sooni Taraporevala’s English-language drama, Little Zizou. Even as recession led to a slowdown in film production, the Mumbai movie industry was caught in a bind of its own making. As producers and multiplex owners slugged it out over the question of sharing the spoils of the film exhibition business, the flow of new releases in the metropolitan multi-screen facilities all but dried up for several weeks in the second quarter of the year. The gloves were off in this street fight between representatives of the two bulwarks of the Mumbai movie industry. The repercussions of the recession were felt all around. Producers tightened their belts and an element of realism seeped into the manner in which films were planned and executed. In the weeks leading up to the multiplex boycott, lovers of quality big screen entertainment had little to complain about. They had a remarkable bunch of small films to choose from — Little Zizou, Firaaq, Raja Menon’s Barah Anna, Anurag Kashyap’s Gulaal and Deepa Mehta’s Heaven On Earth, among others. Unfortunately, none of these films was promoted as aggressively as they deserved to be. As the dwindling cash flow made the lean-and-mean film a necessity rather just another indulgence, a strong case was made for a complete overhaul of the industry’s production and distribution strategies. But by the end of the year, Bollywood was back to its old profligate ways. The fact that a monstrosity like Kambakht Ishq was the only monster hit of the year probably says something about the sort of ride it was. It proved that mindless pulp, when buttressed by a hyperactive publicity strategy, still works. But, no matter what, it does little to help the cause of a movie industry that is supposedly seeking to reinvent itself. Among the more palatable success stories of the year were represented by Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D, Kabir Khan’s New York, Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal and Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey, which sought to bolster Bollywood’s ongoing experimentation with themes and styles designed to close the divide between intrinsic cinematic quality and mass acceptance. Each of the above-mentioned directors has developed a distinct identity of his own. Not only have their films garnered wide critical applause, all of them have succeeded in pulling in the crowds for their kind of cinema. However, going strictly by the evidence provided by the latest films made by these men, they appear to be falling into the trap that stems from complacency. Dev D., for instance, is an interesting modern take on a classic tale — Kashyap relocates the drama to the Punjab countryside and Delhi — but the film is marred by an overload of stylistic gimmickry drawn from cinematic traditions that have their roots elsewhere. Pretty much could be said about Kaminey, one of the most keenly anticipated films of the year. It is another stylised exploration by Bharadwaj of the dark side of the human psyche — it is essentially an extension of Maqbool and Omkara. But with regard to structure, texture and substance, it stands alone. Maqbool and Omkara had the depth of Shakespearean characters to fall back on. Kaminey doesn’t. It is peopled by crooked gangsters and smarmy gamblers, who seem to exist in an amoral limbo. The plot is way too twisted, and the technical attributes are overly derivative. So, despite the inspired moments that liven up the film — especially impressive is the unconventional manner in which Bharadwaj employs songs and the background score — Kaminey doesn’t become the great piece of cinema that it could so easily have been. The dimly lit interiors that lent an edgy quality to Omkara tend to degenerate into self-conscious obfuscation in Kaminey. The air of menace that hung so heavy over Maqbool is dissipated as a result of the unduly frenetic camerawork and the intrusively flashy editing in Kaminey. Bharadwaj is one of Mumbai’s most gifted filmmakers and is blessed with a unique vision. It was, therefore, hugely disappointing to see him succumb to the temptation of embracing an alien cinematic idiom. He is too good for that. The problem with New York and Love Aaj Kal, both competent films that are watchable for the most part, is somewhat different. The two films have interesting themes — New York looks at what it means to be Muslim in a post-9/11 USA; Love Aaj Kal delves into love lost and found across two time zones. What they don’t have is genuine frisson. New York is exasperatingly inert and Love Aaj Kal is uneven. Kabir and Imtiaz are capable of much better work. Unfortunately, the two films were box office hits and chances are that the two promising directors will opt to give us more of the same the next time around too. That would be seriously detrimental to Bollywood’s long-term prospects.
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