Bollywood gets abusive

With Hindi cinema becoming realistic, the use of swear words is fast
becoming film industry’s new style, says Priyanka Sharma

Bollywood has always been about people’s cinema. And lately so has been the language, and sometimes even the titles, of Hindi films — juicy and peppered with expletives, like we hear around us most of the time.

"The use of swear words has always been there in films. If a character is involved in a certain situation, then what’s the harm in putting them in dialogues? Although, there is, indeed, a certain way of using it. Moreover, using abusive words is quite common in real life, too," said Pradeep Sarkar, who has directed films like Lafangey Parindey and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.

Examples are not hard to come by. No One Killed Jessica saw Rani Mukerji hurling abuses left, right and centre while playing a television journalist. Peepli Live also had some abusive words, so did Salman Khan’s 2009 blockbuster Wanted, though the expletives were used in a humorous way.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara saw Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan at their abusive best.

Last year, films like Ishqiya, Khatta Meetha, Tere Bin Laden had cuss words either in dialogues or songs. While Akshay Kumar-starrer Khatta Meetha had a song "Bulls***", Tere Bin Laden had a song called "Ullu Da Patha". Shah Rukh Khan danced to the tunes of "Ishq Kamina" with Aishwarya Rai in Shakti — The Power in 2002.

Even the titles of films are no longer sacrosanct. Kaminey, and more recently Yeh Saali Zindagi, are a few examples.

"The use of abusive words has become a common phenomenon in the times we are living in. With the landscape of cinema changing and movies getting real, filmmakers and actors are ready to take liberty. The use of abuses is quite common in conversational language," said Rajkumar Gupta, who directed No One Killed Jessica.

"Moreover, the censor board has also become open to different subjects and has become quite liberal in this case. Their way of approaching a subject has changed. They understand the sensibilities of the story presented in front of them," he added.

Earlier, the use of abusive words was only limited to male actors. However, as the portrayal of women gets bolder, a lot of actresses are not shying away from hurling abuses.

Rani Mukerji did so in No One Killed Jessica while Vidya Balan broke the mould with Ishqiya.

"I was very apprehensive while using slang. I have never used it in real life but I had to because the script demanded it. When you see the movie, you will understand that it is justified. The movie belongs to a certain terrain where slangs are part of their lingo," said Vidya.

Rani also said she was doing what her character demanded and was quite "comfortable" doing so.

Kareena Kapoor also got abusive in Golmaal 3 and Jab We Met, as did Divya Dutta in Delhi 6 and Kangana Ranaut in Raaz 2. Kangana Ranaut, too, has used such words in her upcoming film Tanu Weds Manu.

Of course, not all films have a smooth sailing. Many have found themselves in legal hassles due to the liberal use of cuss words.

Journalists in Patiala recently asked the police to register a case against Rani Mukerji, other actors and the filmmaker of No One Killed Jessica for showing them in a bad light.

In another instance, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had directed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to serve court notice on the producers and directors of Peepli Live, Omkara, Gangajal and Bandit Queen for using abusive language. The court was responding to a petition that challenged the makers of these films on grounds of morality and the use of offensive words in these films.

"It’s not the common man who creates such controversies. In 90 to 95 per cent of such cases are created for the sake of creating it. You would not see the aam janta saying we are not ready to accept it. They rather enjoy it," Gupta added.

However, director Abhinav Kashyap, whose Dabangg is sweeping the awards this year, prefers to keep it clean.

"I wouldn’t like to comment on others, but I don’t approve of such words in my scripts. Different people have different ways of looking at things, you would never hear such words in my films," he said. — IANS

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