Today, Hindi Cinema is one of the biggest growing sectors of the
Indian economy. Experts project the industry to reach a net worth of a
whooping 28 billion USD by the year 2015. Those statistics are pretty
impressive, right? But where is all that growth coming from? We all know
that India, along with China, is the home of the greatest economic boom
in recent times, due to governmental decisions and practices. However,
it is unassailable that the content of the entertainment, specifically film, has also vastly improved.
As
a first-generation Indian American, I have grown up with the influence
of not only Indian culture, food and language, but
entertainment. The entertainment has served as a gateway back to my
roots and country. We all remember the 1980s and '90s, when every movie
had
the NRI son, Raj or Prem, who wooed the cultured village girl, while
singing in the fields to Jatin-Lalit or Anu Malik's tunes. We all loved
it then (and even today), but it doesn't always translate to "quality"
cinema in today's world. Don't get me wrong, I love movies like, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Maine Pyar Kiya,
but too many of any one thing gets repetitive. Today, Hindi cinema is
churning out movies on every topic and can feed the audience's every
appetite. I love that about today's cinema. I love being able to choose
from relatively risque films, like Ragini MMS or action-packed masala movies, like Dabangg,
while still watching an Indian movie. I am loving almost everything
about Hindi films these days, despite the unrelenting negative criticism
by critics. Nevertheless, I wish today's directors and producers would
re-examine...WOMAN!
Now, let's role back to the "golden era". I don't think that any world
cinema, now or ever, can compete with the Indian films of the 1950s and
'60s. Raj Kapoor (look at the background folks), known for beautifully
depicting his actresses on-screen, gave some of the greatest films. He
produced, directed and acted in films that took on every topic: romance,
society, tragedy and more. In movies, like Sangam and Shree 420, Raj
illustrated the realities of relationships and life, while showing woman
with real, raw emotions. In his 1964 film, Sangam,
actress Vyjantimala plays a woman who marries Raj, despite being in
love with his childhood friend, played by Rajendra Kumar. However, she
soon realizes her commitment to Raj and fully devotes herself to their
marriage. Rajendra returns as the third wheel in the marriage, much to
Vyjantimala's indignation. She leaves no stone unturned in threatening
Rajendra and hiding her past secrets. Her high voltage scenes from that
movie give me goosebumps to this day. Vyjantimala's dialogues, feelings
and thoughts overshadowed those of Raj's and Rajendra's characters, by a
long shot. Raj Kapoor, also known as the "Showman", was one of the first
filmmakers to actually mold female characters. However, the business of
cinema is unassailably one of the most risky businesses. In 1970, his
most ambitious project, Mera Naam Joker, miserably failed at the
box office. His financial state to fell to such a point, that he not
only mortgaged his famous RK studios, but even, his wife's jewelery.
That year, the "Showman" decided to slightly change his film style and
made one of my favorite films, Bobby, which
launched not only his son, Rishi Kapoor, but also, Dimple Kapadia,
the heroine whose character the film was named after. The name of the
film was not the only difference from his past movies, but more
importantly the clothing of the young, juvenile teen, Bobby. She dressed
provocatively in short dresses and shirts above her midriff, while her
dance numbers were equally seductive (watch clip below). Nonetheless,
she had feelings and a personality, which the title of the film only
cements.
Today, there
are a few films with strong female characters, yet in quantity and
quality, they have only half of the depth that older films had.
Directors like Anees Bazmee, Rohit Shetty and even Farah Khan, cast
woman more as commodities than real people. An ideal example was of
Farah Khan's recent film, Tees Maar Khan, which was heavily
publicized for starring two of India's biggest stars, Katrina Kaif and
Akshay Kumar. For weeks, Katrina's "sexy and sensuous" item number,
named "Sheila Ki Jawani" played on Indian television and radios,
non-stop. In the song, Katrina danced in skimpy clothing around men,
while taunting "I know you want it, but you're never gonna get it". Item
numbers are no new phenomenon in the Indian film industry and "Sheila Ki
Jawani" went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year. However,
Katrina's highly publicized song and name barely translated to substance
in the film. Overall, Katrina had at most five lines. She would
randomly pop out in front of the camera and say something like "ooohhh
my make up", while nonsensically smiling and pulling down her dress in
classic Marilyn Monroe style. This is one of India's "biggest
actresses", who is paid to do one thing, called acting. So, why is she
not doing that and solely inserted to say meaningless phrases and dance
in a sexually provocative manner. Nonetheless, there is the rare No one Killed Jessica,
which portrays two strong, fierce women who fight against corrupt individuals. The problem is that there are not enough of these female-centric movies.
This leads me to my last thought. Not only has the depiction of woman
changed from the past, but the woman themselves have too. Currently, the
top actresses of India are Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina
Kaif. Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor are undoubtedly talented actresses. Kareena proved her talent back in 2007 with Jab We Met, while Priyanka Chopra proved herself with Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion.
Meanwhile, Katrina has still yet to prove anything. Katrina Kaif is NOT
a good actress. Yes, she is beautiful and
cute, but since when are physical characteristics more important than
the actual skill of acting? The worst part is, her less than limited
proficiency for the
Hindi language, which more and more actresses are having these days.
After more than half a decade in the industry, Katrina has learned to
speak better than before but it is still not great, let alone good. The problem: Katrina is only the beginning of the trend. Recently, in Rockstar,
a new female actress, named Nargis Fakhri
was launched. Her acting was not wonderful, but I don't think it was
horrible either. However, for an A-lister film, directed by Imtiaz Ali
and starring Ranbir Kapoor, the acting was way below the mark. For me,
the acting was not even the weakest link of her performance, but her
inability to speak Hindi. Being a non-Indian and having no connection to
Bollywood, whatsoever, her voice had to be dubbed. I wrote a review on
the film a couple of weeks ago, but just recently nailed what threw me
off from the film -her fake voice. Having someone else dub for an
actress depletes much of the emotional connect because as a viewer, you
can tell that the voice cannot fit the character. But the question
is...why let such a situation even arise? There are probably tons of
other girls, who actually know the language, who
could do the part just as well. There are probably tons of other girls,
who actually know what Bollywood is. The situation with "bad" actresses
is horrid. There was a time, even in the 90s, that actresses were cast
because of their talent, rather than looks. Earlier this week, an
Indian-American porn star named Sunny Leone also came to India, to take
part in the popular reality show Bigg Boss. She is a porn star and who really cares, she can do what she wants. Afterall, Bigg Boss is so popular because of controversial contestants, like her (by Indian standards). What surprised me was how she got an offer to be in the popular Murder
series, within a week of coming to India. Is that fair? At least
models, like Fakhri and Kaif, have something in common with the
profession of acting. What will someone like Sunny Leone know about
acting, all she has done is have SEX!
I love Bollywood and always will. It has progressed so much and still is. I think the connect that I feel for Indian cinema can NEVER be reproduced by another film industry. However, the depth of female characters and the choice of the actresses portraying them desperately needs to regress. The question is why...why has this change come about? I have some thoughts about that too...but I'll save that for another day!
