Back in the good old days there were only two kinds of cinema in India. Namely, commercial films and art films! Commercial cinema had song, dance, lots of dishoom dishoom, and a very definite hero, heroine and villain and the only thing experimental about it was Shah Rukh Khan playing a villain. (A big no-no for heroes back then).
Art films on the other hand also known to film critics as ‘New Indian Cinema' took on a rather serious note. These films were usually subsidised by the government and many of its directors were from The Film and Television Institute of India.
These films, which were made on a shoestring budget, went to film festivals, occasionally showed up on Doordarshan and after brief showings at art house theatres in India and abroad, disappeared into the archives.
Satyajit Ray who won numerous awards both nationally and internationally was the most successful of the 'art directors' amongst other notable filmmakers in this genre including Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, and Mani Kaul. The divide between both cinematic worlds was a very definite one.
Commercial actors didn't act in art films as the budgets didn't excite them and the 'art actors' sneered at the hammy ways and 'formulas' of commercial cinema and barring a few actors like Naseeruddin Shah very few bothered to give it their time and talent.
And then came the era of multiplexes. Oh hang on a second! Let me rewind a bit. First came the breed of 'crossover directors' like Mahesh Bhatt, who 'crossed over' from directing 'art movies' like Arth and Saaransh to making movies like Sadak, Naam, Daddy etc that were focused on box office collections, yet had depth.
And then finally, the birth of multiplexes that gave a new lease of life to 'art films' and an entirely new wave of cinema that is quite hard to define simply because they blur the once definite line between commercial and art.
I mean, you have commercial actresses like Tabu, Raveena and Sushmita doing films with strong social messages like Chandni Bar, Daman and Chingari and Amitabh Bachchan stars in the superhit film, Black with no song, and whose heroine, Rani Mukherji, a hugely viable commercial star, deglamourises herself and plays a blind and deaf girl. (Heroines with full make-up, wake-up!).
Cinema has always reflected the tastes and mindsets of society and for the longest time we were held ransom to cycles of romantic movies, action movies, sexy movies... but now, the new popular crop of niche films, usually made on low budgets, are beginning to show reality the way it is...real problems, real characters, and real solutions, with bold and candid views on various issues including AIDS, live-in relationships, and homosexuality thanks to multiplexes.
We are now exposed to a new breed of filmmakers that recognises the fact that there is no 'universal' audience any more and aim at a specific target audience, mostly the youth and an upper middle class educated viewer through movies as diverse as Hyderabad Blues, Jhankaar Beats, Matrabhoomi, Page 3, Kya Kehna, Phir Milenge, Morning Raga, Mr and Mrs Iyer, Bend It Like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding, Fire, Salaam Bombay, Split Wide Open, etc.
I call it cinema with direction. And I'm so glad that the lines are so blurred that one can finally say Bollywood has realised the importance of a story!
And also, that like our chicken tikka that appeared on the queen of England's birthday menu, our cinema too is now desirable and palatable in the West.
Art films on the other hand also known to film critics as ‘New Indian Cinema' took on a rather serious note. These films were usually subsidised by the government and many of its directors were from The Film and Television Institute of India.
These films, which were made on a shoestring budget, went to film festivals, occasionally showed up on Doordarshan and after brief showings at art house theatres in India and abroad, disappeared into the archives.
Satyajit Ray who won numerous awards both nationally and internationally was the most successful of the 'art directors' amongst other notable filmmakers in this genre including Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, and Mani Kaul. The divide between both cinematic worlds was a very definite one.
Commercial actors didn't act in art films as the budgets didn't excite them and the 'art actors' sneered at the hammy ways and 'formulas' of commercial cinema and barring a few actors like Naseeruddin Shah very few bothered to give it their time and talent.
And then came the era of multiplexes. Oh hang on a second! Let me rewind a bit. First came the breed of 'crossover directors' like Mahesh Bhatt, who 'crossed over' from directing 'art movies' like Arth and Saaransh to making movies like Sadak, Naam, Daddy etc that were focused on box office collections, yet had depth.
And then finally, the birth of multiplexes that gave a new lease of life to 'art films' and an entirely new wave of cinema that is quite hard to define simply because they blur the once definite line between commercial and art.
I mean, you have commercial actresses like Tabu, Raveena and Sushmita doing films with strong social messages like Chandni Bar, Daman and Chingari and Amitabh Bachchan stars in the superhit film, Black with no song, and whose heroine, Rani Mukherji, a hugely viable commercial star, deglamourises herself and plays a blind and deaf girl. (Heroines with full make-up, wake-up!).
Cinema has always reflected the tastes and mindsets of society and for the longest time we were held ransom to cycles of romantic movies, action movies, sexy movies... but now, the new popular crop of niche films, usually made on low budgets, are beginning to show reality the way it is...real problems, real characters, and real solutions, with bold and candid views on various issues including AIDS, live-in relationships, and homosexuality thanks to multiplexes.
We are now exposed to a new breed of filmmakers that recognises the fact that there is no 'universal' audience any more and aim at a specific target audience, mostly the youth and an upper middle class educated viewer through movies as diverse as Hyderabad Blues, Jhankaar Beats, Matrabhoomi, Page 3, Kya Kehna, Phir Milenge, Morning Raga, Mr and Mrs Iyer, Bend It Like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding, Fire, Salaam Bombay, Split Wide Open, etc.
I call it cinema with direction. And I'm so glad that the lines are so blurred that one can finally say Bollywood has realised the importance of a story!
And also, that like our chicken tikka that appeared on the queen of England's birthday menu, our cinema too is now desirable and palatable in the West.