Bollywood moving Ahead!!. Review on Changing Face of Cinegoer

The world is constantly shrinking day by day with the advent of latest technologies in the communication field. People are getting more informative and knowledgeable. They keep themselves updated with recent happenings and the latest development happening around the world. Not long ago, a few decades back television was a luxury, a decade back cable TV was luxury, but now television has become mandatory and cable TV a necessity. Yesterday’s luxury is today’s necessity. So the taste and choices of the people have changed drastically over the years. Same applies for cinema too.

The vision of a viewer towards a cinema has changed. Though it cannot be inferred whether it’s changed for the good or bad. I’ve been following Hindi cinema for probably the past ten years or so and I can definitely say that there has been changes both from the film makers and viewers. The late nineties saw the ‘Khan’s’ rule the bollywood industries. It brought a Super Star to the industry in Sharukh Khan. It was also the periods were Sweet romantic stories, family sentiments and Masala ones did good business. Sharukh Khanafter starting of with negative roles in Baazigar and Darr, gave a fresh look to the romantic hero of Hindi Cinema with his cherubic and casual lover boy roles in DDLJ, DTPH and KKHH . Clean entertainers such as Hum aapke hain kaun and Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge were runaway hits.

But toward the end of the nineties and beginning of 2000 and till date saw huge developments and differences. The technical aspect of a movie was getting first attention rather than the script. Movies were made with high technical standards using latest graphics and technology. The Music of the movies were no more the normal Indian desi music but it was more westernized. With the introduction of A.R. Rehmanto the bollywood industry , he took Hindi cinema music to global standards. The younger generation directors set new standards for Hindi cinema. Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Sanjay leela bhansali all set a bench mark in their own style in Hindi Cinema. Karan Johar gave glossy films studded with stars and family sentiments filled with lavish sets and some great music. This kind of a glossy package did sell very well in the industry. All his movies being huge money grossers not only in India but also over seas.

Ram Gopal Verma has set up an own standard for himself in the industry. There is always an added curiosity for the movies coming out of his factory. He completed his trilogy of gangster movies with Satya, Company and Sarkar all doing well in the box office and were also critically acclaimed. More and more young directors are supported by him and introduced by him who has the creativeness to give new and fresh approach to movies. Sharukh Khan thumped his stamp as the Bollywood Baadshah with the series of hits and huge money spinners. Aamir became very selective and gave India’s best chance at the Oscars with his Lagaan. ‘Dil chahta hai’ made a mark in the industry as did its director Farhan akthar.

“Bhoot’ ,from the RGV factory started the way for many horror movies. But none had the same effect and approach as bhoot had and all other movies failed. ‘Jism’started the skin show trend in the bollywood industry. It was roaring hit all over India. This made the bollywood industry churn out a series of never ending skin flicks. ‘Murder’ created sensation with the oomph of Mallika Sherawath and her lip locks being talk of the town. This made more and more actresses shed their clothes off and more producers putting money on these flicks. Ultimately it all bombed at the box office leaving no trace of it. ‘Black’ by Sanjay leela bhansali set very high standards for Indian cinema goers. It had best performances from Rani and the Big B. ‘Page 3’was also a surprise hit and once again proves that a new approach and a sensible movie will always be appreciated by the audiences. But people who come out with such fresh approach and new Brave ideas seem to be very little, while people coming out with skin flicks seems to be on the larger lot. But the scenario is fast to change with disastrous of these skin flicks at the box Office. There were a couple of historic movies made after the success of 'lagaan' and 'Gadar'. Three movies were made on the life of Bhagath singh, but all bombing at the box office. Subash Ghai’s much hyped ‘Kisna’ did not create any ripples at the box office.

This year saw ‘Page 3’ bagging a few national awards as did we saw Saif bagging the national award for his performance in ‘Hum tum’. It’s generally the case that South Indian Movies takes away the honors during the National awards. So it’s a promising sign that Hindi movies are slowly entering the competitive level and getting recognized. More movies with sensible themes and fresh approaches should be encouraged. Experimental efforts needs to be patted at the back and should be shown the positive attitude.

Most recently the bollywood industry has been haunted by the Sequel Syndrome. There are many moviemakers planning to come up with the sequels of their previous hits. ‘Koi Mil gaya’, ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘ Munna bhai MBBS’, ‘Darna Mana hai’, ‘Dhoom’ , ‘Sarkar’ . ‘Kya Kool Hai hum’ all slated to have their sequels in the coming year. Two huge yester year hits ‘Sholay’and ‘Don’ to have their remakes made. So all in all Bollywood has a very excited year ahead as does its viewers. Hopefully these movies will set the right track and will make bollywood cinema to move forward ahead as time goes by. Anyways it all depends upon the verdict given by the viewers.