Bollywood History's Mysteries. Review on Five Bollywood movies that deserved to be hits

Have you ever wondered why films click in Indian Cinema?

Have you ever wondered why some real talents never go past the first few months at Bollywood?

Have you ever wondered why some real masterpieces have been rejected by the audience?

I do…

And more often than not, I draw a blank…

I could never unserstand why a Manna Dey or a Mahnder Kapoor could never become as great as one would expect them.

I could never understand why Suman Kalyanpur was to be remembered as the clone of Lata Mangeshkar.

I could never understand what made a movie like Raja Hindustani a blockbuster.

And I could never understand why many of my favourite movies are box office  disasters.

Here is my tribute to five such movies, which are the pillars of Indian Cinema, but could not be commercial success.

1. Mera Naam Joker

The list would obviously be topped by Mera Naam Joker. This movie is often quoted as coming before its time.

Hardly any movie maker has made attempts to understand the true human relationship as Raj Kapoor has done in Mera Naam Joker. As often misquoted, the movie is not about lust over love, this is not a movie about infatuations…. This is a movie about a man as he grows and his changing relationships.

Falling in love with a teacher is not so uncommon… being emotionally involved with a foreign co worker is not unnatural at all and feelings for one’s protégée is also quite natural.

So why did the audience reject the movie? Same audience made a big hit out of it after two decades!

2. Kagaz ke Phool

If Mera Naam Joker was called as Biographical, then Kagaz ke Phool was one step ahead. The first cinemascope movie of India was a major box office disaster.

Agreed, this movie was too slow and many complex relationships were involved. But was it not the story with every Guru Dutt Movie? The film had all the tread marks of a Guru Dutt masterpiece.

The movie is remembered for its direction, art direction, cinematography, music, picturisation and yet… a flop.

The movie presented for the last time a great on screen pair – Guru dutt and Waheeda… yet… a flop.

I have never understood this and I’ll never understand… Kagaz ke Phool is a masterpiece and will remain like one forever.

3. Lamhe

Lamhe! My favorite film.

I am yet to meet anybody who says Lamhe was not a good movie. But the film hardly ran for a few weeks in theatres. The movie, that has given us one of the best set of performances, all Yash Chopra elements, great story line, perfect picturisation and all ingredients of a commercial cinema. still a flop?

Some say that this movie was dealing with the subject of incest love.

NO… a BIG NO.

Yash Chopra has explained the point in the movie itself… in the words of Prem(Anupam Kher). While answering the dilemma of Anil Kapoor, he says, “No Viren, Puja is not Pallavi’s daughter. she is the daughter of Pallavi and Siddharth Bhattnagar. And what was Pallvi to you? Nothing! It was a one way love only”!

But can a movie be rejected just because of the climax?

I have watched Lamhe 50+ times and don’t mind watching again.

4. Andaz Apna Apna

Can anybody tell me why was this film a flop?

Lets look at the commercial ingredients here.

A reputed director

Stars of the day getting together for the first(and last?) time… Who could resist seeing Salman and Aamir together in early 1990s?

Great music

Perfect comic track.

And still a flop?

What went wrong here? It has been one of the most hilarious comedies that I have seen.

5.

Chosing the final one is a tough task. I would like to mention a few films together at the fifth rank.

Teesri Kasam was a film that made from heart. It had probably one of the best music scores and a love story written straight from heart. Star worship need not exist only for the film stars, even a “nautanki” artiste has the same fan following. But still the audience rejected for no apparent reason.

Khamoshi was another movie highly acclaimed by critics but rejected by the audience. The brilliant relationship between the deaf and dumb parents with their child was beautifully presented on screen by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But the film was rejected by the audience.

Main Aazad Hoon could well have been the comeback movie for Amitabh. But it came at a time when the Big B had an identity crisis. audience still wanted to see him in the angry young man – lover boy role. Probably the storyline of this movie went past the public unnoticed.

This is my first review in six months… Any feedback/ suggestions / reviews are welcome. Hope to be more regular at MS:-)