Bombay Talkies, an
anthology film, featuring vignettes by Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag
Kashyap, and Karan Johar, is one of the first anthology films in Bollywood to
hit the mainstream audiences in India. The four vignettes, all dealing with
largely taboo issues within the Indian society, have a very unique and
standalone impact, but at the same time feel very seamlessly connected. Having
premiered at Cannes, and released as an homage to 100 years of Indian cinema,
it could very well have gone down the “indie” movie route, but Bombay Talkies was rather successful and
yielded almost 3x returns for its producers. Some key issues that came to the
forefront through this movie were:
· Taboo
issues in mainstream entertainment
· Modernization
of Indian cinema-goers
Taboo
issues in mainstream entertainment
The movie, Bombay
Talkies, dealt with issues ranging from homosexuality to broken dreams in
Bollywood, as well as the urban-rural divide. These touchy issues, especially
those pertaining to sexuality in a largely prudish society where entities like
the RSS and the Shiv Sena wield a considerable amount of influence, would not
have gained mainstream recognition without the backing of significant elements
– all of whom turn up with full vigor and determination in Bombay Talkies – directors, actors, producers. Thus, instead of
being a traditional flick that serves to entertain the mass audiences and
viewers, the movie ends up bringing forth issues that both trouble and enliven
the lives of middle and lower middle class India. Karan Johar is able to
represent repressed homosexuality amidst the urbanized generations through
characters like Avinash and Dev, Dibakar Banerjee highlights shattered
Bollywood dreams through Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Zoya Akhtar tackles identity
issues that conflict with parental expectations and responsibilities, and
Anurag Kashyap depicts not just the urban-rural divide in India, but also
serves to touch upon the hero worship (or more broadly, worship) proclivities
prevalent in the Indian psyche. While none of these vignettes serve to become
authoritarian pieces on any of these topics, they are probably the first
forays, without supporting song, dance and distractions, into true storytelling
and narration of topics that have always existed in the subliminal consciousness
of the Indian viewer, but never been examined and perceived through cinema.
Modernization
of the Indian cinema-goer
The success of a film like Bombay Talkies at the box office was a testament to the
modernization of the Indian cinema-goer. For the most part, Bollywood and
cinema was viewed to be an escape from reality – a sojourn into the world of
fantasy where things always pan out as we want them to, and there is plentiful
music and color along the way. This movie, which premiered largely in
sophisticated malls and large movie theaters (as opposed to neighborhood
cinemas), brought to attention the fact that the Indian cinema-goer had matured
and modernized – in cinema, he/she expected not just entertainment, but
tangible storytelling which was closer to home and truly mattered. This fact,
is of course, correlated with the massive urban/semi-urban shift, privatization
of cinema, and the increasing levels of education of the 18-45 year consumer
bracket. It remains to be seen whether such a trend is sustainable – though the
success of similar indie movies and vignettes like Ship of Theseus – have been very promising.
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