At a Time of Gory Hyper-Nationalistic Blockbusters Like 'Dhurandhar', There are Smaller, Well-Made Films That Get Ignored |
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Few things infuriate me about Hindi film industry parlance more than a film being referred to as “high-concept”. It’s a patronising, pitiable way of calling something showing the slightest hints of ambition — and therefore, short-hand for ‘destined to fail’ or ‘too sophisticated’. And when this happens during a deluge of biopics, which play totally safe, or films with peak detailing committed to fawning over those in power, I get one step closer to channelling my inner-Howard Beale, where I’ll go near a window and scream, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” The Bollywood films are without doubt dystopian at this point, where there is only a sliver of films that can be termed a sure thing. If it stars Shah Rukh Khan, a flagrant socio-political ideology, ultra violence, and references to our greatness as a nation (whether in the 17th century or after 2014).
As the Bollywood landscape imitates a nuclear wasteland in the aftermath of Dhurandhar: The Revenge, nearly all the discourse has concentrated itself around its record-breaking box office, the industry’s jealousy at large (something even pointed out by Zakir Khan at a recent awards show), and the many bad-faith players ‘independently’ opining how the film is not propaganda. So uncertain are things that hardly a couple of Hindi films are slated to release in all of April – especially for an industry infamous for producing at the rate of 3 films per day. The chatter seems fixated on a few names: Geethu Mohandas’s Toxic: A Fairytale for Grownups, starring Yash, on June 4; Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, estimated to release on Nov 6; Siddharth Anand’s King, starring Shah Rukh Khan, supposed to release on December 24. Along with this, a couple of big-ticket Hollywood films like Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday, slated for release in December; one could be mistaken that Indian theatrical business is all about franchises, or superstar-led business proposals. However, in the first quarter alone, Bollywood has seen at least four “high-concept” films – daring to treat the audience as equals, but these have been quickly disregarded for not making a dent at the box office.
In many ways, Vishal Bhardwaj’s latest directorial venture is as mainstream a release can get. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala (the maker of franchises like Housefull and Baaghi) teaming up with Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri, a 12-song jukebox by a........