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BOOKS
Merry Matinee Ideas
Why Hindi cinema is the biggest Indian entertainment
By Bhaskar Ghose
There was a time
when it was politically correct to declare, wherever it mattered, that
one never saw Hindi films, and to comment with amused condescension on
the "mindless" song-and-dance routines in these films, which
had everything-action, romance, comedy, tragedy and, of course, plenty
of songs and dances. One only saw serious films made by filmmakers like
Satyajit Ray or Shyam Benegal. That time has now gone. Hindi films- the
good ones-are seen as interesting, worthwhile entertainment. As Munni
Kabir says in her perceptive book, "Hindi cinema has (now) been the
subject of reappraisal, and film critics and scholars throughout the world
have shown a keen interest in the conventions of this unique branch of
filmmaking."
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BOLLYWOOD: THE INDIAN CINEMA
By Nasreen Munni Kabir
Channel 4 Books/ Macmillan
Price: £12.99
Pages: 230
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One of those
who have helped in bringing about this reappraisal is Kabir herself. In
her earlier television series Movie Mahal, Follow That Star and others,
she brought Hindi cinema a kind of standing it had been denied. She was
ably helped by sympathetic executives in Channel 4, to be sure, but hers
was a sort of crusade that has been more than worthwhile. Kabir does not
do stereotypical things like espouse the "cause" of Hindi films;
she treats the genre as something immensely entertaining, of enduring
value because of great directors, actors and actresses whose worth is
now being recognised with respect and admiration.
 Key
to this world is the way one looks at Hindi films-or Tamil, Telugu or
Bengali films for that matter. One does not go to a cinema hall to appraise
the various aspects of what one sees; one goes to participate in an event,
an experience of which one is an integral part. It's like the people who
go to a disco where they don't just listen to the music but dance with
abandon to its rhythm and melodies. Kabir quotes actor Manoj Bajpai on
the way audiences see films: "They don't hold back any emotion, they
don't give a damn what people think. If they want to cry they cry or howl
in the theatre." It's a very special relationship, the one between
the audience and the film they see and, of course, the stars in it.
Kabir deserves all praise for presenting Hindi
cinema as it is and making no value judgements in the process. Her evaluation
of a film is made with no concessions to those who consider themselves
above all this. She says, for example, of Awara: "(It) is in many
ways the perfect film-lighting, photography, brilliant storytelling, intelligent
and witty dialogue ... seamlessly blended together." There may be
some who would balk at "perfect"; not Munni Kabir. Her style
is direct and forthright-the format is of a documentary film, her narration
interspersed with long comments from various film personalities. It's
astonishingly comprehensive-there's history here, appraisals of directors,
lyricists, composers, dance "masters" or directors, of actors
and actresses, of storylines and style changes over the years. And the
reader is given all this through comments from film people, which are
at times very funny, while being very authentic. Consider this wry comment
by director Sanjay Leela Bhansali: "A director here has to be strong,
a little bit sensitive, a little insensitive, shameless and yet sometimes
true. You have to be a complete filmmaker."
If one were to carp a bit, one could say that
Kabir could have been a little more balanced in her chapters on heroes
and heroines. The one on heroines lacks the objective sympathy with which
the heroes are presented; there's more of a stridently judgmental tone.
Thankfully it was restricted to just one chapter. Besides, the title is
misleading. This is a book about Hindi cinema, not by any means Indian
cinema. There's hardly any reference to the enormous world of Tamil, Telugu,
Malayalam and Kannada cinema or to Bengali, Assamese and Oriya cinema,
though these are admittedly more modest in their productions. But Hindi
cinema is world enough, and Kabir takes us through it with affection,
insight and infectious delight that stays with one long after one has
finished the book.
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