INDIAN CINEMA: DEVDAS TO DEV D

Whenever I discuss INDIAN CINEMA, I often emphasize on the fact that INDIAN CINEMA has churned out its best products in 50's and the next best time is NOW.....

Every time I say this, people around me, do ask one question, WHY do I THINK SO?? And every time I give the same answer. The 50's has BIMAL ROY, V SHANTARAM, GURU DUTT, KISHORE KUMAR, DILIP KUMAR, BALRAJ SAHANI, WAHEEDA REHMAN, MADHUBALA and the list is endless...and NOW, the time we are living in, has directors like ANURAG KASHYAP, RAKESH OMPRAKASH MEHRA, IMTIAZ ALI, DIBAKAR BANERJEE, ONIR and again the list is endless.

Now the question arises..."WHATS THE COMMON THREAD BETWEEN THE ABOVE EXAMPLES??"

There is only one common thing in the above examples....."they all had/ have their own stories to tell and their own unique style of reciting them". There are  no KUMBH KA MELAS, there are no INFIDELITY issues, neither did their male protagonists find that they were brothers, towards the climax of the movies. 

What they shared or have been sharing is sheer uniqueness and a novel idea in each of their outings.

I always ask this question to my friends, "If MADHUBALA's father in the 1958 release CHALTI KA NAAM GADI... didn't have any problem with his daughter finding her soulmate, then.... wtf was AMRISH PURI's problem with KAJOL, in the 1996 release DDLJ???WHAT were these INDIAN CINEMA's "LADKIYON K BAAP" up-to, between these freaking 38 years????"

Answer to this question of mine is very simple, our Indian directors definitely lost track in between these years. In spite of making progressive cinema they started making movies which were actually derived from sub plots of the 50's cinema. And in this exercise they somewhere wasted TWO precious decades which could have taken INDIAN CINEMA to a new level altogether.

Now, coming to the tittle. Why have I named my very first blog as INDIAN CINEMA: DEVDAS TO DEV D?

The answer lies in "time". Time of their release.

• DEVDAS, released in 1955, directed by BIMAL ROY had DILIP KUMAR as the main protagonist. Don't worry I will not write it's review, rather I will emphasize on the fact that the movie was actually based on a novel written by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay - WHAT AN IDEA SIRJI??  

• DEV-D, released in 2008, directed by ANURAG KASHYAP had ABHAY DEOL as the main protagonist. Don't worry I will not write it's review either, rather again I will emphasize on the fact that the movie was actually a remake of DEVDAS(1955)with an ending with which the youth of the present generation can relate.- WHAT AN IDEA SIRJI??
  

• DEVDAS, released in 2002, directed by SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI had SHAHRUKH as the main protagonist. Don't worry I will not write it's review either, rather again I will emphasize on the fact that the movie was actually a remake of DEVDAS(1955)with an ending that the original novel had. - WHERE's THE IDEA SIRJI??
  

You must be wondering WHAT IS THIS BLOGGER UPTO??

But my dear friends, the whole story of Indian cinema revolves around the above three examples. SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI must have done a commendable job with his version. But, why did he invest freaking 50 CRORES on a concept, which was only grand on paper, with no novelty value attached to it?? That's exactly what was the case with our 70's and 80's. Just close your eyes and recall which movies of that era comes to your mind?

DACOITS, INFIDELITY , KUMBH KA MELA, BHAI and TAVEEJ these five words, at least one of them found special mention in 80 % of the movies of that time, exceptions being CHUPKE CHUPKE, DON and a few others.

People say " CINEMA PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN CHANGING SOCIETY". After the success of DDLJ, hardly has any movie released and got success in which the father says NO to his daughter. Because with the success of DDLJ, people started accepting and relating with these issues and we saw some progress( If not within the four walls of a house, then at least on silver screen). Then why did Indian directors shy away from these issues in 70's and 80's, why can't I recall any director's name apart from HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE, MANMOHAN DESAI and YASH CHOPRA(also SALIM-JAVED as script writers)? Why does my chest bulge out when I talk about 50's cinema and why does it shrink when I have to discuss 70's or 80's??

The answer lies in the fact that though our fathers loved and loathed the movies of 70's and 80's, we surely can't afford to show these films to our kids... neither would they be interested!! The only thing we can do, is to make up for the lost time by celebrating the success of movies like DEV D , JAB WE MET and RANG DE BASANTI in a more GRANDIOSE way so that our grandsons don't use a portal like this in future to express their sorrows for movies made in our time. And that's why I say THE NEXT BEST PHASE IS NOW.......:)so, LETS EXPLORE IT TO THE FULLLEST!!:)