It was mentioned that there exist solely seven fundamental tales round which you weave your movie. How effectively you adapt to considered one of these genres made or marred your movie. These have been recognized as genres. In the Indian context, we had household drama, often known as household socials, romance, comedy, motion, mythological, suspense or thriller, fantasy and historic.
With our viewers, leisure was the final word watchword for the filmmakers. The viewers was divided between stalls and balcony, from metros to mofussil. The two outlined the buying energy, in addition to the literacy fee of each segments. Hence, whereas offering entertaining fare, the movies needed to maintain what was known as common enchantment. That is to say, a movie ought to cater to all in equal measures.2
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So, why so many genres? That was as a result of, nearly everyone favored a healthful household entertainer, there was additionally an viewers for different tales like a suspense thriller (like “Bees Saal Baad”, “Gumnaam” or “Teesri Manzil”) and such films needed strong music to back it. This genre is almost lost from the big screen though it is being revived to an extent on OTT platforms.
Mythological films were made on just about every deity. These were usually made to coincide for release in the holy month of Shravan in the Hindu calendar. Same way, a Muslim-themed film was made to release during the month of Ramzan and on Eid. One of the examples of a mythological matching the success of any other mass film was “Jai Santoshi Maa”, launched on August 15, 1975, the identical day because the file breaking movie, “Sholay”, hit the theatres. Besides, films with religious themes were considered the safest bet in regional languages.
Then there were action films and they were meant mainly for a particular kind of viewers, consisting of youngsters, the migrant labour class, cab drivers and smalltime vendors. No main cinema chain screened these films and the genre had cinema halls devoted to such films and their audience. There was a small lot of actors like Kamran Khan, Sheikh Mukhtar, Dara Singh etc, who specialised in drawing crowds for these films. The sound of “dhishoom, dhishoom” within the background, because the hero and the villain exchanged blows, gave a excessive to the viewers. These have been outlined as B-Grade movies.
Another style that was common was comedy movies. Not many movies have been made purely as comedies. Comedians have been often the facet points of interest in common household movies. However, a number of the makers, particularly comedian stars, ventured into making their very own out-and-out comedy movies. There weren’t many writers for comedies due to which such movies have been few over a interval. However, some large hits have been made on this style. The memorable ones are “Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi”, “Pyar Kiye Jaa”, “Padosan”, “Bhoot Bangla”, “Bewaqoof”, “Sadhu Aur Shaitaan”, “Gol Maal” (1979), “Chhoti Si Baat”, “Chupke Chupke”, “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro”, “Andaz Apna Apna”, “Hera Pheri”, the “Golmaal” series, the “Houseful” collection, the “Fukrey” series and so on.
Of course, depending on the maker, some comedy films were more subtle. “Chupke Chupke”, “Chhoti Si Baat”, “Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi”, “Katha”, “Chashme Buddoor” and “Gol Maal” were the ones that served as wholesome family entertainers.
Romantic films consisted of a hero, a heroine and a villain, besides other characters that were incidental. Through the film, the hero romanced the heroine, sang songs, both danced around and the villain kept creating hurdles for them (at times, circumstances or poverty were the villains). At the end, the viewer was so much with the lovers they craved for the hero to bash up the villain and live happily ever after.
Besides other genres, the mainstay of the cinema business was the family drama, or social films. These were dramas revolving around joint families. It was an elaborate saas-bahu, bhabhi-devar, nanand with a comic sidetrack making it formula family fare. It was a mix of emotion, tragedy, comic relief, and relatives at crossroads, and eventually ended on a happy note. These films were meant to carry ‘ladies appeal’. One can say that the last couple of films in the social genre were “Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!” and “Hum Saath Saath Hain”.
Soon, the family socials, as they were known, became scarce and are now extinct from the big screen. This genre has been taken over by the television. It began with two Doordarshan serials, “Hum Log” and “Buniyaad” during the 1980s and the ’90s, and now dominate television as soap opera. Another genre that was lost to the television was the mythological. The ones to start the trend were “Mahabharat” and “Ramayan”, both in late 1980s. Crime thrillers were also adapted for television with a simplified narrative in crime slots.
From a story spread around many characters, the narratives shifted to few actors carrying the burden of the entire film. With more characters in the cast, there were quite a few threads in the story, running side by side making the viewing interesting. But, films with a single star such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan, having few side characters, don’t go well with the audience. One can compare Shah Rukh Khan’s “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” with “Jab Harry Met Sejal”. The first had multiple actors while “Jab Harry Met Sejal” counted on primarily two characters, and failed badly. Similarly, Salman Khan’s “Ready” was full of varied characters while he decided to carry “Tubelight” on his personal. These of movies quantity to taking your viewers as a right.
What is going on now could be that three to 4 genres are blended in a single movie to cater to all. A movie is anticipated to have romance, household enchantment, motion in addition to comedy. The examples are movies like Aamir Khan’s “Dangal”, “3 Idiots”; Salman Khan’s “Ready”, “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” and “Dabangg”; or Akshay Kumar’s “Pad Man”, “Toilet Ek Prem Katha”. The hero does the action and romance while holding up family values.
So, with no single or definite genre to base movies on, the filmmakers try to pack it all in one. The audience is limited now since few single screen cinemas are surviving, while the multiplexes only reflect success to an extent and not always appreciation for a film. Because, almost all four or five major stars deliver films that gross multiple crores, which may mean something to the media (the crore fascinates them) but not really count much, as costs of films often exceed these figures.
From the recent trend, one would think it is safer to make films like “Tanu Weds Manu”, “Vicky Donor”, “Dum Lagake Haisha”, “Bala”, “MS Dhoni: The Untold Story”, “Chhichhore”, “Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety”, “Golmaal”, the “Jolly LLB” franchise and such. They have household components, romance and music, and entertain nearly each form of viewers. Such movies don’t price a lot and, because the actors are comparatively new, will get pleasure from an extended shelf worth.
We don’t have musical movies like in Hollywood as a result of, music has at all times been an integral a part of all our films and can proceed to be so.
(Vinod Mirani is a veteran movie author and field workplace analyst. The views expressed are private)
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