2001 was the year when Hindi cinema reinvented itself but Gadar proved that nothing hits home like age-old Pakistan bashing

But, amid such unrest, when the people were in dire need of escapist cinema, Hindi movies delivered. 2001 can be seen as a prime example of a time when Hindi cinema was as diverse as it could be – and every aspect of it was being embraced by the movie-watching audience. Films like Dil Chahta Hai were changing the grammar of popular cinema but the old guard like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Gadar were still championing the formulaic stuff. When Farhan Akhar and Shyam Benegal made their films Dil Chahta Hai and Zubeidaa in sync sound, we saw how recording live dialogues could change the personality of the movie. The urban setting of Dil Chahta Hai, and its understanding of friendship was also a refreshing change in the films as most movies until then were made for the large masses with the understanding that there was nothing greater than one’s family. Karan Johar, in many interviews, has spoken about how he suddenly felt like his film (K3G) was obsolete given that the audience was now enjoying Dil Chahta Hai, which was on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Aamir Khan’s Lagaan released alongside Gadar. (Photo: Express Archive)

Not Just Dil Chahta Hai, even Aamir Khan starrer Lagaan was a surprise for the audience. No one could have expected to enjoy a three-and-a-half-hour film set during the 1800s where characters were playing cricket for half the runtime, but what they saw was a rousing tale of Indian farmers fighting for their land. The film got international acclaim and became the template for sports films for the next few years in India. Gadar, however, which released on the same day, wasn’t reinventing anything that we hadn’t seen before. The film was a basic Indo-Pak story where Sunny Deol channeled the same character he had already played umpteen times, and hammered into the audience that ‘Hindustan zindabad tha, zindabad hai, aur zindabad rahega‘. Lagaan and Gadar were both batting for Team India but while Lagaan found a unique way to be patriotic, Gadar’s on-the-nose, direct approach somehow echoed with the audience a bit more. In simple words, Gadar was as massy as a film could be, and since it did not demand any understanding of the subtext and played to the popular beats, it was accepted by a larger audience. Gadar was quite unimaginative in its storytelling and told the story as it is, which was what clicked with the people.

Gadar had scenes where Sunny Deol was yelling and screaming at his adversaries in Pakistan and since India had just been in a war with the neighbouring country two years ago, it found a connect with the audience. When he converted his on-screen wife by marrying her and declaring her a sardarni, it generated applause and when he stood up against Ashraf Ali and pulled out a handpump, people believed this to be the moment where an Indian was belittling the entire nation of Pakistan all by himself. The film was in sync with the times as it actually understood the underlying emotion of the masses and fed them exactly what they were craving for.

Ameesha Patel and Sunny Deol in Gadar. (Photo: Express Archives)

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham came in with the tagline ‘It’s all about loving your family’ and was almost Rajshri-esque in nature where the patriarch is the ultimate decision-maker and the rest of the family members are just supposed to fall in line. With big stars headlining this film, KJo had it in the bag right from the start and its eventual acceptance was further proof that India was not ready to move on from the old formula that had sustained its movies for decades. The film continued to be a part of pop culture for many years and while it seems extremely dated today, the film’s ethos still rings true for much of our audience and which is probably why Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani still worked at the box office.

Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

Surprisingly, for a country that has largely loved its love stories, 2001 wasn’t driven by many of those. Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein found its audience but a few years later, when they actually saw the problematic aspects of the film, it lost its pop culture status. Even a film like Tum Bin, which was basically a collection of music videos put together, called itself a musical hit. Shah Rukh Khan, who had ruled the 90s, was going through one of his rough patches for the most part of the year as his experiments like Asoka and One 2 ka 4 did not land but he almost made up for those by playing the lovable Rahul in K3G. And Salman Khan, the third part of the Khan trio, had only one release this year which was Abbas Mustan’s Chori Chori Chupke Chupke.

Most hits of this year made a significant impact on how the movies were being made and this proved to be a major milestone in the history of Hindi cinema. But the success of Gadar was enough to remind everyone that no matter how much you move ahead, the audience will still choose something massy over a new experiment.