The Great Mainstream Masala Movie

One such intellectual filmmaker,a dear friend and an otherwise good human being,even presented me with the pearl of wisdom that cinema in the world is barely over a century old as an art form and is still a toddler,therefore Indian,especially mainstream cinema,has yet to grow up.

Well,I seriously hope that Indian cinema,at least,does not lose its child-like innocence,wild abandon and irreverence,and finally its universal appeal in the perilous process of growing up and meeting social and global benchmarks! For who in his right mind does not like to love,hug,cuddle to one’s bosom and shower affection on a child,simply because the child is — with all its flaws — intrinsically endearing and instinctively honest,besides having an unerring perceptiveness.

We Indians,who love to look up to others,whether it is the British who once ruled us or the Americans whose culture we have adopted,always crave ‘foreign’ endorsement. We want our movies to ape Tarantino,Bertolucci and Spielberg or Iranian,Chinese or any cinema that has a stamp of intellectual approval. The 1971 Manoj Kumar film Purab Aur Pacchim,termed a potboiler by such learned worthies,sent the clear message that Indian culture is perfect for Indians,and while we do not look down upon the Western one,it is suited best to them but not to us.

Now this is the real pearl of wisdom. Our ‘cleverer-than-thou’ intellectuals have yet to cotton on to the fact that Indian movies too are a sub-set of our cultures and a confluence of centuries-old Bharatiya art forms and tenets,and that it is lunacy of the highest degree to needlessly try and match benchmarks of other countries. We make mountains out of Oscar molehills,and stop being ourselves. At a practical level,we do not even realise that the best Indian cook cannot make better Sushi than the Japanese,and that the finest Italian chef can never hope to whip up sarson ka saag superior to that from a Punjab dhaba!

Indian cinema is thus — to maintain the gastronomic parallel — like a huge thali or buffet spread with staple cereals,the main items and the seasoning. In the panorama of Indian cinema,the staples are the commercial movies. The arthouse films can only be the pickle or the chutney. The middle-of-the-road sensible cinema that pleases the palate of most viewers — the Chalo Dilli-A Wednesday!-Ardh Satya kind — form the exotica that mix well with the staples but can never be good enough to sustain every meal on their own. But trouble will surely begin if the rice and chutney are reversed,quantity-wise!

The Great Mainstream Masala Movie has only taken the technique of motion-picture making as a medium from the West. When did it sign any MoU or taken an oath to replicate the form? In India,feature films are aimed primarily at entertaining families,not always cerebrally,for a couple of hours with a mix of songs,dances,emotions and all other ingredients that have developed over the years,stars included.

And yes,we always have the badly-made films. But they cannot become handles for condemning the genres itself. Haven’t we had terrible art-house or niche cinema in droves? But where’s the fair play and consistency when we mention only the best of art-house when we recall that genre but stress on the worst when talking—condescendingly or even derogatorily—about mainstream cinema?

But there is huge respect to be earned by not being a wannabe and being true to what we are at the core. Back in the days when the media as well as Hindi film distribution were nowhere close to what they are now,an Awara (and its music) was a lasting sensation in undivided USSR,a Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan showed to capacity houses in Paris,a native in the hinterlands of Africa worshipped a picture of Lata Mangeshkar and even a modest film like Bezubaan was a craze in Bulgaria. No,these are not isolated examples,but the few,known tips of a hidden iceberg — like we all know how Rajnikanth stands tall in Japan! And yes,most of regional cinema is truer to its respective culture – and never apologetic about it.

Shouldn’t we,in short,be now Ready to be Dabangg promoters of the Great Indian Mainstream Masala Movie that is Wanted worldwide?

Rajiv Vijayakar