2014 Rewind: 10 reasons why Hindi cinema still matters

Put into perspective Bollywood didnt really have a breathtaking year There were no mindboggling figures embellishing the box office either In all fairness 2014 has been a lukewarm year for the Hindi film industryHaider which starred Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor was not only based in Kashmir but also entirely shot in the Valley mdash a shift from the usual recce practice in Bollywood The film was one of the high points of the year as it earned both critical acclaim and encouraging boxoffice figuresSimilarly there were no lateral entrants like Ship of Theseus or Shahid or The Lunchbox to help us wade through the otherwise formulaic assembly Is there a pattern to be noticed Are we missing something of a paradigm shift not only at the filmmakers end but also at the audiences In any case its easy to just override Bollywood for its abject lack of originality of late At the same time however itd be farcical to simply assume that Hindi cinema as an entity could possibly be redundant mdash ever hitlist highlights 10 reasons why Bollywood is still worth believing inhellipTahir Raj Bhasin made a sparkling debut in Mardaani obviously his background in theatre was a huge help1 Secular fabricSay what you may about content mdash or lack thereof mdash but Hindi films not to forget their makers have ensured that the good ol idea of secularism is upheld under any circumstances An onscreen characters private beliefs rarely get in the way of the storyline Seldom do we come across an incident where a storyline offends religious sentiments On the other hand most of the controversies pertaining to faith rise just on assumption much before a given film even hits the marquee And 2014 takes a good step forward with a film like pk which takes on religious leaders who lead us astrayWritten by Irshad Kamil and composed by AR Rahman Patakha Guddi from Highway scorched the chartbusters2 Sound of musicThe clicheacute of a hero and his heroine running around a tree while a song is played in the background never goes out of fashion But what has effectively gone out of the production door in the West is the concept of musical within a feature film Which might explain why French cinema shies away from musicals while German cinema employs English pop songs In the meantime Bollywood films continue to unabashedly celebrate music like theres no tomorrow 2014 had a plethora of some exceptionally good music with meaningful lyrics be it Zehnaseeb from Hasee Toh Phasee Samjhawaan from Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Galliyan from Ek Villain or Patakha Guddi from Highway or Allah Waariyan from YaariyanLike his music or hate it but you cant possibly ignore Honey Singh3 Source of livelihoodWhile purists make all kinds of noise they conveniently forget that Bollywood is a 32 billion industry employing nearly two lakh people And this employment ranges from bigticket stars to junior technicians all of them earning their bread thanks to Friday releases If a brainless film hits the jackpot at the box office it also translates to further distribution of moolah to the thousands of faceless and nameless contributors There was one sexist rule in the industry of not allowing women to wield the makeup brush but that is also history now thanks to the gritty Charu KhuranaThe bromance between Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor was entertaining mdashboth on and off the screen mdash while their chemistry with Priyanka Chopra paled in comparison4 Change is in the airThe recent success of relatively smaller films like Filmistaan Ankhon Dekhi Sulemani Keeda etc has reinforced the new stream of thinking So much so that young actors like Shahid Kapoor Haider and Varun Dhawan Badlapur are willing to push themselves out of their comfort zone After all more risktaking filmmakers are on board and theres an encouraging balance with established studios like Viacom18 UTV and PVR Rare among others taking the initiative to produce and distribute highcontent but lowonbudget flicksSmall budget movies like Filmistaan which was hoping for a release for almost two years finally hit the marquee in 20145 Godfather No thanksWhats common between Honey Singh and Chetan Bhagat Both are going to be everywhere mdash if they arent already Yet again busting the myth that nepotism rules Besides Bollywood has warmly welcomed relative nobodies from the outside world You may have doubts about their talent but cant deny that they have made the best use of the opportunity offered to them by Hindi cinema6 Single screen great hopeMultiplexes account for just eight per cent of Indias 12000 screens but rake in a third of the total box office receipts So one can imagine the pressure single screens must be reeling under Besides the number of singlescreen cinemas in India continues to fall beyond 10000 the estimated figure in 2012 Regardless theres a long way to go before all of them are shut down mdash making way for multiplexes mdash or the unruly whistles of the boisterous are silenced7 Giving theatre its dueIn the recent past more actors with a strong stage background are pouring into the industry This year saw talent powerhouses including Manav Kaul Tahir Raj Bhasin Seema Pahwa and Niharika Singh impressing Hindi cinema lovers8 Going globalAs far as the overseas market is concerned Bollywood is no longer limited to the diaspora NRIs are anyway going to watch Hindi films On a greater scale we are witnessing a phase where collaborations between the promising East and the meticulous West is so obviously on And its not just about AR Rahman composing music for Hollywood films or Irrfan acting in them but also about the steady exchange of ideas on the technical and infrastructural front Happy New Year took a happy step ahead in being innovative with its release and instead of going for the traditional satellite rights the producers decided to release it on the digital platform This is just a start9 Long live UrduPostindependence there was a rather long phase when Urdu defined the verbal side of a movie However that fastidious nature of the poetic language has changed Irrespective of all these evolutionary changes Urdu somehow manages to flourish in Hindi film songs Like Haider not only stole our hearts with its beautiful poetry but also gave Urdu its rightful place yet again10 Entertainment factorBollywood was reasonably high on entertainment this year too Dont believe us Look at Govinda in his comeback roles in Kill Dil and Happy Ending Or Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singhs bromance onscreen as well as off it