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OPINION: Success of Laapataa Ladies and 12th Fail proves stories knitted in Indian roots always find their audience
Over the past one year, several movies like 12th Fail and Laapataa Ladies have earned massive success and what's common between them? They're all rooted in the reality of India.
“Des mera rangrez ye babu… Ghat-ghat yahan ghatta jaadu” - When rock band Indian Ocean sang this song for Peepli Live, all of us danced to its earnest reality.
India is home to some of the finest stories and storytellers and there’s no doubt about it. Indian cinema produces close to 1500 to 2000 movies every year which caters to all tastes of cinema lovers.
The past year has been a little special on several coasts, especially for Hindi cinema. Despite a sea of audiences flocking to theaters for movies like Animal and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, there’s also a set of audiences contributing to a paradigm shift. This might surely not affect the commercial tales of guns and glories but is only making space for stories knitted in the roots of India.
Today, I am talking about the unexpected and unprecedented success of movies like 12th Fail, Laapataa Ladies, and Amar Singh Chamkila.
This is nothing new, to start with, but surely a step in the ladder of redefining the cinema space of the 21st century. I wouldn’t jump in the pool to name how some of the biggest movies in the last decade had no stories to offer but only masala. I’d sit on that seat over the weekends but do I have anything to carry forward for my Monday?
Earlier, I used to usually forget those in the food court outside the cinema halls but what I saw in the last few months, I have a lot to bring home, sip tea over it, and even write an opinion piece about it - Read on!
12th Fail opened the dams for me. Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the movie took me back to my hometown Bihar. The story starring Vikrant Massey that now the world is hailing and lauding is what I saw every day on the streets back home.
I need not mention Bihar’s connection with civil exams. Literally every day, the dreams of many were shattered, the hopes of some cluttered, success of some suffered. Many of those realities found a screen space in 12th Fail. And like me who craved cinema handpicked from the lanes beside my house, the movie resonated with the entire world and how. While I never expected to see the commercial Sunday, it did and proved that Geeta Aggarwal Sharma’s on-screen tears did have their heart in the right place.
When I was still in the hangover of 12th Fail, there arrived Kiran Rao’s return to storytelling. The filmmaker offered the audience a story titled Laapataa Ladies.
Oh Snap, another tale knitted in the hearts of rural India. But guess what, despite not having star power and gaze/action and stunts/men and their habit of stealing screen space - the movie shined out.
Though it was set in a fictional state, all of us have seen a Phool (played by Nitanshi Goel) who has all the capabilities to run her family and even earn when required - a Jaya (played by Pratibha Ranta) whose dreams are choked by society but she still fights back and a Deepak (played by Sparsh Shrivastava) who can cross miles and wait for the love even it is a wait for a lifetime.
Much before entering the theater, I expected myself to be alone and still enjoying whatever Kiran had to serve but the new-age audience left me stunned. All the lovers with their Sajnis - be it of any age - sat together holding hands and saying - bole thaam tu mori baiyan.
When this was also not enough, Imtiaz Ali served Amar Singh Chamkila. A story from Punjab, made with the perfect flavors of pind and songs that took me to Ludhiana within seconds. That shy old-school love, that dedication towards craft and tunes of music maestro AR Rahman that now the world is humming.
Starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra in the lead, the movie won hearts and again because people found their rooted stories heard on the global loudspeaker.
Hindi cinema is healing and I am in for this ride. Whatever it takes, I hope, pray, and manifest that no filmmaker puts the horse blind of the same old commercial factory. I wish more Vidhu, Kiran, and Imtiaz to come up in the front and be confident in their stories.
Believe me, this is India’s story and it will surely find its place in the audience’s heart. It may not immediately be unlike Tumbbad or Bulbbul but in the long run, it will see a fate that will even surpass the monetary success of some three-month-running and vanishing biggies.
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