Note: The following post is taken from the archives of PassionForCinema.com, a much-loved platform for cinema enthusiasts. It is being republished here in the spirit of archiving, historical significance, and sharing important conversations for readers who may not have had access to the original site. The author is Yousuf H, publishing the post on April 28, 2010, at 12:29 pm. My comment on the post in 2010.
You kids of the new millennium have it easy, you drive down to the nearest multiplex and you have a choice of films from Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Bannerjee, Vishal Bharadawaj, Raju Hirani, and Imtiyaz Ali to choose from. Do you know what kind of choice oldies like me had when we were growing up in the eighties,…. well we had to make our pick from B Subhash, Shibbu Mitra, T Rama Rao and Ravi Nagaich. What? You don’t know who these gentlemen are? Well kids, these are the minds behind some of the most atrocious but successful cinema of the eighties. Writing, acting, music, lyrics, pretty much every department was devoid of any class in the eighties, rightfully these are referred as the dark ages of Bollywood. As I recall here’s what happened.
For a good part of the nineteen seventies Bollywood did not break any new ground and rested on the laurels earned by the top talent of the fifties and sixties. There was no competition from television or videos, a select few Hollywood films were released across metros, usually months after they were out in the US. Movie subjects were formulaic and if one stuck to the patterns of lost & found / Amir Gharib / Saas Bahu or hired Saleem Javed, they were pretty much guarantied of a hit. Life was good! The decade to follow was to change the entertainment paradigm and Bollywood dawdled before reacting to the changing times.
THE PERFECT STORM
Eighties started with the death of Mohammed Rafi and Sahir Ludhyanvi, Sanjeev Kumar soon followed, and this blew away a good chunk out of India’s talent pool. In the new generation there were fewer people who cared of nuanced Urdu dialogue, or raga based songs and Ghazals. Therefore OP Nayyar, Shanker (of SJ duo), and Nushad though alive were out of work. There was no appetite for any kind of Talat Mehmod or Hemant Kumar period. For unknown reasons Saleem Javed split. Javed found work as solo writer, and also ventured into writing lyrics, while Saleem starved. Abrar Alawi and Akhtar ul Iman the backbones of Waqt and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, were writing dialogues for films like Chor Police and Biwi o Biwi, for food.
To add fuel to the fire, the VCR and cable movies came to India. Unless there was compelling reason people preferred watching films at home in their Pajamas. Out of the blue Bollywood was seeing competition from some formidable quarters,on video not only did people have the access to foreign films, they also had access to Bollywood’s glorious past.
RACE DOWNHILL
The production houses that brought us memorable cinema in the sixties and seventies were producing recycled junk. Eighties was the decade when the directors whose film formulas came with a success guarantees were in for a rude awakening and they took years to realize that they could not hang their hats to repetitiveness. Notice Manmohan Desai’s decline. He started the decade with Coolie, later came Mard, then Ganaga Jamna Saraswati, and then jumped off the building to his death. Nasir Hussain continued to offer musicals with no back bone (Zamane Ko Dikhna Hai, Zabardast), audience responded “enough is enough”. The saddest of the stories was that of Ramesh Sippy’s, the man living under the curse of Sholay. The star ensembles of Shaan and Shakti made them watchable, but Saagar was a mistake. Dreadful Bhrashtachaar was a nail in the man’s coffin. Looking at Namak Halal and Sharabi one thought that Prakash Mehra is the one with the staying power, with Jaadugar he reassured everyone that, no he has lost it too. Manoj Kumar turned manic and so did his films (Clerk, Kalyug Ki Ramayan). Kamal Amrohi lost all of his respect when he returned to Bollywood a decade after Pakizah, with his offering Razia Sultan. If there was a gold standard for a flop then this would be it.
After a spate of flops Raj Khosla drank himself to death. Shakti Samantha told some more stale stories. Never learning from his failures Dev Anand continued with his sub standard productions (Lootmaar, Hum Nuajawan, Sachche Ka Bol Bala) – - if Dev Anand the actor was Gregory Peck of India, Dev Anand the director became India’s Ed Wood. The best that Vijay Anand could do with highly saleable Amitabh and Dharmendra together was Raam Balraam. It would not be incorrect to say that the career graph of our directors goes south with age, unfortunately we could not produce a Clint Eastwood, Sidney Lumet, Ridley Scott or Robert Altman who churned out classics well into their seventies.
RISK TAKERS
BR Chopra took some risks with the scripts and he got a kiss from the lady luck in return. His Hindi remake of a Hollywood B film Lipstick, paid off dearly. Insaf Ka Tarazu launched Raj Babbar’s career and was one of Zeenath’s last hit films. The blockbuster Nikah followed. Nikaah was BRs attempt to influence muslims into some soul searching over their divorce laws. (Needless to say that he was reaching for the stars). Singer /actor Salma Agha was being touted , prematurely, as the Surrayya of the 80s. She was unceremoniously discarded by everyone after a few flops that followed Nikah. BR returned with another hit Aaj Ki Awaz, a remake of Charles Bronson’s Death Wish . Yash Chopra did his share of risk taking. He set his story far away from Switzerland, in the slums of Mumbai with Mashaal. Though commercially a failure, it made Anil Kapoor a star and got Dilip Kumar to give one of the finest performances of his career. However his attempts to put lipstick on a pig with Faasle & Vijay, fell flat.
THE SOUTHERN OFFENSIVE
Blaring background score, hero and heroine matching dance steps like they are in a parade, action shot at twice the normal camera speeds and long drawn repetitive monologues, these are some of the trademarks of Telegu films. We Telegus are not subtle people and neither do we like our films subtle. Be it color, dance, melodrama or glycerin, we want to “super size” it. In the midst of dropping profits and flops galore, remakes of Telegu films gained most of the ground lost by big banners. Probably hungry for “Kuch Hatke” audiences lapped these films up. Themes were invariable the same, protagonist fights the corrupt oligarchy, or is avenging the killing of his family, songs take place inside heroine’s head (excuse for over the top sets and extras), innuendos were passed as comedy and were usually forced into narrative. Though there was no gross nudity in these films, the dialogue was highly suggestive and the movie was never complete without some show of anatomy under a ludicrous premise. Plainly put, Telegu cinema in the eighties never rose above rape, revenge and cleavage. Gifted directors like K Vishwanath were not as prolific in Hindi, the ones who made the most hay were Daasari Narayan Rao, Raghvendra Rao, D Ramanaidu, Bapu, K Bappaiyya, T Rama Rao. Jeetendra was a staple actor in these films, but the success rate of the Telegu remakes attracted Dilip Kumar ( Kanoon Apna Apna, Dharam Adhikari) and Amitabh (Inquilab, Andha Kanoon) among many others. Utter lack of class in films disillusioned the moviegoers, many among them turned to renting westerns and stopped going to the movies altogether. For now the aesthetics were convinced that Bollywood of Bimal Rai and Guru Dutt may not return for a while.
MEDIOCRITY SOARS
It is said that when the world is devoid of able leaders, people will follow anyone with a mega phone. B Subhash, Ravikant Nagaich, Shibbu Mitra, Kawal Sharma, etc were an example of that. You got to give it them ! they were in possession of the secret success formula that stalwarts were in search of. Suraksha, Disco Dancer, Ilzaaam, Aag hi Aag, Jeete Hain Shaan Se, Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki, and the list goes on and on, critics lambasted them, aesthetics abhorred them, but Aam Junta couldn’t get enough of them. They introduced Govinda and Mithun became a poor man’s Amitabh through these films. Bhappi Lahiri became the busiest composer of the eighties composing for these films. With cheaper technicians, low paying actors, very low production values, these films probably had a historical return on investment. But quality that low had to be short lived and it was.
NEWSMAKERS
A graduate of FTTI who had some success with Shatrughan Sinha starers Kalicharan and Vishwanath in the seventies emerged into the spot light with a bang at the beginning of the decade with Karz, Vidhata and Hero. To the popular song and dance format Subhash Ghai added superior camera techniques, innovative lighting, and elegant song picturization and was able to extract some of the best compositions from Laxmi Pyare. If there was one Badshah of Bollywood in the eighties, it was Ghai.
Shekhar Kapoor and Rahul Rawail entered the industry with a promise and were fortunate enough to get some strong scripts from Javed Akhter so early in their careers. Their superior filming techniques was icing on the cake to Akhter’s scripts which resulted in some superior products such as Arjun, Betab, and Mr India. However in the nineties one would learn that these were just “flashes in pan”. Shekhar Kapoor, though highly gifted director, developed a commitment problem, and Rahul simply did not have much to give if Javed wasn’t around. N Chandra was another such example. He updated Gulzar’s Mere Apne with low budget Ankush which became a cult classic of sorts. With his films Nana Patekar and writer Kamlesh Pandey’s careers found traction who were later to become highly bankable artists. After seeing a series of duds from Chandra for the last two decades audience is still waiting to see if he can repeat the success of Tezaab. Rakesh Roshan who struggled to make a place for himself among Khannas and Kapoors as an actor in the seventies, tried film direction and learnt that he can do a good job of it. His masala brand of cinema would later fetch some good returns during an industry wide economic down turn.
Mahesh Bhatt a B movie director of the seventies ( Naya Daur, Lahu Ke Do Rang) returned after a stint at Rajneesh’s Ashram in Oregon. Probably as catharsis to his troubled past, he made several biographical films and harnessed intense performances from Sajay Dutt (Kabza, Naam), Kumar Gaurav (Janam), Anil Kapoor (Thikana) and Shabana Azmi (Arth). Often lifting the scripts ideas from the west, and making films on a shoestring budgets, Bhatts made a business model that is still in business.
There are many layers to a women’s personality they say, and Raj Kapoor saw these as layers of clothing. Every time he ventured into a woman oriented film he removed a few layers. Raam Teri Ganga Maili was one such exercise, it was a story of an oppressed women, ironically it was difficult to fathom who was being oppressed here, Ganga the character or Mandakini the acctress.
BIGGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK
Bachchan brought the biggest bang for the buck, still. He had survived the competition from Shatru, Khannas, Dharmendra and Kapoors in the seventies, he did it again with Kamal Hasan, Jackie, Anil, Sunny and Sanjay Dutt in the eighties. Though the media did write him off every time each of them arrived on the scene with their hit. His light hearted comedies Yarana, Do Aur Do Paanch, Mr. Natwarlal with Rakesh Kumar and Namak Halal with Mehra and Satte pe Satta with Sippys are still considered as yard sticks of clean family fun. However he could not save Toofan and Jaadugar- - they arrived within weeks of each other and were out rightly rejected by the audience. For the first time since Zanjeer, his films did not recover the cost. Though he did not become another “Rajesh Khanna”, he would never return to larger than life status that he once enjoyed.
Dilip Kumar, who was pretty much living on his savings during the seventies, got employed again. However he was afflicted with the same malady as every other Indian superstar, — he did not want any risks with his film scripts and virtually played the same character in Mashaal, Vidhata and Duniya through the eighties.
THOSE TWO FLOWERS RETIRE
Before the 80s when passions between the couples grew, they would express that by coming close, angle their heads and then the scene would cut to stock footage of two flowers dodging against each other. Audience needed no explanation that the two lovers are enwrapped in a kiss. Well in the 80s those two flowers retired. The flower symbolism stopped after Betaab in 1982, and if the actors were willing, every director squeezed a smooch or two into their films thus pulling a few more hundreds to the movies.
PARALLEL BUT AHEAD
While the dry spell in the commercial cinema continued the popularity of the parallel cinema soared. Financed by NFDC, talented directors found a way to make meaningful films with less. Shaam Babu, Muzaffer Ali, Sayeed Akhtar Mirza, Sai Pranjpe, Ketan Mehta and Govind Nihalani, made films that impressed the urban circuits, and got some good returns. ( Many of their films still live on YouTube). Om Puri immortalized the Anant Vilanker character from Ardh Satya. Kundan Shah’s black comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, part satirical, part realistic, became an instant classic. Vinod Chopra, Sudhir Mishra, Satish Shah, Satish Kaushik, Pankaj Kapur, Binod Pradhan(Cinematographer) who assembled in this film would later have very successful independent careers.
Real talent is timeless and Gulzar is a perfect example of that. Never since his introduction in Bandini did he loose his standing as a writer and eighties were no exception. From Mora Gora Ang Lai Le to Dil to Bachcha Hai Ji, no one could get Gulzar to stoop to any market pressure.
COUNTER OFFENSIVE
Things turned around in the year 1988-89, a pivotal year for quality cinema in my mind. A drop out of IIT Powai Mansoor Khan overhauled dad Nasir Hussain’s production house, changed all technicians and came forth with QSQT. Amir Khan was born. Raj Kumar Santoshi who earlier had assisted Govind Nihlani, came up with hard hitting Ghayal, which helped Sunny rediscover himself. Near bankrupt Rajashri Production got a new boost with Maine Pyaar Kiya and brought families back to the cinemas. Ram Gopal Varma proved that an Indian film could be made without melodrama and emerged as a phenomenon with Shiva. Yash Chopra proved that he has not completely lost his touch; Chandni was loved by one and all. Vinod Chopra, who had earlier showed some promise with Khamosh, partnered with stars this time and created Parinda.
A streak of brilliance was emerging from Chennai, after a very long time international quality was being seen in films by Maniratnam. After getting national and international attention with Nayakan, he followed up with Angni Nakhshatram and Geetanjali and the rest as they say is history. Sangeetham Srinivas Rao broke new ground with silent movie Pushpak and Apporva Sadogral.
Today many new breed of directors thank the cinema of the eighties because if it did not hit that ebb then they would not have turned to the world cinema which shaped their skills. In relative terms, if mediocrity is down in Bollywood today, it is because the quality film makers waged a war against it and won! Despite the temptation to make films that were popular they chose to raise the bar which later brought down the empire of mediocrity. In many respects the growth that Bollywood has seen in the past decade is irreversible, the audience has evolved along with films, and hopefully never again will the “atrocious eighties” find acceptance among us.
