2004: Year of the copycat

In terms of quality films, 2004 was probably Bollywood's worst year, writes Saibal Chatterjee.

In 2004, the Hindi film industry won some and lost some. It tasted several highs but it also witnessed many a failed experiment. In terms of themes, Bollywood filmmakers cast their nets wider than ever before and came up with some surprises. But when it came to genuine quality, they were like a bunch of fishermen seeking a haul in a swamp.

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Indeed, Mumbai's dream merchants addressed an unprecedented variety of themes in 2004. Kunal Kohli's fluffy love story, Hum Tum, was woven around the battle of the sexes. Farah Khan's debut feature, Main Hoon Na and Yash Chopra's first film in seven years, Veer-Zaara, driven more by romance than reality, advocated Indo-Pak harmony in an expectedly facile manner.

Actor-turned-director Karan Razdan's unabashedly exploitative Girlfriend dealt with lesbianism, while the infinitely more sensitive Phir Milenge, directed by a far better known actor, Revathy, tackled the plight of HIV positive people. Neither of the two films managed to make much headway.

Any number of Hindi films, led by Anurag Basu's Murder and Deepak Shivdasani's Julie, sought to exploit erotica in its coarsest form. The ploy did not always work.

Mani Ratnam's Yuva, inspired in part by the Mexican cult hit, Amores Perros, sought to explore the impact of political cynicism on present-day urban youth. Sanjay Gadhvi's Dhoom revolved around the exploits of a biker gang. Govind Nihalani's Dev focused on the impact of communalism on the police force. Yuva and Dev made a great deal of sense. They bombed. Dhoom made no sense. It went on to become one of the year's biggest hits. Clearly, it was business as usual for Bollywood.