As I came to the end of Aryan Khan’s entertaining The Ba***ds of Bollywood, I found myself thinking back to all the movies set in the Hindi film industry.
Films about films haven’t been as popular with directors as one would expect, which is puzzling, given the immense possibilities of such storylines. I imagine that audiences, always fascinated by how movies are made, would also be keen for an inside view, particularly of what goes on behind the closed doors of Mumbai’s shining dream factory.
Perhaps such tales cut too close for comfort. Or filmmakers prefer safer, tried-and-true themes such as romance, family drama, the underworld and crime. Still, there have been a few Hindi films about the making of movies that have made it to many critics’ top favourites lists.
Among the most recent and probably best-known (also the best of the lot) are Farah Khan’s rollicking Om Shanti Om (2007) and Zoya Akhtar’s candid and perceptive Luck by Chance (2009).
I really liked Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture (2011) and Maneesh Sharma’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fan (2016) too. But how about before all this?
Well, the trail begins with no less outstanding a work than Guru Dutt’s melancholy classic Kaagaz ke Phool (1959), a dark tale, told in black and white, of a life unravelling amid immense fame.
About a decade on, there was Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s charming Guddi (1971), which marked Jaya Bachchan’s Bollywood debut. It’s a fan film that exudes a sweet innocence at complete odds with today’s toxic celebrity culture.
Kusum, an impish schoolgirl, has a giant crush on Dharmendra (who plays himself). Her uncle eventually decides to get Dharmendra himself to help rid her of her intensifying infatuation. The plan works, but not before we are treated to a view of several shoots in progress (with cameos by Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Pran, all playing themselves). The plot is built around the simple message that the world of movies is entirely make-believe.
A year before Guddi, there was the rather lacklustre Merchant-Ivory production Bombay Talkie, about a British novelist named Lucia (Jennifer Kendal) in love with a star named Vikram (Shashi Kapoor). This tedious movie doesn’t have much to do with the film industry except for the innovative credits, in which billboards and posters are used to great effect. And the fabulous opening scene, in which Lucia is taken on a tour of a studio and we see Helen (resplendent in gold) and a group of background dancers practising their dance moves on the keys of a giant red typewriter.
My next pick after Guddi would actually be Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Khamosh (1986). While it isn’t about the movie industry, I love it for its audacious premise: a thriller set amid a film shoot. Though Khamosh concentrates on the murder mystery, it makes room for a number of very typical industry characters, such as the lecherous producer played by Ajit Vachani, and the pushy mother (Sushma Seth) forcing her young daughter into a career as an actress.
Two years later came the Ketan Mehta-directed Hero Hiralal, with its unusual cast: Naseeruddin Shah as a street-smart Bollywood-obsessed autorickshaw driver and Sanjana Kapoor as an ethereal actress named Roopa. Hero Hiralal, the autorickshaw driver, turns up on the fringes of a set, as a dacoit film is shot in his hometown of Hyderabad. He falls in love with Roopa at first sight, and goes on to save her from the lewd advances of the hero (Kiran Kumar). This movie also offers some background peeks at star tantrums and pushy parents (Rohini Hattangadi is formidable as Roopa’s ambitious mother).
My final pick would be the frothy and fun Rangeela (1995), whose catchy songs and liquid choreography were a sensation when the film was released. The plot follows Mili (Urmila Matondkar), a background dancer who wants to be a star, and her best friend, the lovable tapori Munna (Aamir Khan), who is secretly in love with her, determined to help her, but risks losing her to the glamour of her new world. The stock characters here include (again!) the overbearing mother (Shammi), declaring pack-up on a whim; the conflicted Bollywood hero (an intense, subdued Jackie Shroff); and the crude producer (Avtar Gill), clutching a tin of paan masala and telling everyone his new movie is bound to be a big hit and make more than ₹1 crore (yes, that made me smile too).
Ba***ds of Bollywood opens up a new chapter, with its roast of the film industry, tempered by affection, innumerable hat-tips and in-jokes. What’s a movie you would like to see made about the movies?
(To reach Poonam Saxena with feedback, email poonamsaxena3555@gmail.com. The views expressed are personal)
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