#bollywood analysis

Where It All Began

To understand why item numbers are not ok, we need to understand how it started. The term ‘item number’ has unknown origins but after many speculations, there is consensus that the term originated by (surprise, surprise) men to objectify these women. In the early Bollywood days, the term item number didn’t really seem to exist, but the sexualized dance sequences did. Cuckoo was the first major dancing star of Bollywood and performed in many successful movies like Pardes (1950) and Awaara (1951). She rose to prominence alongside many legends like Madhubala and Meena Kumari for her dancing abilities. Later down the line, Helen came along and featured in a decade-worth of item numbers. These vary from Aa Jaane Ja to Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja to Mehbooba Mehbooba to Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo. She created a monopoly in this tiny sliver of Bollywood and overshadowed other struggling actors trying to make it big on the silver screen. Nearing the 80′s, the heroine dancing in the sexualized manner was normalized. Possibly the best example of this is Ek Do Teen of Tezaab. This song was an afterthought in the final edit, but this song is what shot Madhuri Dixit to the star and icon she is today. The item numbers soon became highly used and producers started investing more money into these sequences. As the 2000′s rolled along, the item boy made an appearance onto the big screen. Basically, and item boy is the male equivalent to item girl; dancing to a song with double-meanings in revealing clothes. Abhishek Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Hrithik Roshan all have danced an item number at one point in their careers. The 2010′s decade started off with a bang in terms of item numbers with Katrina Kaif’s Sheila Ki Jawani and Malaika Arora’s Munni Badnam Hui. This was followed by other successful item songs like Sunny Leone’s Baby Doll and Nora Fatehi’s Dilbar. But as these successes occurred back-to-back, criticisms towards these songs rose along with it.

Why They Are Problematic

The real problem of item number lies among the audience and creators. Many popular item numbers are created to please the male gaze as the sequences feature women dancing half-naked and enjoying the perverted male gaze. This sets out an incorrect example and feeds onto the already amplified hyper-masculinity of Indian men. They become more entitled and dominant to women. If you thought that wasn’t enough, item numbers hurt the other side of the spectrum too. The female dancers are blatantly objectified and make the female viewers think that that is what is appealing to the boys. This leads them to become more insecure about their looks and dement the views of what society finds beautiful. Another reason as to why item numbers are as common as they are is because of the shared understanding that they are absolutely necessary to rake in the big numbers. Item numbers often boost the star power of the dancer (like Nora Fatehi and Sunny Leone), but it usually isn’t required for a movie to become a super hit nowadays. For example, out of the top 10 highest-grossing Bollywood movies of 2019, only three of them featured item numbers (that being War, Bharat, and Total Dhamaal). This furthermore proves how the current Indian audiences are not just simply attracted by the woman in skimpy clothes dancing on screen, but rather the story, performances, and messages a movie has to present.

Outro

WHY I LOVE IT

•  Characters and performances. One aspect that contributes to the pure magic of the movie are the characters and actors. Mithila Palkar as Tanya can come off as a bit caricature-ish with her rebellious antics, but she is naturally charming and likable. Dulquer Salmaan in his first Bollywood debut is easily one of the best things in this movie as Avinash. Avinash is a kind and mild-hearted photographer who was forced to give up his passion to work in a software company for stability. Many millenials can relate to his situation of suppressing his creative self to suit their parents’ aspirations and he is all-in-all a well written character. Irfaan Khan plays the role of Shaukat, a conservative yet hilarious mechanic who is Avinash’s friend. Shaukat easily steals the show in whatever frame he is in with his dialogue elivery and comic timing. Irfan is just too good in this role! All the three characters have a good chemistry and traits to compliment each other, which makes the watching experience worthwhile.

•  Cinematography. It would be concerning if a road trip movie wouldn’t have great visuals, but thankfully Karwaan does. There aren’t many Bollywood movies that show the sheer beauty of South India’s greenery (one I can think off the top of my head is Chennai Express), so it was refreshing for one to do so. From the hilly Ooty to seaside Kerala, and finally, to the vibrant Kochi, the frames of this film is very pleasing to look at. Even when they aren’t showcasing the natural beauty of South India, the scenes have graceful lighting and angles to accompany the performances of the stars.

•  Soundtrack.  As my past “Why I Love It” posts have gone, I simply cannot muse about a movie without talking about the soundtrack and Karwaan is no different. Handcrafted by Imaad Shah and Anurag Saikia, the songs contain this feel-good atmosphere that would give you the feels if you know what I mean. Chota Sa Fasana is youthful and energetic and is a perfect song for driving amongst the blue sky. Kadam is tranquil yet effective at showing Avinash’s unsatisfactory life. Heartquake is a loving song sung by Papon that perfectly encapsulates Shaukat’s innocent and pure affection. All these songs together form a great soundtrack to cheer yourself up.

•  Real, but beautiful moments. Hands down the biggest reason why I love Karwaan is because of its realism. Often times, when we look at these realistic movies, they often focus on the grim details of society (which isn’t a bad thing). However Karwaan focuses on the more enlightening parts of life and gives us a new perspective on death. The characters and relationships are organic, which results in many memorable moments throughout the movie. From Avinash gaining closure from Rumi and his father, to Shaukat’s budding romance with Tasneem, to Tanya seeing her grandmother after the incident. All these moments stayed with me after the viewing experience because of the good-feels they give and the camera work.

CONCLUSION

C*nsorship

A struggle many creators have faced while publishing their works is dealing with censorship. Unlike western cinema, we have completely different views on movies with mature content such as cursing, nudity, and sex. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), whose current chairman is Prasoon Joshi, has a continuous streak of being unforgiving towards mature content like sex, nudity, and language. Gulabi Aaina, Paanch, Udta Punjab, Lipstick Under My Burkha there are so many more movies that CBFC demanded cuts from or banned completely. Even western films like Blue Jasmine and The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo chose not to release their films in India because they needed to either censor themselves or cut crucial scenes. This kind of censoring suppresses the artistic voices of creators and not to mention deletes important scenes that contributes to the overall plot. But this is a different case with OTT platforms. See, the CBFC only overlooks movies that actually release in theaters, hence the movies getting a theatrical release ends up heavily censored. However, with OTT platforms are mostly free of that restriction, which allows the film creators to express their unfiltered artistic voices with no limitations.

Opportunity For Talent

From Varun Dhawan to Sonam Kapoor, the industry’s highest grossing movies and the list of a-listers are plagued with hints of nepotism. Every year, there is new talent who get ignored and are given minor roles they clearly dislike. Since most of these movies that have star kids in them get a theatrical release, people saw a shift to the right direction when online streaming platforms began producing their own shows and movies. For one, they began giving titular roles in major movies and shows to outsiders. A few I can think of are Bulbbul, Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega, Afsos, and Criminal Justice. This allows these often ignored actors to prove their acting chops and gain a fan following. Also recently, many of these shows began casting talented actors who don’t receive much work in the industry because they are considered either too old or too irrelevant. Some of these include Abhishek Bachchan in Breathe, Sushmita Sen in Aarya, Bobby Deol in Class of ‘83, and Shefali Shah in Delhi Crime. Although many of these people mentioned here are products of nepotism, they do possess talent that is worth acknowledging in some shape or form.

Convenient & Safe

Now, this topic is more so relating to the current state of the pandemic right now rather than the normal day-to-day life because let’s be honest: not many people can afford proper internet connection let alone a Netflix or Hotstar account. Considering the state of social distancing, going to movie theaters isn’t really the best choice and thankfully many people recognize that. Since people are spending more and more time in their home, they have nothing but the internet to get entertainment from. While there is other online entertainment available other than these sites such as YouTube or Tiktok, people crave some high quality media sometime and that is made accessible through online streaming platforms. Cinema-goers can get the same if not higher quality of movies and show through the comfort of their own couch that isn’t K3G on Star Gold for the umpteenth time. 

Conclusion

WHY I LOVE IT

• The performances. A Death in the Gunj has great talent behind the screen, but it also has great talent in front of it too. Tillotama Shome, Jim Sarbh, and Gulshan Devaiah as Bonnie, Brian, and Nandu work with what they are given and embrace their character’s flaws well. Mimi is gracious but also an aching soul and Kalki Koechlin plays her role very well. Ranvir Shorey as the short-tempered and dominating Vikram was effortlessly played. The show-stealer was unquestionably Vikrant Massey as the misunderstood and gentle Shutu. He conveyed every emotion with grace, from innocence to frustration. This performance just proves how underappreciated of an actor Massey is and how he is capable of carrying a film on his shoulders.

• The cinematography. When I saw cinematographer Sirsha Ray win the ‘Best Cinematography’ award in the Filmfare 2018, I couldn’t help but be a bit confused. But when I watched the movie, I soon discovered why he got the award. Taking inspiration from the Bengali classic Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray, the stillness of the frames allows the actors to shine through with their performances and make the audience feel as a bystander of the scenes. Sometimes, stillness can be more effective than breaking the fourth wall to make the audience feel included in the storyline.

• The soundtrack. The tranquility of many tracks (such as ‘Into the Gunj’ and ‘Shutu’s Pain’) works wonders with setting the mood of the scene. Similarly, the budding guitar tune of ‘Shutu Mimi’ captures the flirty chemistry between the characters very well. And I can’t go on without mentioning the tracks ‘Toothe Gachhe Bhoot Nache’ and ‘Raiyo Raiyo’ and its tune and vocals heavily rooted in the Bengali culture. Just listening to them takes will transport you to a rural West Bengal.

• The theme. Probably the biggest reason why I enjoy watching this film is because of the theme it discusses, which isn’t really a subject discussed in many mainstream movies. The movie discusses masculinity and how it can be destructive towards the youth. Massey’s character, Shutu, is a teenager who is indulges himself in reading and writing and hence, he isn’t considered as a “real man”. This is well exhibited when Koechlin’s character, Mimi, says that he is so beautiful that he could almost be a girl. Throughout the movie, we see Shutu’s character adjusting to the adults he is around, but in a unnatural and hastened way. This is made clear by how the group “summons” a ghost in the house as a prank on Shutu and how Shorey’s character, Vikram, beats Shutu in a Kabaddi match. That’s why his only true friend in this trip is Tani played by Sharma because she genuinely wanted to be friends with him and not make him the butt of all the jokes. So when she starts ignoring him, Shutu felt guilty. Like he isn’t good enough for anybody. Imagine how it feels like when the only person that loves you for the way you are just forgets you. Stings, doesn’t it? The end scene is heart-wrenching and very intense and perfectly encapsulates his bottled up frustration of the entire week.

CONCLUSION

A Death in the Gunj is the kind of movie that you think about for the next three days. There are many emotions interwoven into this story, such as acceptance and guilt and depression. Definitely a masterpiece I will remember and learn from.

What Is Stopping The Industry?

There are many reasons as to why the animation industry hasn’t completely reached its potential, but the biggest reason is because of the adult viewers perspective on animation movies. Not many adults file into the theatres to watch an animated movie with the entire family because they are under the impression that they cater to kids only and unable to satisfy the adults. The animated movie makes little to no traction and they are unable to earn their money back. Because of this, these movies don’t get an adequate budget to make quality work happen. And by quality work, I mean a compelling and unique script with likable characters and visually stunning animation. That’s one of the reasons why most of our animated features are about Hindu deities; they don’t require much character development and still provide engaging content that the masses are familiar with and able to engage with. Not to mention, the Indian animation industry has many successful and experienced Western competitors. Even if their movie flunks in the Indian box office, there is still hope for them to earn money from other locations they are screening internationally whereas the Indian animation industry needs to cross their fingers and hope that they’ll get their money back. Right now it looks like the animated features are limited to television channels for kids.

The *Slightly* Optimistic Future

Of course, not all hope is lost. With the rise of the internet, the Indian audience is gradually getting more and more exposed to other mediums of entertainment. One such medium is anime. Over time, anime has been garnering fans in India and in 2019, they began a petition on change.org to have Makoto Shinai’s most recent movie Weathering With You in theatres in India. After approximately 53,000 signatures, they put the movie in theatres in India. It became the biggest opening for a foreign non-English film India has ever seen and the theatres were packed with adult anime fans. Along with showing great strides towards recognizing anime as a respected form of cinema in India, it also showcased a millennial adult’s budding interest in animated movies, subversing the ideals of the generations before them. Hopefully, Bollywood recognizes the new crowd and mold into their interest as they have done before. Along with that, the internet has exposed us to more content creators who are Indian animators (some I can think of are Yogi Baba and KirtiChow) who shed a light on what it is like to be an animator and how underappreciated animation in India is.

Outro

Making Preethi More Realistic

As Shahid puts it in an interview with IndiaToday, “The film is about a flawed character. Preity is a stronger character than Kabir. Kabir doesn't know how to handle himself”. To many extents, that is true. After the two of them start taking the relationship to the next level, Kabir starts acting more tender towards her and Preethi starts being more comfortable around him. While on one hand that is a good thing and successfully shows his transformation, I do think that Preethi could’ve stopped Kabir from acting regressive much earlier on. The scene I’m talking about is when Kabir was “assigning” Preethi her friend. Firstly, Kabir shouldn’t be doing that. He is (and I’m putting this in the nicest way possible) a self-entitled brat who thinks he can do whatever he wants. This kind of behavior should never be warranted. So to make Kabir not do that again, Preethi needs to be slightly opinionated. I know that’s unlike her character, but she needs to be a modern woman. And a modern woman knows how to talk back. So my first correction in this problematic relationship would be her talking back to Kabir when he “assigns” her friend. Just a simple “I can choose my own friends” could be enough. She would become more likable in the audience’s eyes and change Kabir’s perspective faster.

Expressing Kabir’s Anger

Throughout the movie, Kabir shows many emotions like love and helplessness, but the most prominent emotion he shows is his anger. Be it his past or his present, he almost always seems to have an angry glare over his eyes. Almost everyone he interacts with retracts from him when he is angry, from his friends to his enemies. So, of course, Preethi has been affected by his storm, more specifically near the end of their relationship. When Kabir is walking away from Preethi and she begs for him to stop and repeatedly apologizes to him, he finally had enough and slapped her. Now, this point is supposed to represent his anger finally getting the best of him after all the time he spent overcoming it. But I have a feeling the creators went a bit too far on this one. My edit on this scene would be him raising his hand to hit Preethi but he stops midway, trying his best no to hurt her, and just leaves her without saying anything. This would be more effective because it shows the start of his anger blinding him but it also shows a part of him trying to protect the woman he loves. 

Outro