Today as we celebrate the triumph of good over evil on the occasion of Dusshera, we give you nine evils in our B-town which you should be do away with, ASAP! Though we as a society have come along a long way and the mainstream Bollywood films reflect this phenomenon, we still have a long way to go, yet! Hindi films are certainly not what they used to be two decades ago and today, there is space for unconventional, new-age films but unfortunately majority of the filmmakers thrive on making easy money by producing massy pot boilers. Good news is that, there is audience for all kinds of films.
But unfortunately, majority of Bollywood films still dumb down content on us, hapless viewers, and indulge in stupid activities like playing box office games and name-calling each other! So let's look at the things which are totally irksome in the Hindi entertainment industry today and without which Bollywood will be a happier place!
# Item numbers
Item numbers are made with three major aims: arouse, arouse and arouse some more. Well, we have no problem with women openly expressing their carnal cravings openly. But there is a major issue when women dance to please men, our leading heroes, who happily objectify them! If men can leer at women in the most normal way, then women should be given a chance to do the same! So, folks please bring on some testosterone fuelled male item numbers, we're waiting!
# Stereotyping characters
So, according to Bollywood Punjabis are loud, South Indian are dark, English speaking heroines are fast, effeminate men are gay and girls who smoke are s****.
# Importance to box office figures
Your ability as an actor is decided by the box office figures your film garners. Though all actors starting from the three ruling Khans: Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan to other biggies like Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, among others act all nonchalant and cool, all of them resort to frantic tactics to get numbers! Though trade is an integral aspect of any business, Bollywood gives too much importance to it. So much so that actor's credibility is reduced to mere numbers!
# Year round award functions
IIMA, IIFA, Filmfare, Screen, so on and so forth. There is no end to these charades. Every year, after year we are forced to watch the same old dance performances in garish outfits, lame jokes and corny show of emotions. As years have passed, the credibility of Bollywood awards have gone down considerably. Lot of times, Bollywood stars indulge in gossip and bitching sessions all in fun and good taste of course, but then why blame press then?
# Cat-fights between leading ladies
It is a general contention that two leading ladies cannot bond ever! Instead of breaking this stereotype, our actresses add fuel to the fire by further aggravating this belief. The recent Deepika Padukone - Kangana Ranaut controversy over who gets paid how much is the clear example of this fact.
# Sequels, sequels and more sequels!
While we do not have an issue with franchises, it kills us when filmmakers overdo it. While Rohit Shetty kept hamming Golmaal and Singham sequels, lot of other director s have fallen prey to this temptation. Okay, Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Tanu Weds Manu Returns are exceptions but, makers should learn their lesson from debacles like Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara.
# Remake obsession
Okay so there is a set formula. Take a hit South Indian film and just duplicate it in Hindi. Add some saucy numbers get a Tamil speaking choreographer turned director to make it (you know who we are talking about!) and voila, you have a 100 crore film ready!
# No good roles for older actresses
Recently, National Award winning actress Konkona Sen Sharma candidly revealed to us that the reason she couldn’t make a comeback earlier was because good role are not easy to come by for an older actress and a mother at that! So, we are still waiting for the time when roles are written for slightly elder actresses. For we have many Meryl Streeps waiting in Bollywood too!
# Not enough space for parallel cinema
Masaan, Titli or Ugly are a few films. Most filmmakers do not want to risk of producing an ‘arty’ film. And even if they do, they are not distributed well. Masaan even after international acclaim, had very few shows in India. And the film vanished from suburbs after within a week. Isn’t it something to think about?
So these were the evils we thought Bollywood should get rid off, can you suggest more. Post your thoughts in the comments section below!
