The make-belief makeover

The post-liberalisation Bollywood dream factory has slipped further away from reality and shows no intention of waking up

Salim Arif Mumbai

W  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drew his economic reforms plans as finance minister in P V Narasimha Rao's regime in the 1990s, giving India's market forces the catalyst for a global market economy, it may perhaps not have been his intention to give Hindi films a potential goldmine. But his financial policy did just that.

Hindi cinema, which was engrossed in milking money out of an all-India market, was suddenly confronted with the need to look overseas. The liberal foreign exchange policy also brought in a welcome respite as funds could now be arranged without hawala transaction.

At the same time, the situation in Kashmir made it difficult for filmmakers to shoot in that picturesque state. It was around this time that Yash Chopra chanced to visit Gstaad in Switzerland while on holiday. He was enchanted by the locations, and the absence of red tapism to facilitate his film shootings became an added advantage. The 18 hours of sunlight during summer were a further attraction. A new location for Bollywood song-and-dancesequences was born. Mauritius became another favoured locale for several units. Closer home, Ooty and Manali also worked well, even if the budget became a little tighter.

There were other revolutions as well. After Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), the Marwari/Gujarati cultural mix provided a refreshing counterpoint to Yash Chopra's Punjabi wedding sequences. The entire film, depicting a chain of celebratory ritual sequences, created several landmarks in India and abroad. It packaged the Indian ethos with music and dance as filmmakers tried to evolve content, keeping family audiences in mind.

The wedding dresses of the stars became attires to ape in real life. Ghaghra cholis and sherwanis with angavastrams came back with a flourish.

This was followed by Aditya Chopra's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (1995), which created history of sorts by using a clever mix of traditional virtues and contemporary street-smartness. The first half was set in London and parts of Europe, the second based in Punjab. The film had a lavish spread of wedding song-and-dance sequences. Neo-rich Punjabis now had a wedding to imitate, as banquet halls filled with misty eyed expats searching for their roots.

Films may imitate life in other countries, but in our case life imitates films. Rituals on the wane and specific to certain communities became bigtime events to follow. They revived and intermingled with other ones to create a filmi culture that was followed with gusto in homes in India and abroad. By now, the neo-rich had rediscovered ways to prolong their family weddings into a whole week, or even a fortnight, of celebrations, thanks to Bollywood. The Mittal wedding in Paris recently literally paid homage to Hindi cinema as a Veda of the 21st century way of life.

The huge success of Dilwale…also created a superstar who would become the icon of an overseas following. Shah Rukh Khan became a perfect vehicle for Yash Chopra's make-believe world of films. There is nothing to offend the eye or the mind, no reflection of the reality we live in but a feelgood affluence to keep us focused on the emotional problems of the protagonists. The lure of lucre is big enough for even someone like Subhash Ghai, who was making Ram Lakhan and Saudagar till then, and felt compelled to make Pardes. The "I love my India" song was his motif of non-resident Indian longing for home. Rishi Kapoor's Aa Ab Laut Chalein, based in New York and Punjab, was nicknamed "Aa Abroad Chalein" in certain circles.

Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have made films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas, which have been huge blockbusters among Indian communities abroad.