Three things South Indian cinema can teach Bollywood

[dinesh2002]

[tscii]Three things South Indian cinema can teach Bollywood
By IndiaFM News Bureau, December 21, 2006 - 08:03 IST

Indian cinema is a lot more diverse than audiences outside India might give it credit for. The Indian movies many outsiders have heard of are primarily Hindi language movies (yeah, those supposedly 'musical' ones). Although the industry that produces these movies is based in Bombay (the B in Bollywood), that city's major spoken language is not Hindi. There are several smaller film industries based in cities all over India that make movies in other languages.

The biggest film industries outside Bollywood are in South India, where Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam are spoken. Movies in the first two languages have a much broader base and appeal than movies in the latter two languages. Nevertheless, there is significant cross-pollination of ideas, actors and movie directors among movies in the South Indian languages, which leads to a reasonable degree of thematic overlap.

Bollywood movies, as popular as they are, tend to be centered around only a handful of sociocultural themes (I'll note though that since the release of Dil Chahta Haiin 2001, a greater number of Bollywood movies have tried to introduce new and provocative themes). Add a few predictable elements and you have a formula that satisfies the world's single largest film market. Many aspects of this formula have been emulated in Indian regional cinema to varying levels of success; indeed, regional actors generally gain in respect if they can also pull off a successful Bollywood movie. South Indian language movies come nowhere close to Bollywood movies in the size of their audience or box office collections. Still, they have their own take on some aspects of moviemaking, which I wish more Bollywood movies would use to reinvent themselves.


Irony and humor. Blockbuster Hindi movies these days are generally short on irony or anything more than token attempts at humor. Perhaps the director fears that these elements are but peripheral to the main plot of the movie, or worse, that they might undermine his message. Humor and irony might undermine the message of the movie only if it involves the major characters. South Indian movies, especially those in Tamil, manage to present enough humor and irony without detracting from the main message of the movie. They use characters that have nothing whatsoever to do with the main plot of the movie; they exist solely to provide comic relief and temporary distractions from the movie's plot development. Indeed, actors like Senthil and Goundamani have made entire careers playing such roles. Free of any involvement with the plot, their minor roles often succeed in delivering insightful social commentary while being funny. What's in it for the audience? A temporary respite from a concentrated shot of plot development, a few laughs and a chance to relate as human beings to the events on the screen. Contrast this random, and quite frankly bizarre, approach to humor with that of most Bollywood blockbusters (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna comes to mind), where any comic relief is provided by major or supporting characters and is constrained somewhat by plot elements. Not all movies must have irony or humor to be successful; however, those irony-free movies that deal solely with plot and character issues without commenting on wider social issues take themselves too seriously in enforcing patriarchy, social hierarchy and notions of propriety. Conveniently enough, this brings me to my second point.


Treatment of human and social issues. Indian cinema has always had somewhat of an escapist streak; it caters to audiences that want to rise above the concerns that constrain them ethically, morally or materially. Starting in the 90s, several movies (especially song sequences) have been shot outside India just to give a taste of foreign lands to the local audience. Influential actors like Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan have starred in movies that depict unbelievably well-dressed characters living opulent lifestyles inaccessible to the vast majority of the Indian population. Although this escapism provides some distractions from ordinary life in India, which can often be difficult, before long it becomes hard to identify with the troubles of the characters or to see their situation as relevant in any way to the viewer's own condition. South Indian cinema is much more likely to feature relevant human and social issues (the emotional complications of surrogate motherhood, the mysteries of multiple personality disorders, the slow deterioration of someone affected by a terminal disease) in its themes. Most of these movies, notably those from the Malayalam film industry, don't do well at the box office because they are not sufficiently escapist. They receive plenty of critical acclaim as serious cinema because they expand the repertoire of collectivist and widely relevant issues that can be depicted on screen. Contrast this to Bollywood's much narrower idea of pushing the envelope: questioning whether premarital cohabitation or extramarital affairs may be appropriate in some circumstances.


Musical inventiveness. South Indian cinema has seen immensely talented musical directors like A. R. Rahman or Ilayaraja, who have been highly receptive to experimenting with new styles of musical composition. Ilayaraja had a good bit of training in Western classical music, which he used to great effect in his work. A. R. Rahman's inventive genius has earned him a commission for the musical version of the Lord of the Rings. South Indian music directors are also more likely to give new singers a break, judging from all the fresh talent that keeps getting featured in South Indian movies. In fact, singers like Sadhana Sargam have fared much better singing in South Indian movies even though they aren't native to South India. Bollywood music has historically been largely predictable and features standard-issue love songs and dance beats that have been perennial favorites.

Bollywood is an incredibly successful commercial machine without a doubt. Despite the sheer number of movies it produces though, it is still a major event if an Indian movie is a serious contender for international honors in film. More than anything else, this points to a lack of diversity, arising in turn from a lack of maturity. I have no delusions about movies being high art; moneymaking continues to be their primary goal in every major film industry in the world. Still, if Bollywood could occasionally deviate from tried and tested themes and learn a thing or two from the South Indian movie industry, it will surely result in greater variety and wider appeal.

Vishy Venugopalan’s blog can be accessed at http://www.numenorean.net/blog/

If you have an interesting Bollywood blog to share, do email us

http://www.indiafm.com/features/2006...970/index.html

[tamizh_literate]

another important thing!

dealing the life of low class people!

nowadays bollywood movies deal only with high class youth!

but the platform or low class people are not dealt with

[alwarpet_andavan]

Well, we could learn a lot from Bollywood movies too...

If you leave the NRI-appeasing "designer wear" tribe apart, they are ahead of us in many ways:
Their censor board is more consistent and mature than the bunch of moral-policing jokers sitting in the board here. That only helps and encourages the makers. Yeah, they do have their so-called "bold" B-grade flicks but i'm not talking about those....


I can't imagine a film like Maqbool or Omkara being made here.
I haven't seen Hum Tum but Saif Ali Khan was terrific in Omkara.
Do we have the acting talent bench strength here?

[kamalsurya]

Well, we could learn a lot from Bollywood movies too...

If you leave the NRI-appeasing "designer wear" tribe apart, they are ahead of us in many ways:
Their censor board is more consistent and mature than the bunch of moral-policing jokers sitting in the board here. That only helps and encourages the makers [yeah, they do have their so-called "bold" B-grade flicks]...


I can't imagine a film like Maqbool or Omkara being made here.
I haven't seen Hum Tum but Saif Ali Khan was terrific in Omkara.
Do we have the acting talent bench strength here?

And we can learn alot from the way they caste artist for each role they don't just pick anyone.And the most important thing we can learn from them is dressing sense for each and every characther.Here down south Heros are given clown cothes and clothes not even suiting to the roles/characther they play.U can take a look at Kabhi Kushi Kahbi Gham? All the artist in the movie had great dressing and suited to the role they played in the movie

[tamizh_literate]

Well, we could learn a lot from Bollywood movies too...

If you leave the NRI-appeasing "designer wear" tribe apart, they are ahead of us in many ways:
Their censor board is more consistent and mature than the bunch of moral-policing jokers sitting in the board here. That only helps and encourages the makers. Yeah, they do have their so-called "bold" B-grade flicks but i'm not talking about those....


I can't imagine a film like Maqbool or Omkara being made here.
I haven't seen Hum Tum but Saif Ali Khan was terrific in Omkara.
Do we have the acting talent bench strength here?

i dont know whats the reply for this post would be!

among young heroes i would rate only surya,vikram,jeeva,barath as talented actors!

but whats their position now!..we have always had one acting superstar here!...shivaji or kamal...now ?

this will lead to different path...they made movies just for the acting alent of shivaji and kamal made movies to promote his talent as they both were one of the superstars!...but now??????

in hindi saif,hrithik,abishek all top heroes are decent actors!

in malayalam its completely dry!

two top class senior actors mohan lal and mammooty have no succesors...prithviraj is ok...dileep is ok!..thats it!

andra and karnataka...dont wanna discuss!

[alwarpet_andavan]

And the most important thing we can learn from them is dressing sense for each and every characther.Here down south Heros are given clown cothes and clothes not even suiting to the roles/characther they play.U can take a look at Kabhi Kushi Kahbi Gham? All the artist in the movie had great dressing and suited to the role they played in the movie

I disagree. Rather, one of the main complaints about BW is too much emphasis on style over substance. Designer clothes, foreign locale, rich families, cops always dressed in denim, cops with long/unkempt hair or designer hair-styles - all these are anything but authentic...
I mean, there's nothing wrong in a rich guy/woman dressing like a rich guy/woman but why do certain directors always have those settings? New York/Bangkok/London la edukkalenna makkal padatha pakka mattaingala? illa solla vara kadhaya solla mudiyadha? It's to cater to the NRI market which is lucrative... Also, the multiplex culture which is all pervasive in N.I cities...

[kamalsurya]

And the most important thing we can learn from them is dressing sense for each and every characther.Here down south Heros are given clown cothes and clothes not even suiting to the roles/characther they play.U can take a look at Kabhi Kushi Kahbi Gham? All the artist in the movie had great dressing and suited to the role they played in the movie

I disagree. Rather, one of the main complaints about BW is too much emphasis on style over substance. Designer clothes, foreign locale, rich families, cops always dressed in denim, cops with long/unkempt hair or designer hair-styles - all these are anything but authentic...
I mean, there's nothing wrong in a rich guy/woman dressing like a rich guy/woman but why do certain directors always have those settings? New York/Bangkok/London la edukkalenna makkal padatha pakka mattaingala? illa solla vara kadhaya solla mudiyadha? It's to cater to the NRI market which is lucrative... Also, the multiplex culture which is all pervasive in N.I cities...

Maybe U are partially correct because when u take a lool at Dhoom 2 the story is rubbish but u watch the movie for it's technical brillance,it's locations.etc.So I do like the idea of style over substance cause even a crap story is made it's style and artist just make the movie so much more classier and u can show to ur non-tamil friends w/o any shame...Now for example i would not dare show most of out south indian movies to my other frens...except movies from maybe Kamal,Surya,Gautham,Mani

[sonia_fr]

I can't imagine a film like Maqbool or Omkara being made here.
I haven't seen Hum Tum but Saif Ali Khan was terrific in Omkara.
Do we have the acting talent bench strength here?

I haven't seen Maqbool, but ya Omkara was brilliant, specialy Saif. Shakespeare's Othello was seen in a different angle. Even the darkness had a part of poetry. But if there's no such films in tamil it's not becuz of the lack of good actors! I'm sure Ajith ou Vikram can do as well as Saif! But is there any tamil producer who'll dare to produce such films?? NO!

Othello had three Nation Award winning actors Ajay Devgan, Saif & Konkona Sen, plus three popular stars Kareena, Vivek & Bipasha. Can you imagine just 2 leading actors coming together in a tamil movie? NO!

[alwarpet_andavan]

Maybe U are partially correct because when u take a lool at Dhoom 2 the story is rubbish but u watch the movie for it's technical brillance,it's locations.etc.

Haven't seen dhoom 2 - the only reason i would see it if at all i get to see it is for Aish and her new "avatar"

So I do like the idea of style over substance cause even a crap story is made it's style and artist just make the movie so much more classier and u can show to ur non-tamil friends w/o any shame...Now for example i would not dare show most of out south indian movies to my other frens...except movies from maybe Kamal,Surya,Gautham,Mani

Why do people equate pleasing visuals, locales or avid-edited staccato cuts alone with technical brilliance?
Kaadhal which i consider one of the best thamizh films ever made was brilliant and MUCH better than Anniyan for e.g, technically or otherwise. Let's show/see dirt as dirt. What's the need for eye-pleasing sugar-coating?

Yes, i would be ashamed to show most Thamizh movies to non-Tams but often for different reasons.
However, if you 're talking about Puratchi Kalaignar romancing Isha Kopikar, then i completely agree with you. My tactic then would be "Hey, who's watching this Kannada flick? Change the channel!"

[smith]

Omkara was a very poor interpretation of macbeth. There was no strong reason as to why ajay should suspect kareena.
Of course, it had good though not great performances.

Even a film like black lacked real depth. It had more gloss than substance.