With the turn of a century, Indian film industry has had a new lease of life and the term-come of age cinema-was born.
by Nikhil Arora
From uber cool Dil Chahta Hai to grim Black Friday, and from vernacular Omkara to patriotic Rang De Basanti, Today we have all the flavors on our platter, served simmering hot. But what are the ingredients that goes into these delicacies?
Year 2001, with Dil Chahta Hai, Farhan Akhtar made
his directorial debut. The movie revolves around the life of three college friends strongly bonded together, who at one point of time get separate, and reunite at the end. Since the movie was slightly on the hilarious side, It clicked well with the audience and was a huge success. Farhan won National Award for Best Feature Film that year and since then it became a yardstick against which success of other films is measured. Farhan was born in Mumbai to screenwriters, Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani. He went to H.R. College, for a degree in commerce, though he left it in
the second year and joined Director Manmohan Singh as apprentice and later went on to assist Pankaj Parashar for his film Himalayputra. He was someone who’s born with the silver spoon, in 2001, he started Excel Entertainment with friend Ritesh Sidwani and is producing films since then. In 2004 came his directorial venture lakshya and then the remake of 1978’s Cult classic Don starring Shahrukh Khan. He explored different genres with his movies but there was nothing out of the box as far as stories were concerned and it was the story telling which came as a refreshing change. Screenplay has always been the high point of Akhtar’s movies. Moreover his movies are urban in their premise, dealing with issues of youth, borrowing a lot from his own life.
It took almost half a decade for film industry to churn out something to replicateThe roaring success of Dil Chahta Hai. Come 2006, it was raining movies and 26 January, on the eve of republic day released Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti. The movie explores how an ordinary group of friends assasinate a Minister under extraordinary conditions, in order to defend honour of their pilot friend who dies in a MIG crash, which ultimately led to their own demise. Mehra won a National Award for that. Born in Delhi, he pursued his graduation in commerce from Sri Ram College of Commerce. Mehra started his career an ad film maker before which he used to work as door to door salesman, but he seemed to have known the craft, since soon he was having all the big international brands like Coke, Pepsi, Toyota in his
kitty.
Mehra’s first film was Aks starring Amitabh Bachan, which didn’t appeal to the audience but got rave reviews from the critics. His last film was Delhi 6. Mehra is a visionary and his cinema is par excellence. He juxtaposes social
milieu with something like Ramayana and uses kaala bandar as a metaphor for evil in such a way that is beyond imagination of an average human being. Captivating cinematography by Binod Pradhan and music by A.R.Rehman have always been key strength of his movies. Mehra’s longing for his native place Delhi can be felt with every movie of his.
Before 2006, Saif Ali Khan was never cosidered as a serious actor, but there was a paradigm shift in this perception with the advent of Omkara (adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello) directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. Movie was vernacular adaptation of Othello set amidst Uttar Pradesh. The movie got critical acclaim as well as box office success, Saif was equally credited for that. Vishal was born and raised in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh to Ram Bhardwaj, a famous poet and lyricist. He pursued his Graduation from Hindu college and used to play Harmonium for a little known Ghazal singer at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. He was then introduced to Gulzar with whom he collaborated on many TV serials like Jungle Book, Alice in
Wonderland. Vishal turned music composer with Maachis, a film directed by Gulzar. Today he is a successful director with a slew of path breaking movies like Makdee, Maqbool and quite recently, Kaminey.
Bhardwaj’s cinema explores psychology of the characters, similar to the plays of
Shakespeare, from which he borrows a lot. What makes that even more enticing is the setting and the dialect. You can also experience the undercurrents of poetry and philosophy in his creations coming inevitably to him from his upbringing. Top notch performances from some of the industry’s elite actors and strong scripting are some of the highlights of his creations, which have set benchmarks that arehard to emulate.
Another ad film Director from Delhi, Dibakar Banerjee turned out with an eccentrically named movie Khosla ka Ghosla in 2006. Set in Delhi, Khosla ka Ghosla is a story of a bourgeois family whose recently acquired plot was engulfed by a land shark, what follows is the series of attempts made by the family to get their plot back. Movie was well received by the audience and critics but, more than that it opened a new genre in the
Indian Film Industry. Movie is still perceived as a comedy, but if you ask Dibakar about experience of making a comedy, he will quickly shrug his shoulder and say “I don’t know, never made one”, which is true to a certain extent. He made his foray into the industry with colleague and friend Jaideep Sahni, who later made his mark as a writer.
Dibakar is very eclectic, it is something that shines through characterization in his movies.You can instantly build a connection with his movies. Some characters are similar to the people you find across the street, in your families. The characters in his movie are not very strong but it’s their idiosyncrasies which make them an absolute delight to watch. Dibakar’s films are ascetic and are completely driven by the nuances of the characters which brings out 
this nice flavor in his movies.
this nice flavor in his movies.
If you were born in a family where your relatives own three cinema halls, and you end up watching every possible movie there, then there’s a fair chance of your becoming a filmmaker. So comes Imtiaz Ali, brought up in Jamshedpur where his relatives own three cinema halls, a place where he spent most of his childhood. He made his debut in 2005 with Socha Na Tha, which became a favorite among the critics but didn’t get public’s appreciation. Then in 2007 came Jab We Met, which turned out to be a huge success. Imtiaz did a course in Marketing and Advertising from St. Xavier’s, Mumbai. He started his career directing slew of TV serials for Zee TV.
Imtiaz brought the concept of romantic comedies in our Film Industry. He also writes dialogues for his movie even though he’s not a seasoned writer, this makes the tone of his movies strikingly different but, in good taste. From Viren’s character in Socha Na Tha to Geet’s character in Jab We Met, Imtiaz is known for creating strong central characters. His metropolitan take on Man-Woman relationship is something that made an instant connection with the urban audience. If names like Black Friday, Gulaal haunts you, then story of the man behind
these movies will be even more intimidating. Anurag Kashyap was Born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, where his father worked for State Electricity Board. He did his earlier schooling in Dehradun and was fascinated by films right from childhood. He later enrolled himself for Zoology course in Hansraj college, Delhi, from where he graduated in 1993. During his college days he caught de Sica’s retrospective at International Film Festival of India, where he ended up watching 55 films in 10 days, and de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves was the movie that influenced him the most. Within a few days with Rs. 5000 in his pocket he landed in the city of dreams, Mumbai. The money ran after he stayed for a few days in a Hotel, what followed is the turbulent journey comprising of sleeping under a water tank, long
periods of hibernation, drugs and alcohol.
Kashyap won accolades for his writing in Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya and Shool. He made his mark with a controversial Black Friday, Based on 1993 Bombaybombings. He is also credited as a writer of Academy Award nominated Water, made by Mira Nair. Kashyap’s cinema is reminiscent of his own tumultuous journey. His movies are grim and they strip the society to it’s bare minimum. Anguish, violence, blood, frustration take a high point in his movies and there are certain moments when you feel that you can’t take it any more. His later releases Dev D and Gulaal were well received by audience and the director is busy working on his new projects.
But there was someone who changed the rules of the game even before
these gentlemen came into the picture. He gave his well paid job as soft-
ware engineer and turned Director with Hyderabad Blues. He is Nagesh
Kukunoor, who made his mark with highly
Kukunoor, who made his mark with highly
acclaimed Iqbal. The movies like Rockford, Dor and 3 Deewarein speak
volumes for his talent and he’s a seasoned actor as well. Things are not
going well for Nagesh, his last two films bombed at the box office and
his credibility is at stake. Let’s see what the future has in store for us.
In the last 2-3 years we have seen 
proliferation of first time film directors,who have delivered competent movies
in various genres and are all set
to be the next big thing in the B-Town.
Neeraj pandey of A Wednesday is
known for his contrived direction. Rahul
Dholakia’s Parzania is a heart wrenching
Depiction of 2002 Gujrat violence and it’s
aftershocks were well accounted in an
Insightful Firaaq by Nandita Das. Mumbai
Meri Jaan by Nishikant Kamat explores
the impact of train bombings on the city.
If this is not the kind of cinema that
excites you then you shouldn’t have missed
the Rock On which is Abhishek Kapoor’s
take on friendship and unfulfilled aspirations and
then there is our good old romantic comedy
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na by Abbas Tyrewala.
We have seen that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, there were
some who were privileged while there were some who just stumbled over.
Some slept on the roads, some left their job and there was one for whom
It took just that one movie. They had their different journeys which became
an important attribute of their cinema and what brings them together is a
vision and passion for the revival of the Indian Cinema. Today Indian
Cinema offer a plethora of choices across every genre to satiate every
individual’s appetite.
10 comments
yup...ma'an...true...vision n passion...is must....nice work ma'an....a vry inciting post....keep it up...!!! :)
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM
thnx for those words of appreciation
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
hey man it is a nice attempt to pen down observations and hav started feeling that u r a creative person with a great insight but caught in wrong job.Please keep up the good work.....good luck
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 5:24 PM
i cant figure out wat u try'n to say.you are giving example of their successful films instead of their unique property like of their direction or approach ,its like biography,ur article is good but need improvement to be in brunch
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 7:10 PM
yes dere is always a scope for improvement
but i guess i have highlighted the key strength of the movie be it storytelling, characters, screenplay
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 8:28 PM
according to me ur article's intro need to be more strong and you give more emphasise on telling the story little to highlight their uniqueness to the contemporary films
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 9:25 PM
good work...
really appreciable...
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 10:35 PM
gud work buddy
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 6:43 PM
bro inti english padne k baad mujhe hindi mein kuch likhne ka dil hai...abb aagar tune ek mov nahi banayi aur meri inputs uss mov mein nahi gayi to beta tu nahi bachega....F@#k the INFY....
Posted on November 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM
pehli baar kissi ne dhang ka suggestion diya hai
Posted on November 15, 2009 at 1:52 AM
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