Dear friend,
Yesterday, I watched Shahrukh Khan’s big comeback movie Pathaan. It’s been ages since I watched a Hindi movie. I felt a mix of emotions being at the cinema.
Later, a friend asked me how I would rate Pathaan out of 10. I’ve never been a movie buff. So, I don’t really know. But one thing I know is that I don’t think it’s fair for me to attempt giving a numerical rating to the culmination of the Bollywood’s biggest name. If you want to be critical you could easily call it a second grade attempt at trying to create a character combining bits of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt. But that’s just not fair. With the six-pack abs of a 57-year-old, Siddharth Anand has set a new bars for Hollywood’s top secret service agents.
Love Story 1981 was the first Bollywood movie I watched. I didn’t understand the story but I remember Kumar Gaurav cutting his finger and writing something on the wall with blood. Gaurav was a big name. He was for many years the heartthrob of every Maldivian woman. Then I watched Sholay. For many years a fondness for the characters Veeru & Gabbar Singh lingered in me until the 90s.
For the Maldivian adolescent boys and men of 90s Bollywood was considered ‘thui’, effeminate. So, in order not to associate myself with something so ‘thui’ and sissy, I totally stopped (no, that’s a lie) watching Hindi movies.
Nineties brought head-banging - Guns & Roses, Metallica, Pearl Jam and of course Nirvana. As for movie stars Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise & Demi Moore and the names from Hollywood were the only ones I knew - I would acknowledge I knew, that is. I was a cool dude. There wasn’t anything even remotely cool about Bollywood.
Nineties also brought the era of the three Khans in Bollywood. All the Maldivian women were going head over heels for Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan. Was I interested? Nah! (that’s another lie). Was Bollywood still sissy? Yeah! (yet, another lie).
Secretly, unbeknownst to the world, I watched Aamir Khan & Juhi Chawla dancing around trees & singing Ghazab Ka Hei Din in QSQT; Salman Khan and Bhagyashree in Maine Pyar Kiya; Shahrukh Khan & Kajol in DDLJ. Did I become sissy? Yes, my macho Maldivian male ego that I had so carefully cultivated felt sudden pangs of pain at the thought of accidentally getting the secret out to my friends. My manhood shrank, maybe a wee bit. Ouch!
It's been so long since. Many things have changed. Modiji has been crowned the de facto emperor of the subcontinent & the Indian Ocean. The Sundar Pichais & the Satya Nadellas rose to conquer the biggest corporations. A man named Rishi Sunak rose to occupy the 10 Downing Street of Winston Churchill. A woman named Kamala Devi is standing one step away from the most powerful office in the world. In the plains of Gujarat, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel grew so tall that he dwarfed even the Statue of Liberty. Was Bollywood still ‘thui’ and sissy? No, not really! (no, that’s not a lie).
I thought the three Khans' rule of Bollywood had long ended. But no, with Pathaan Shahrukh Khan only grew taller, just like Sardar Patel - to stand head and shoulders taller in some ways, above Tom Cruise, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon.
Sincerely yours,
XX
You started by calling it "a second grade attempt at trying to create a character combining bits of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt" and you end by saying Shahrukh Khan is standing taller than Tom Cruise, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon. I dont see how that is possible.
ReplyDeleteI am not very up-to-date or knowledgeable in matters of the movie world but if I am not wrong there is somewhat a trend whereby filmmakers now try to justify their movies that have improbable "action" sequences by terming them as "fantasies".
ReplyDeleteIf such movies do have unbelievable "action" scenes, as we saw in Aamir Khan's "Dhoom 3" and most recently in Shah Rukh Khan's "Pathaan", then is it safe to justify them as "fantasies" that just happen to have adrenaline rushing "action"?
Another recent Indian movie which now projects itself as a "fantasy" is "RRR" which in the traditional sense is more of an "action" movie.
By "fantasy", one would have thought that such a movie would have traditional "fantasy" features such as "magic" as in "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", and "Game of Thrones" - or even the countless sci-fi movies which their producers classify as "science fiction fantasies" like the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" movies.
If "RRR"'s producers are classifying it as a "fantasy" now because there are action sequences in it where human characters fight animals such as tigers, there is nothing more to say!
I noticed that among Maldivian audiences there exist a racist bias: they are ok however unbelievable the action is in Hollywood movies but they make fun of it where Bollywood is concerned.
ReplyDeleteActually all Maldivian men watch Hindi movies. But only very few will ever admit to watching them. Maldivian men are very macho men
ReplyDeleteAs far as love stories go one of my Maldivian friends said that he enjoyed Titanic but that it would not be a good idea to openly admit to it
ReplyDeleteOne of my Maldivian friends told me that her husband is obsessed with watching all things Hindi - movies, series, reality shows and whatnot. She said he will sit in front of the TV for hours as soon as he finishes eating meals after coming back from work. She said he neglects cleaning the house and therefore are now employing a Bangladesh laborer to clean the rooms, the toilets, and the living room where the TV is.
ReplyDelete