‘Today’s filmi storylines lead nowhere’

The songs are on the air - a heavily made up Sophiya parodying the classic cabaret sequence from Hindi movies — and a party at Indigo seems to fortell the imminent release of Snip. With its release one more film would be added to the recent crop made by young west-trained/oriented filmmakers on Mumbai.

The city has always fascinated filmmakers. I am not talking about the mainstream cinema where likely as not the hero was a poor boy dreaming big dreams in a big city.

I am talking about the middle or alternative cinema where the city was as much a character as any other. In some films (Basu Chatterjee’s for instance) the city could be a bus stop, a train, a beach, an office with clattering typewriters and an air conditioned cabin for the boss - all these suitable locations for young working people - men with bushshirts and briefcases and women in saris or dresses - to romance.

In other films, notably Sai Paranjpe’s the city was represented by the ubiquitous chawl.

In the cheek by jowl, ten by ten rooms, neighbours gossiped, fought, fell in love and helped each other through thick and thin.

Some films focused on the space crunch : Piya Ka Ghar in which the young bride learns to live and love with the world a breath away; and Ghar which, if I remember right also recreated the real life rape incident that had the city on tenterhooks for months.

Mumbai has been a central feature in several of Saeed Mirza’s films. Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyo Aata Hai, Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan and Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro all focused on one aspect or the other of the frustrations of life in this city : unemployment, judicial delays and criminalisation.

The last film was in fact probably one of the best to be made on the phenomenon of young men turning to crime; including as it did, an understanding of the social ambience that plays an overwhelming role in the process.

Many films since then have focused on the theme. One film that accurately captured the milieu and the character of the criminal/godfather to my mind was Nayakan. Having met and interviewed Vardarajan, the individual on whom the film was said to be based, the film and Kamalahasan’s performance for me, had a ring of truth about it.

More recently there have been Satya and Vaastav - hard hitting versions of the grimy truth about the city’s underbelly.

In contrast to all these is the recent crop of films made by youngsters who clearly seem to look elsewhere (Tarantino is one name that comes to mind) for inspiration while using Mumbai as the material from which to spin their plots.

What are the things that they pick from the city? In Bombay Boys it was the grotty underside, the dangerous don and his sexy moll, a gay landlord, stoned musicians and so on.

Split Wide Open had slums, television studios, gajra sellers cum prostitutes, executives cum pedophiles and the ‘water mafia’. Its backdrops were the sea, the basti and the bazar. Snip has an over-the-hill actor, a comical gangster, a baida wallah , a playboy and a sexy hairdresser.

There is technical finesse, visual sense - with great attention to colours, costume and props. There are new characters, characters not usually portrayed realistically on the screen such as the contemporary urban chic woman or the colourful marginal guy. There is funky music an even humour. Yet, one gets the sense that the films lead nowhere. That the filmmaker had some ideas and strung them like mismatched baubles on a string and then, forgot to tie up the ends.

Having watched Snip at an early showing I can say it was enjoyable in parts and yet I found myself waiting restlessly for the end. That is the problem with showcases - once you’ve seen the display you don’t want to stay.

Perhaps it is time someone decided to drop the glitz and let the city speak for itself.

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