BIG BUDGET FILMS AND STUDIO MONOPOLY (1981 TO 2000)

V. BIG BUDGET FILMS AND STUDIO MONOPOLY (1981 TO 2000)

The cinema of the 80’s started on a good note [name good films] with a lot of parallel filmmakers leaving their mark on the landscape of the Indian film industry. Mrinal Sen's Kharij won Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1983 followed by Mira Nair’s film Salaam Bombay winning the Camera d'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film). For the first time there was an obvious and welcome rise in the number of women filmmakers like Vijaya Mehta (Rao Sahab), Kalpana Lajmi (Ek Pal and later Rudali), Prema Karnath (Phaniamma) and of course Mira Nair.

Despite certain positive signs the 80’s was certainly a very confusing time for the Indian film community. There was no longer a set formula to a film’s success that seemed to work. Stories of social interest, romance, family life, and fantasies - all tumbled out of the film-making machine. Furthermore the audience had a fickle mind, easily distracted by the new age of Television and the rise of home video. More and more content was available for viewing and going to the cinemas was no longer the only option for entertainment. Still, the industry continued to churn out a large number of films every year, perhaps not the best in quality but the wheel was still in motion. The 80’s were unremarkable for the film industry in more ways than one. A lot of B grade low budget films were being produced and released at a fraction of the cost in smaller cities in town. B grade films have been around in one form or the other since the conception of the industry a century ago but it never thrived as it did in the 1980’s.

In fact it would be fair to say that the 80’s cinema gave the industry two valuable things to look back at – the international glory and fame the parallel cinema received and some timeless B grade classics. These films were almost always full of crude toilet humour, unnecessary nudity, and forced action sequences. A separate genre of B grade horror films also sprung up under the guidance of the producer/ director/ editor duo of the Ramsay Brothers – Tulsi Ramsay and Shyam Ramsay. The Ramsay films Veerana (The Wilderness - 1988), Purana Mandir (The ancient Temple – 1984), Bandh Darwaza (Behind Closed Doors – 1990) and Pyasa Haiwan (the Blood Thristy Monster – 1987). The brothers would later go on to produce India’s first hit horror show on Television called the ‘Zee Horror Show’ in the mid 90’s. Unfortunately a lot of these films have been lost with time.

The filmmakers and producers were looking to make a quick buck and perhaps that is why the timeless value of their product didn’t occur to them. Still, these films hold a certain kitsch appeal, to be more specific they have a ’so bad that it’s good’ factor going for them. The contribution of B grade, C grade and Z grade cinema cannot be overlooked when we take a walk down the history of Indian cinema.

While the Hindi film industry in Bombay was going through its usual populist phase of commercial success and fanfare, a lot of interesting developments were taking place in the parallel and regional cinema of the nation. The early 90’s saw films the release of cult classics like Dhristi (1990) and Drohkal (1994) by Govind Nihlani, Lekin (1990) by Gulzar, Parinda (1989) by Vinod Chopra, Suraj Ka Satwa Ghoda (1993) by Shyam Benegal, Maya Memsaheb (1993) by Ketan Mehta, Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990) by Tapan Sinha, Woh Chokri (1994) by Subhankar Ghosh and Rudali (1993) by Kalpana Lajmi. Some of the notable films from Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Manipur were - Tahader Katha (1992), Bagh Bahadur (1989), Charachar (Buddhadeb Dasgupta), Uttoran (Sandip Ray), Wheel Chair (Tapan Sinha), Unishe April (Rituparno Ghosh), Adi Mimansa, Lalvanya Preethi (A.K. Bir), Nirbachana (Biplab Roy Chowdhari), Halodhia Choraya Baodhan Khai, Firingoti (Jahau Barua), Haladhar (Sanjeev Hazarika), and Ishanou (Aribam Shayam Sharma). In the South Malayalam Cinema presented some notable films like Vasthuhara (Aravindan).

But soon the industry sat up and took notice that things were changing fast and that it was faced by two of its biggest enemies in a long time – cable television and piracy. India was the first country in the subcontinent to pass a bill which allowed the entry of cable television and with it the private television channel networks. The 80’s had just seen the tip of the iceberg that television was for the film industry. Secondly like many countries in Asia, India was slow to rise against the threats of piracy. The film industry lost millions of dollars worth of revenue all through the 90’s because the pirated copies of newly released (sometimes even unreleased) films were either available for purchase or were being shown on television by seedy cable operators.

But has history has always shown, the Indian film industry is not the one to be bogged down. The 90’s saw the family and romance genres making a comeback. Several film studios like Rajshree productions and Yashraj films had grown strong over the 70’s and 80’s were bent on monopolising the market with their content.

It was under these studios that a lot of the current industry stars including Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kajol, Salman Khan etc found success and national recognition. Romantic and family life oriented films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) & Dil Toh Pagal Hai.

Towards the end of the 90’s another new genre of commercial yet realistic films came up. Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998) was the first film of this sort and paved the way for non conventional performers like Manoj Bajpai, Nana Patekar, Manisha Koirala and Tabu. With Satya the 90’s ended on a good note. It was proved without a doubt that the Indian audience was ready to view films on serious subjects given that they were made well.