Masala Movies and rise of Parallel Cinema (1961 – 1980)

IV. Masala Movies and rise of Parallel Cinema (1961 – 1980)

Even though India had been introduced to colour cinema by Ardeshir Irani in his 1937 film Kisan Kanya it was only towards the end of 1950’s that the trend really began. It all started with K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1961), a magnum opus with two of India’s most beloved film stars and a financial backing like no other film before it. The film was a major hit and boasted of one song which was shot in colour, while the rest of the film remained black and white. The film was a block buster and became somewhat of a formula for success.

The eventual shift to colour and the Indian preference for escapist entertainment and greater reliance on stars brought about a complete change in the film industry. The revolutionary spirit of the 50’s had been replaced by an escapist need for entertainment. A whole new generation of Indians was filling the theatres. These people did not have the same complexities as those before them; they had been born in a free country and knew nothing of the struggle their forefathers had been through. The new Indian wanted simple pleasures; they did not want to be preached to and looked down upon social films as boring government propaganda. It will not be unfair to state that the 60’s turned out a large number of mediocre films produced mostly to please distributors who were not willing to take the risk of releasing seemingly artsy films. But then again, most of these films turned out to be mega hits and were very successful at the box-office.

The success of Mughal-e-Azam was followed by similar romantic fairs with a lot of musical numbers. Rajkapoor's Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960), Sangam (1964), Dilip Kumar's Gunga Jamna (1961), Gurudutt's Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam (1961), Dev Anand's Guide (1965), Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963), S.Mukherji's Junglee (1961), Sunil Dutt's Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) and the experimental Yaadein (1964), Basu Bhatacharya's Teesri Kasam (1966), Pramod Chakravorthy's Love in Tokyo (1966), Ramanand Sagar's Arzoo (1965), Sakhti Samantha's Aradhana (1969), Hrishikesh Mukherji's Aashirwad (1968)and Anand (1971), B.R. Chopra's Waqt (1965), Manoj Kumar's Upkar (1967) and Prasad Production’s Milan (1967) were the significant Hindi films of the decade.

Towards the end of the 1960’s a New Cinema emerged as an answer to the populist cinema’s Worldliness. It was an honest attempt at making socially significant films and maintaining the artistic integrity of the filmmaker. The New Cinema presented a modern and human view which was more durable and long lasting then the ever shaky popular cinema. The advent of New Cinema movement can be accurately credited to a handful of Bengali filmmakers like Ritwik Ghatka (Meghe Dhaka Tara - 1960, Ajantrik – 1958), Mrinal Sen (Bhuvan Shome - 1969, Chrous - 1975, Mrigaya - 1976, Ek Din Pratidin – 1979, Akaler Sandhane – 1980) Tapan Majumdar and Tapan Sinha. Their films were showcase at several international film festivals and regularly won prestigious awards. Despite the movement having started in Bengal, it quickly found takers in Bombay among filmmakers like Basu Chatterji (Sara Akash - 1969), Rajinder Singh Bedi (Dastak - 1970), Mani Kaul (Uski Roti - 1969, Duvidha - 1973), Kumar Shahani (Maya Darpan - 1972), Basu Bhattacharya (Anubhav - 1971), M.S. Sathyu (Garam Hawa - 1973), Shyam Benegal (Ankur - 1974), and Kanthilal Rathod (Kanku - 1967). Down south new filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasravalli and G Arvindan were part of this new genre of realist cinema.

Regardless of the hype the New Indian Cinema was receiving all over the world it found few takers in India. The films were rarely commercially successful. If anything the 70’s only widened the already existing divide between popular and parallel cinema. The term parallel cinema itself defines the place New Cinema found in the film industry. It ran parallel to multi-star big budget films but in no way was its equal in monetary gains and public acceptance.

Meanwhile the romantic film fever of the early 60’s had somewhat subsided in commercial cinema and a new love for action films (with a romantic plot of course) was starting to take speed. The popular Hindi hits of the decade include Kamal Amrohis Pakeeza (1972), Rajkapoor's Bobby (1973), Devar's Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), Ramesh Sippy's Sholay (1975), Zanjeer (1973), Deewar (1975), Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), Kabhi Kabhi (1976), Dharamveer (1977), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Hum Kisise Kum Nahin (1977), and Muqaddar ka Sikandar (1977).

The New Cinema or the Indian Avante Garde reached its peak by the end of 70’s. Though the movement would spread to and deeply influence filmmakers from all parts of India it reached it had more or less reached it end by the year 1980. This is not to say that the movement disappeared from the map of Indian film industry but there was a significant decline in the number of realist films produced and after the 70’s such films were fewer and far apart. Some of the important films made around of the end of this exceptional era were - Govind Nihalani’s Aakrosh (1980), Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai (1980) & Aravind Desai ki Ajeeb Daastan (1978), Rabindra Dharmaraj’s Chakra (1980), Sai Paranjpe’s Sparsh (1980), Muzafar Ali’s Gaman (1978) and Biplab Roy Chowdhari’s Shodh (1981).