By Surendra Bhatia
Ostensibly, the Mahabharat is about a war fought on the killing fields of Kurukshetra but to those who understand the epic more acutely, it is about the war within that goes on day and night. Today, Bollywood, too, is embroiled in a battle, and like the Mahabharat, it may be about the turmoil within rather than outside.
Bollywood’s Mahabharat is not new. It has always been on, though the heat of the battle is more pronounced now. Decades earlier, when filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Basu Bhattacharya, B.R. Ishara and a few others sought to defy Bollywood’s formula with their more sensible and more realistic films, they did moderately well but they were panned by doyens of lost-and-found formula, and were not expected to survive. They did, though as a battle, it seemed more a skirmish than a Mahabharat.
Today, it is vastly different. The so-called non-formulaic films are trending and in such good numbers that traditional Bollywood is conflicted. Certainly, a regular mainstream War can still soar effortlessly to Rs. 300 crore in super-quick time and carry the Bollywood flag way beyond an Article 15. But the blockbuster variety from stables of big-budget productions and A-listers is thinning on the ground, while the smaller sensible productions are swarming the field.
What does a reputed producer do in such a scenario? He can make one War in two years and pray and hope that it’s a blockbuster in cinemas, or he can produce a dozen smaller ones like Article 15in two years and feel assured that a majority of them would bring in double the investment. It is nothing short of a Mahabharat for a producer who never had to think on these lines. Till a decade back, perhaps, it was only about a new twist to the old formula; now it is about reinventing a niche formula with every film, whether it be sanitary pads or space mission.
Earlier, the formula defiers were the outsiders — like Shyam Benegal — now Bollywood’s very own, Aamir Khan, born and brought up on formula films, is in the opposite camp. He is the biggest proponent of sensible films (as opposed to formula escapist fare) though the scale of his productions varies depending on whether the film is Dangal or Secret Superstar. In fact, he is one who doesn’t seem unsure at all. Maybe, like Abhimanyu, he learnt the secrets of war very early.
A film on Narayan and Sudha Murthy was announced recently; tomorrow, someone will have a go at Anand Mahindra (Anil Kapoor would be such an obvious choice for this biopic!), and then a whole range of celebrities from Sunil Gavaskar to Raj Thackeray, from Sania Mirza to Smriti Irani will be up for grabs. Will someone also bat for formula films, please? Or will that become a Mahabharat from which it would be impossible to get back alive?
