I was reading the reviews for No One Killed Jessica and I kept seeing the same things over and over again: Amazing film, great storytelling, great acting but fears that it won’t do well as people won’t see a film where the two leads are female. Mentality like that makes me question if the critics are truly aware of the viewing public as well as underestimating the youth of today who have a much more open mind than the older generations. I understand the relevance of the comments if it had been a small film with unknown actors and an unknown director but Raj Kumar Gupta had previously made the brilliant film Aamir. The two leads were the fantastic Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan.
The Indian film industry and film media tends to put more focus on the male actors. There are the Khans: Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan as well as others such as Hrithik Roshan. These guys have been around for a while now while there is plenty of focus on them there is also plenty of focus on the newer crop of talent such as Ranbir Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Abhay Deol, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan. This post is going to focus on the women I feel are an important, some have been in the industry for a while and some are only a couple of years into their film career.
In the last decade Bollywood has really begun to experiment with the stories they tell and how they tell them. While some of these films have attempted something new and a lot of attention has been focused on that there is another area that some real interesting experimentation is taking place – MUSIC.
VISHAL BHARDWAJ
He is at the forefront of a new style of film-making in India but he is also responsible for a sound that is uniquely his. Whether it’s the pulsating music and risqué lyrics of Beedi from Omkara, the beautiful Dil Toh Bacha Hai Ji from Ishqiya or the Tarintino inspired Dhan Te Nan from Kaminey, Vishal is always trying something new.
Beedi:
Ishqiya:
Dhan Te Nan:
DEV D
A bold and brash film that truly challenged what a mainstream Bollywood Film was and the soundtrack was no different. Instead of the normal 7-10 songs which usually included remixes that most films Amit Trivedi created an eighteen song soundtrack that had bits and pieces of everything. Whether is be a brass band song such as Emosanal Attyachar which also had a rock version or the traditional sounding Dhol Yaara Dhol the soundtrack had a multitude of experimental and interesting tracks.
Emosanal Attyachar
Dhol Yaara Dhol
AMIT TRIVEDI & AAMIR SOUNDTRACK
Personally I think he’s a new and exciting talent in the Indian music scene. While he was responsible for the soundtrack for the aforementioned Dev D, he was also responsible for the soundtrack for Aamir (an AMAZING film in and of itself and one that you need to see.
Like Dev D he took differing sounds and influences and made them sound in a unique way cohesive. They were part of the story and not just random songs. That is what I think is his special talent. In Aamir he has a modern, almost western sounding song along with a Qawalli track. He has a beautiful and simple song with minimal instrumentation to a song that is electronic to its heart that constantly has new sounds. The other really interesting thing he did was within the film he included some songs from a Pakistani film called Khuda Kay Liye (another film that should be seen), a film whose soundtrack may not have been heard otherwise.
Ha Raham (Mehfuz)
Phas Gaya
Bandeya from Khuda Kay Liye
AMIT TRIVEDI & WAKE UP SID
Another fresh and interesting film made by a new talent in the Indian film industry. While most of the songs were done by Shankar-Eshaan-Loy there was one song created by the same person who did the background score and that was Amit Trivedi. He was responsible for Iktara a quiet and beautiful song on the soundtrack. Besides the picturization the song itself has a quiet sexiness to it which is not something you would automatically equate with Bollywood films. And by using new singers he has also created a new voice available to other filmmakers and musicians.
Iktara
ROCK ON!!!
Rock music and Bollywood? That’s the reaction of most people but the 2008 Hindi film proves that it can be done. By citing influences from Brit pop and local South Asian rock the soundtrack has tracks that prove you can combine rock music with Hindi films and be successful at it. The other interesting thing about the soundtrack for this film is that lead actor Farhan Akhtar sang all of his own vocals instead of having someone else dub in.Whether it’s the soft rock stylings of Tum Ho Toh or the funky take on rock of Rock On!! it’s a soundtrack that challenges what a Bollywood film soundtrack should be.
Tum Ho Toh
Rock On!!
Soundtracks will always play an important part in the Indian film industry. For me it’s the thing that makes Hindi films extra special. What I have liked about recent years is that people are experimenting and that it’s not stopping anytime soon. A new film coming out Lamhaa has songs with rock and Kashmiri sounds, a recent release called Karthik Calling Karthik was full of electronic sounds and many others have shown that the mainstream idea of what Bollywood soundtracks are supposed to be has changed and personally I feel that’s all for the better.
I had the opportunity to rewatch The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey the other day. Now the very first Hindi film I ever saw was Mangel Pandey on SBS in Australia. I started watching it 15 minutes in and I had missed a large amount of the set up. But it didn’t matter, I knew exactly what was going on. Besides the fact that the amazing talent that is Aamir Khan was in it there was another reason I like this movie and another Aamir Khan vehicle…..what was that fact?
White actors that are talented. One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to Hindi cinema is the white actors that are used in Hindi films that are not hired for their ability but for their looks. I listened to the commentary of Love Aaj Kal with Imtiaz Ali and Saif Ali Khan and then even said that they hired the white actress because of the way she looked. The only question I have is WHY?
Going back to Mangal Pandey, the co-lead is played by Toby Stephens. A man who is an esteemed stage actor in Britain who has also done many movies and television shows. He also comes from a famous acting family in the UK, as his mom is Dame Maggie Smith. You know that Hindi is not his native language but he speaks it brilliantly and when he does speak English it’s completely natural. There seems to be a chemistry between the two leads as well as the secondary English and Indian actors. You forget you’re watching a Bollywood film and it feels more like a foreign film that could come from any country.
The other Bollywood film that I feel has the best Caucasian actors is Rang de Basanti. Unlke Toby Stephens, Alice Patten didn’t have an extensive CV of acting, she was someone just starting out. With that being said she was still a very good actor and she had a natural chemistry with all the other actors. Her Hindi was spoken naturally and when she did speak English is wasn’t jarring and unnatural.
This makes me wonder, why can’t other films get good Caucasian actors, even for the bit roles?
Bollywood films with good Caucasian actors:
1) Dev D
It was the fall of 2008 and I was working at the Toronto International Film Festival when I had the opportunity to see Slumdog Millionaire before most people did. At that time in my life I was at the point where I was going to get a job anywhere and give up the plan of following through on my Radio and Television Arts degree and working in the media.
I remember standing at the back of the theatre watching the scene with the song O Saya playing. It was at that exact moment where I said to myself “I NEED to work in the arts”. The similar thing has happened to me over the last couple of months when I’ve watched different Bollywood films. However last week I went to see 3 Idiots and when the credits started running I said to myself “I NEED to work in Bollywood”. So that’s the eventual goal for myself, I see it as a film industry that has huge potential to be huge competition to mainstream cinema in the west, I feel it will happen, and I want to be part of the development of that.
When I find something I really like I tend to geek out and learn as much as possible. That has been the case with Indian films and know I need a place to write this geekiness down and this blog will be that place. Remember this is all my opinion and have fun reading.
Karen
Bollywood Geek 