Even as a superstition runs strong that a films on Bollywood is not generally marquee friendly, filmmakers were always tempted to draw inspiration from their home turf.
f_farhana@dnaindia.net
Even as a superstition runs strong that a films on Bollywood is not generally marquee friendly, filmmakers were always tempted to draw inspiration from their home turf.
The latest on the block is Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’, which celebrates the director’s absorption with Bollywood where everything is outsized, be it life or love.
Yesteryears films like Guru Dutt’s ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ‘Guddi’, Shyam Benegal’s ‘Bhumika’ and ‘Zubeida’ to Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Woh Lamhe’ have had glimpses of this multi-layered orb.
Quiz ‘Om Shanti Om’ scriptwriter Mushtaq Shiekh on what prompted him to write this film and he says, “I’ve been in this industry for the past 15 years. So, I could weave in the detailed nuances,” Sheikh says, adding: “Everybody wants to be a citizen of this magical place. Though a distributor still lives from Friday to Friday, he still holds on to this profession. While some go loony with their demi-god status, most are aware that they are the flavours of some moments.”
Romance fanatics can also look forward to director Sudhir Mishra’s upcoming ‘Khoya Khoya Chaand’. Apparently the film
is loosely based on Guru Dutt’s life. Produced by Prakash Jha, this Soha Ali Khan-Shiney Ahuja starrer has the film industry of the 50s as its backcloth.
“I’ve projected the passions that drive this industry. The underlying maxim here is - if you can’t dance together, you can’t live together. This offbeat world has given me my relationships and my enemies. The medium fascinates me even as I know that it’ll kill me one day,” explains Mishra of his fixation with the film scenario.
Producer Jha seconds his director adding, “This world can break or make you. It’s exploitative and intellectual, yet a whole medium of colours.”
Rajkumar Santoshi’s forthcoming ‘Halla Bol’ has also drawn from Bollywood. It traces a small-town boy’s (Ajay Devgan) rise to stardom with Vidya Balan playing a traumatised star wife with some apparent allusions to the slain theatre activist Safdar Hashmi and the Jessica Lal murder case.
Call it grim, call it glamorous, filmmakers share an unmistakable synergy with the world they inhabit. Mishra, a Bollywood bhakt, sums up his ardour, “‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ is not a bitter account of love rather it’s my most adulatory work. It ends in a lovemaking scene. After all, love is something, which helps retain sanity in this mad world.”
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