Secret of Block Buster Movies - An Idea Shared ....
Being a movie buff and having grown up in a family of such , it was but natural that Cinema had a deep impact on our generation that grew up in 70's and 80's of Hindi,Telugu, English and World Cinema classics. To seek a career in films was a taboo then but today all youngsters making different kind of cinema with latest technologies and not only that finding an outlet in short film festivals , you tube etc ...is a revelation. The closest I came to cinema was doing my M.B.A Main Project on Promotion Techniques in Indian Cinema and working at EFX Prasad Film labs and One closed down satellite movie theatre company from Chennai.One thing that kept on intriguing me was "What makes a hit film with the masses as well as the classes"? .Best of the Indian and International Film makers always were ready to pay bounty if someone knew about it. I do not say that I have known the magic formula to make a hit film but have come close to understanding it with my sense of basic observation , little bit of cinematic intelligence and deep quest for marketing knowledge for innovation practices . OK here it goes ..Take it or leave it ..Feel free to give your constructive criticism and let us share ideas ...An Idea shared is life bettered .
I will be randomly selecting the movies that I watched and which became very big hits and sharing the common connect between them and the classes cum masses. My first movie is Vijaya Productions and K.V.Reddi directed "MAYABAZAAR" - Which according to many is one the best Indian Films ever made. It went on to became the biggest blockbuster in Telugu Cinema and continues to have everyday increased fan following. Having watched it n number of times on screen and TV ,I would say the audience of that era till late 80's were avid readers and writers and Indian series of Ramayana and Mahabharata were written , dramas , folklore etc were shared with the classes as well as masses in the form of drama and books. This brings to the context that People have already read and listened and somewhat visualized the characters , bringing the same into reality with Major Stars as SVR , NTR, ANR , SAVITRI , etc was experiential .enrichment through visual imagery and audio quality (VIAQ) and most important factor in block buster is what is its USP? and REPEAT VALUE? ..The answer is simply the magic of the combination of all these and amazing VFX by Marcus Bartley during those days remains still unparalleled till date. People have created an acronym WYSWYG - What You See is What You Get ...Its just a small extension to that What You Read What You Listened What Image You Have Created is SHOWN ON THE LARGER SCREEN ..WYRWYLWIC is my acronym for the common factor in all blockbusters. I will present my case point wise
1. MAYABAZAAR - Most of the characters were taken from Mahabharata and every character played created euphoria of sorts ..NTR became Lord Krishna , Savitri as Sasirekha , ANR as Abhimanyu and needless to say the greatest of all SVR as Ghatodhgaja was like a colossus of performance and till date in the minds of all Indians and mostly South Indians Lord Krishna is NTR , Ghatodhgaja is SVR ...impossible to replace. For the same reason cited as above these great artists who enacted different roles in Mayabazaar brought flesh,image, audio , visual enrichment to the already existed WYRWYLWIC phenomenon in the audience and that created the USP and REPEAT VALUE. Till date is an understatement.
2. MUGHAL- E AZAM - K.ASIF Magnum-opus was the repeat of the same which has been echoed by me above. Prithviraj Kapoor , Durga Khote, Dilip Kumar and Madhubhala brought flesh,image, audio , visual enrichment to the already existed WYRWYLWIC phenomenon in the audience of Akbar, Jodha , Salim and Anarkali ..
3. MAHAL- Ashok Kumar and Madhubala was more of ghost stories which is regular staple diet in Indian literature and it just gave new dimension using haunting Lata Mangeshkar as Aayega Aane wala
4. MADHUMATI- Bimal Roy classic brought to life by Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala and classic musical composition by Salil Choudhary reiterated the concept of rebirth to the masses and this is WYRWYLWIC
5. DEVDAS - ANR and DILIP KUMAR - and many stories were adapted from Bengali Literature and brought to life by those team of Film makers and artists
6. Raj Kapoor's Shree 420 and Jagte Raho - with brilliant writing by K.A.Abbas showed the conflict between Vidya and Maya and Raj comes to Mumbai to become the King of Mumbai but ends up at the pawn broker shop to sell his gold medal ...when asked by the shopkeeper "Kya Bechne ne aaye ho ..(What have you got to sell?) Raj replies "IMAAN bechne aaya hoon..(My character is for sale) that captures the mood of those times and that of the youth who were in the WYRWYLWIC phase and Jagte Raho adapted from Bengali classic shows the helplessness of a village simpleton who runs amok in an apartment society in Mumbai just to drink water and sees the hypocritical mundane urban lives and comes out asserting himself through the song Jaago Mohan Pyaare ...This was the song echoed by all the eminent writers to the masses ...
7. Dev Anand had many hits to his credit but GUIDE remains his Ultimate in all forms. Adapted from R.K.Narayan's GUIDE...the hindi version was nowhere closer to the print version but the print version was very popular and acclaimed best seller during that era and no wonder Pearl S Buck came to India and made the English version of the same and Vijay Anand changed the script for celluloid and made GUIDE the greatest hit from Navketan Banner . Movie starts with drought in a Rajasthan Village (common factor in India) and assumed Swamiji (Dev) and it shows the breaking the stereotyping of Indian woman's needs brilliantly portrayed by Waheeda Rehman and S.D.Burman comforted the ears till date .
8. NASIR HUSSAIN - Shammi Kapoor - Dev Anand - Rajesh Khanna - Romantic Hits had the dreamy hill stations , great lyrics, beautiful heroines , comic antics and heavy melodrama ..these were termed as escapist movies ...Audiences wanted to escape ..that was their WYRWYLWIC phase of that era and it had it range of hits from Dil Deke Dekho to Jab Pyar Kisse Se Hota Hai to Aradhna to Aap Ki Kasam phase. ...
9. In between these phase of 60's to 70's emerged the anger of the common masses in the form of SHAKA in Phool aur Pathar in the form of the most handsome man of Hindi Film Industry by the name as you all know DHARMENDRA ... The First Angry young Man of Hindi Cinema wrongly attributed to one 6 footer who came in Saat Hindustani and inherited the anger of the masses from SHAKA and created his own space as Angry Young Superstar called Amitabh Bachchan. It was Dharmendra in his movies like Phool aur Pathar , Satyakam , Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Samadhi gave the dimension of anger of the common man
10. SUPERSTAR was the name coined exclusively to Rajesh Khanna .. His success was phenomenal and till date none could come closer to his success between 1969 to 1974 from Aradhna , Anand, Amar Prem , Kati Patang to Aap Ki Kasam ... His best movies should be judged from scripting sense and how he approved these scripts and credit should go to him for making SUPERSTARDOM which many say is fluke ...1 ,2 can be fluke not 25 movies almost in a row becoming Silver Jubilees and Golden Jubilees ..C'Mon give some credit to KAKA re ...
11. SUPERSTAR OF THE MILLENNIUM- AMITABH BACHCHAN 's talent was sharpened by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and his form of new anger was channelized as Dr.Bhasker Banerjee alias Babumoshai in Anand and this was brilliantly tapped by the writer duo Salim Javed who created characters who had WYRWYLWIC phase of the mid 70's in Zanjeer, Deewar, Trishul , Kaala Pathar,SHOLAY , Shakti, Majboor etc catapulted him becoming the Superstar of the millennium .His Deewaar is inspired from the life of Haji Mastan - again- WYRWYLWIC . AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY reiterated the secular ethos of Indian masses
12. SHOLAY - Released on Aug 15th 1975 .. What can we say about this classic .. it took time for the masses to digest this magnum opus ...WYRWYLWIC and USP was the underdog GABBAR SINGH who became the cause for repeat value ....Audiences knew about dacoits ...troubled areas of central India and it was in the news ...but WYRWYLWIC phenomenon was achieved by SHOLAY to the masses and till date remains the greatest block buster in Hindi Cinema .. Why ..Imagine there was heavy unemployment, huge inflation, India was bearing the burden of creating Bangaladesh in 1971 and Indira Gandhi imposed emergency between 1975-1980 ...the GDP was all time low but the masses still patronized SHOLAY and hence I strongly believe its the BIGGEST IN THE HISTORY OF HINDI CINEMA ...
13.GOLMAAL/Chotisibaat/ RajniGandha - classics by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee echoed the sentiments of the middle class Indians and WYRWYLWIC phase they were going through in 70's to 80's .You can add Chitchor, Rang Birangi, Angoor
14.GULZAR'S AANDHI -- WYRWYLWIC phenomenon -1975 was banned due to it similarity of woman protagonist played by Suchitra Sen and it was miscommunication to MRS.G that it was her biopic and masses wanted to know this enigma called Mrs Indira Gandhi ..Biggest Commercial Hit in Gulzar's Career.
15. Manoj Kumar's SHAHEED TO KRANTI ....created the platform to WYRWYLWIC expression in Upkaar with then slogan as Jai Jaawan Jai Kisaan by Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri , Purab aur Pashchim showed the firsr NRI vs India conflict of interest , Roti Kapdaa aur Makaan by Salim Javed beautifully etched the WYRWYLWIC phase of 70's and it ended with same SJ writing KRANTI and played by biggies of that era Dilip Kumar , Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha
16. Govind Nihilani's Ardh Satya - reflected the changed political scenario and the angst present in the system in the form of Om Puri .Sorry to say but Zanjeer was reflected here in the undercurrent and what was evident from masses point of view was WYRWYLWIC phase ..Today we remember RAMA SHETTY played brilliantly by Sadashiv Amrapurkar.. as etched in our images
17. JAANE BHI DO YAARO - I Consider this as all time block buster from the stable of NFDC and FTII and till date this record could not be broken. This cult comedy classic in one word was CREATIVE TEAM WORK ..Shahs, Mirzas, Chopras, Mishras, entire FTII young turks pun intended. If other movies showed corruption and anger this showed corruption in comic style but anger was present in the form of helplessness of the common man in the end.
18.KATHA by Sai Paranjape -- starts with animated version of Hare and the Tortoise story as I shared WYRWYLWIC phase with artistic brilliance by Naseeruddin Shah, Deepthi Naval and Faruque Sheikh This movie was loved by the masses
19.COOLIE - cant be termed as a classic but cannot be denied as a blockbuster from Amitabh -Manmohan Desai combo. The accident of Amitabh Bachchan in 1982 on this film's set was blown out of proportions by the media till people underwent WYRWYLWIC phase and were happy to see their god back in action and Manmohan Desai being a smart gujju stopped the movie where Big B was hurt and there was stunned silence in the theatre followed by huge whistles and applauses as they were experiencing WYRWYLWIC phase
20. SHIVA - directed by Ram Gopal Varma was a path breaking movie .It managed to crystallize Mere Apne, Arjun and Ankush together .This movie dealt with students unrest, campus politics , unemployment and overall corruption set rot in the system and needless to say this movie is an amalgamation of Zanjeer and Deewar under the campus background and technically superior product of that era.
21.DAMINI - directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi ....echoed what the common man undergoes daily in courts , the adage justice delayed is justice denied was told in a cryptic way and superlative performances by Meenakshi Sheshadri and unsung hero of the movie was Rishi Kapoor who plays the sandwiched husband and son and it is you the reader know what is coming ..the Dhai Kilo Ka Haath and clashes between Sunny Govind Deol and Amrish Chadda was a chartbuster ...and if there was a thunder for applauses you could hear again and again whenever and wherever DAMINI was and will be screened.
22. DDLJ is the acronym for Yashraj films ..Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ..directed by Aditya Chopra and it was said none of the actors believed in the movie except Kajol and Aditya Chopra and SRK just sleep walked through the movie . ..This movie shows the NRI Connect and WYRWYLWIC phase of aspiring youth of 90's to visit phoren and have fling with firangis ..simply told in Hindi Movie ishtyle ..great music locales and youth aspirations fitted in perfectly
23. SATYA - Directed by Ram Gopal Varma was a blockbuster for the dark characters created by the writer of the Mumbai underworld and their inter gang rivalry , language used and impromptu dialogues and dances became huge hit ascribing to WYRWYLWIC phenomenon.
23. SARFAROSH - John Mathan directed Aamir Khan starrer dealt with Islamic terrorism upfront and named Pakistan as the perpetrator for the first time in the mainstream Hindi cinema.This was a reflection to WYRWYLWIC existed during those times and continues to do so.
24. LAGAAN - Ashutosh Gowariker ... classic narrated this epic tale taking the masses to the British era , Rural Farmer and India's obsession with Cricket .All were beautifully inter mingled with great technical support and production support from Mr and Mrs.Aamir Khan and their Man Friday Mr.B.Shrinivas Rao and Aamir 's friend Satyajit Bhatkal . The beauty of this movie was its main characters learned to play cricket in a "juggad" way and that connected the rural masses as well as the classes and till date remains one of the finest works of Aamir and Ashutosh ..Farmer, Cricket and British era still haunts Indians..Yes.
25. NAYAGAN - By Maniratnam was remake of GODFATHER with Mumbai Underworld and Vardarajan Mudaliar story as backdrop echoed the various stories that went on VARDHA BHAI ...Kamal Hassan Maniratnam PC Sreeram Ilayaraja and Lenin and Vijayan -The magic was inevitable and this combo never came back ...
26. RAJNIKANTH - cant express that phenomenon ..simply stated everything by for of about RAJNIKANTH is humongous and WYRWYLWIC ...People latch upto it.
27. NTR's DANA VEERA SURA KARNA remains the best mythological movie of telugu cinema with the legend doing the all round show and this movie just did WYRWYLWIC in a bigger and larger way in 1977 and can definitely be termed as last best classic from NTR.
28. WILLIAM WYLER MOVIES -- BENHUR AND TEN COMMANDMENTS -- Charlton Heston playing Moses did WYRWYLWIC the same to its audiences worldwide
29. WORLD WAR 1& 2 MOVIES - reflected WYRWYLWIC captured very well in Guns of Navarone , Where Eagles Dare , Bridge on the river kwai ,...Sound of Music .
30. TITANIC AND BAHUBALI - were the stories we read , we were told and we the child's imagination experienced it in our dreams but these movies brought out the essence of the enigma called TITANIC and BAHUBALI series was mixture of all the stories we read in every issue of CHANDAMAMA
Started with Vijaya Movies MayaBazaar and ended with Chandamama ...
I Have shared my passion ..Let me know yours ..
Thank you for reading this
Ashwin Kumar
9849194366
ashwin369@gmail.com
