The magic of Indian cinema over the years

Cinema has captured our imagination, touched the deepest chords of human emotions, fascinated us and has given us an opportunity to understand relationships, situations and complexities of life from a person’s perspective in a larger-than-life fictious creation. It has given us our heroes, our role models. Over the years, humans have found some or the other way to showcase their creativity and get entertained. But, movies definitely stand out from the rest. Cinema has taken the centre stage for recreation. Indian cinema is one of the finest examples of creativity to entertain and educate the masses. People, whatever the age group they belong to just go ga-ga over the thought of their favorite movies, actors, or actresses, or even a song. The craze almost sweeps the whole nation. There are people who even identify with some of the characters and even relate to the situations at hand in the movie. And why not? Movies are, to a great extent, parallel to our own lives. A birthday or an anniversary, its always movies for a day out. This all began when an intelligent persona tried to show his creativity through actions, sequences in the Silent era with landmark movies like Raja harish Chandra in 1913. For Prithvi Raj Kapoor’s impeccable voice, the first talkies in Indian cinema was made called Alam Ara, directed by Ardeshir Irani in 1931.Then action was wrapped in dialogues and emotions to craft the magic of his mind on to the large canvas of the theatre. Bimal Roy, Satayajit Ray, Guru Dutt kick started this ever- chanting history of Indian cinema. Apu Triology of Satayajit Ray stands out in this respect. Out of the three, Pather Panchali won at the Cannes awards, 1956. Aparajita won at the cannes film festival, 1957. Guru Dutt came out with Kaagaz ka phool, Baagi, Pyaasa and Kamal Amrohi came out with breath-taking movies like Mahal and Deva. Legendary film-maker Raj Kpoor came out with movies like Aag, Barsaat, Shri 420 and Awara, which was the greatest hit in Soviet Russia in 1954. The craft, dedication, hard work and sheer talent lend class to these movies. Through cinema, emotions of joy, sorrow, love, happiness, sadness, greed, rivalry, jealousy are so-well portrayed. Its equally incredible of an actor to mould himself into a stranger’s character so easily. Movies add a touch of light to our dull life for sure!

This was about the movies, their charisma and alluring power on us. But, it is equally true that even the common man moulds himself easily into an actor’s character. A hair style, clothing trends and even one’s whole life style gets fluctuated by the ever-changing world of movies. They have a daunting impact on the young minds and their study hours. For a craft and profession as rich as movies, it is quite a drawback. Movies talk of what almost everyone goes through in life, but definitely, it’s not a mirror to carve out an image for oneself. For such a situation, the present-day film-makers are responsible, for whom movies are just a means of making money and not in any way continuing the rich heritage of Indian cinema.

The scenario has changed to some extent in the recent years. We have an array of cross-over movies taking up the responsibility of making Indian cinema global. Movies like Bend It Like Bekham, Bride and Prejudice, Hollywood Bollywood, American Desi etc. There are many movies that have made a mark internationally like Taal, Pardes, Yaadein, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna etc. There are movies which have given a new and stylized dimension to Indian cinema like Lagaan, Devdas, Page 3, Krissh etc. Some of the movies have also brought boldness to Indian cinema like Murder, Jism etc. In 2006, we have witnessed movies which have brought originality to the fore-front like Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Omkara etc.

But parallel to this, runs the fear of domination of remakes which can hamper the creative factory of Bollywood. Classics to be treated with high-tech hands can be of great risk.

The movies are the soul and mind of our lives. It makes us understand life through a human point of view and provides a platform to the film-makers to showcase his talent and experiment with finer concepts. Movies should be made both for the classes and the masses And made with a view to enrich the heritage of Indian cinema.