Naya Zamana: Revival of the Muslim Social?

My sister and I were watching Highway when it released a few months ago, and as the opening credits flashed by, we noted the name of the film in English, Hindi and also Urdu. “After so long!” Shweta exclaimed. It’s true that Bollywood has by and large given up including credits in that language, when only a few decades ago, no film would have started without including readers of Urdu in its fold. Besides, as we clearly see, there has been a tapering off of the Muslim social. Barring a few efforts by Khalid Mohamed, a sprinkle of Muslim characters here and there, this section of society has been under-represented.

When Ekta Kapoor unleashed the ‘Saas-Bahu’ genre on India in 2000, it led to a massive revisiting of what were termed ‘Indian’ but in fact were Hindu values. Festivals, rituals, pujas, aartis all got a look-in and were integrated solidly into the story-telling. Regional celebrations were aired anew leading to some rather heavy cross cultural borrowing. Influences went as far as Afghanistan; Indian soaps are welcomed and avidly watched in Africa, the middle-east, eastern Europe, apart from neighbouring Pakistan, of course.

Still, for almost a decade, a Muslim-based soap didn’t seem viable. It was a gap that begged to be filled. No TV addict in the sub-continent can have kept away from the delicious array that streams out of Pakistan. Serials such as Dhoop Kinarey and Tanhaaiyaan are surrounded by a veritable halo of nostalgia among Indian viewers (who saw them on tapes and later VCDs). Did Indian soap makers think the Muslim context didn’t lend enough colour, given that they’re obliged to mark at least six festivals in a calendar year? Surely they must’ve been nervous about the rather touchy Muslim clerics who were apt to cry foul over creative liberties. Also, the traditional Islamic society tends to be more severe about modesty. (TV is ostensibly more conservative than films in India but costumers have found ways around that.)  

However producers 4 Lions took the first brave plunge in 2009 with Qubool Hai. And straight off, it became clear that the makers were not minded to be apologetic. Zoya Farooqui, coming down to Bhopal from New York, wore jeans (gasp!), which not any of her contemporaries did, across channels. Outspoken, humorous and fun-loving, she was set up to clash with Asad Ahmed Khan – dominating male, conservative, hidebound, prejudiced. “I am not what I wear, Mr Khan,” she once told him.

Now, there has been a second such effort. Beintehaa is set in Mumbai, and the Abdullahs are well-to-do hoteliers and move in fashionable circles. Aliya is your classic heroine – strong, devout, unshakeable in her ideals or in her reading of right and wrong. Happily, the soap heroine seems to thrive in Muslim soil as well.

Then there appears more such news. As a fond viewer of Muslim-based stories and as a Hyderabadi, there are two films to look forward to. Dia Mirza’s Bobby Jasoos, and Habib Faisal’s Daawat-e-Ishq – both set in my city and yes, with Muslim characters. I have no great cinematic hopes from either of these, but they will be super fun to watch.

What India watched in 2010

Recently, YouTube came out with a year-end list of videos that India watched the most in 2010. There were no great surprises. The list affirmed what we knew: that Bollywood and cricket still rule the Indian heart and mind. If Live IPL, Tendulkar’s double century, Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’ and ‘Sheila ki Jawani’ were the most searched phrases, among the most watched were Bollywood hits mostly from the previous year.

YouTube’s list by no means defines what our prime preoccupations were — I mean, no one searches for videos on inflation or moral corruption of the polity, after all. Nevertheless, within its confines, what makes the list and what doesn’t are both significant. The FIFA World Cup finds no high mention apart from Shakira, neither do any of the very special Indian victories and performances at the Commonwealth or the Asian Games. No scandalous sting operations either.

Still, it was a delicious opportunity to see what the masses — the people who make up those staggering numbers — were watching. To see what had drawn the most eyeballs and, perhaps, to understand why. At the very top, something unexpected: a video featuring Australian motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, a man born without limbs. The clip received more than 15 million hits on YouTube India. Clearly a viral, its popularity is not surprising given the inspirational, emotional content. However, what’s heartening is that there is no obvious ‘India’ link here. Insular as we are, if this many viewers watched this brave man speak, it brings hope that we can perhaps be global citizens after all.

But there ends our token interest in affairs outside the ‘des’. At number two, with over 4.5 million views, is the title song from Dil Bole Hadippa that has Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee keeping boisterous Bhangra beat. I enjoyed this number from 2009’s releases but wouldn’t have put it this high above other musical hits. The film was only a very average grosser, there were other songs that pleased audiences — from Delhi 6, for instance, or Kaminey or even ‘Emosanal Athyachar’ from Dev D… what made Hadippa zoom to the top? A look at the video explains it. It’s simply a wonderful combination of music, fluid choreography and star power: Rani Mukherjee shows off her shapely back and tops that with an amusing Sardar cameo. A look at the region-wise statistics for this video reveals an interesting bit of trivia — the video is most popular, not in India, but neighbouring Pakistan.

The presence of ‘Tere Liye’, a song from the Viveck Oberoi starrer Prince is a bit of a mystery. But note that it is sung by the soulful Atif Aslam, as is that other toplister ‘Tu Jaane Na’ from Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani. Both movies were duds; there is nothing special about the way the songs were picturised. In fact, the top search yields for both songs aren’t even videos so much as montages to acco-mpany the song, so the inevitable conclusion must be drawn: India loves Atif Aslam.

‘Crazy Kiya Re’ is in this list, which is no surprise for Aishwarya Rai was in top form in Dhoom 2. There is also a steamy scene from Kurbaan with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. This one left me cold but, as they say profoundly, whatever…

But the inclusion that startled me most was a song from the 1984 film Andar Baahar with 3.9 million hits. I remembered this movie vaguely. It had Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor in it and involved, I think, cops and robbers. It was not a significant hit then and there is no reason why it should suddenly resurface other than that Shemaroo Entertainment uploaded it in February 2009. True, Shroff and Moon Moon Sen are fairly uninhibited in the rain-dance sequence but we have seen better and worse, depending on your point of view. Then, why? A viral spread by subterranean forums perhaps? We shall never know.

No more the small screen

About to embark on Kaun Banega Crorepati (4), Amitabh Bachchan recently reminisced on his blog about how it was back in 2000. When he first decided to do television, those in charge of guarding his brand were highly doubtful. For a man who ruled the silver screen to be cramped into small box screens, to lose mystique and be delivered straight into distracted drawing rooms was seen as a dilution of his persona.

But Bachchan persisted — it was an honourable way to begin to pay off the pile of debts he had incurred in the debacle that was ABCL. To the participants who came hoping to win a tidy sum of money, this was even more of a connect with the man who sat opposite them; he too was there to make money — a necessity and a preoccupation that binds all of poor and middle class India. So when Amitabh Bachchan asks someone on the hot seat: “Kya maayne rakhtein hai ye paise aapke liye? What does this money mean to you?”, the query is significant. It adds to that mental profile we Indians assemble for everyone we meet. It is a question that everyone is sympathetic to; and the answer, no matter how similar, is invariably of interest.

Bachchan’s return to television ten years later sees a vastly different picture. Bollywood wouldn’t touch TV with a pole then, but they love it now. It is impossible to flip channels on primetime weekends without shuffling on star dust. Akshay Kumar is a sure shot these days, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan smiled graciously on Masterchef last week even as she fenced gingerly with Karan Johar. In recent years, Bachchan Jr, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar, Farah Khan, Priyanka Chopra have all hosted television shows, and everyone in Bollywood worth anything at all has trooped through television studios. A fact that tells us, better than reams of statistics ever could, how powerful the small box has become.

Talk shows are one aspect, but there is the other tiresome matter of promotions. Singing contests, comedy, dance and sundry talent contests... nothing is spared from the relentless onslaught of new movie releases. Stars, directors and associated celebrities appear on these platforms. For the talent show, it presumably keeps the interest alive; for the movie, it is an easy audience, captive, gagged and bound. Win-win, as they say.

The biggest victims of this parade of self-serving guests, to my mind, are the judges of musical contests. Over the years, these have been notorious for attention-seeking gimmicks, manufactured conflicts... generally behaviour known in TV circles as ‘khaaoing’ footage. For example: a contestant performs well. Instead of a measured critique, he or she is more likely to encounter a judge who leaps out of his chair, bounds up on stage to bestow hugs, blessings and fulsome praise, all under the red eye of the camera. Camerapersons have learnt the hard way not to compose judges in tight frames, for they are apt to rear up without notice, leaving the vision mixer with disconcerting visuals of their midriffs if everyone isn’t sharp enough.

Now this scenario has become rather compromised by the Bollywood publicity machine. Hardly a week goes by without some promotion, and our judges must now suffer to play host to a series of celebs even more intent on consuming valuable air-time. For the viewer, of course, this is extremely fatiguing; quality music has long vanished and it is just one dose of insincere hype after the other.

But promotions aren’t limited to reality TV — they sometimes spill over into soaps as well. Salman Khan as Chulbul Pandey was woven (very, very badly!) into the script of Laagi Tujhse Lagan and Akshay Kumar dropped into the home of the Kashyaps of Sasural Genda Phool to sell Khatta Meetha. Much as we acknowledge the compulsions of the business, this is distressing. At least the soaps — television at its purest — may be spared the Bollywood infestation.