June 6, 2011 06:17:25 PM IST Enkayaar, Glamsham Editorial

Though it was there, the new cinema characterized by new directors, new actors, and every other thing associated with cinema was making its presence felt in a small way. It has however, during the last one month emerged in the form of a deluge, and there are scores of new stake holders which provide the hope that indeed cinema in its purest form as an entertainer would continue to proliferate and its proliferation would be facilitated by these young stake holders.

In a way it all started with the experimentation that Yash Raj films did with BAND BAAJA BAARAAT and gave a new hero to the Hindi cinema Ranvir Singh. Ranvir Singh, however, being associated with Yash Raj films in all probability may not like to associate himself with this so-called new cinema. If one were then to talk about new cinema and its stake holders then the most prominent name would be that of Radhika Apte, who with her kohl eyes has literally made the audience drown in them in SHOR - IN THE CITY, or for that matter the friend of Kangana Ranaut in TANU WEDS MANU, Swara Bhaskar, who made her presence felt in a determined manner in TWM.

In the same manner in the film PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA, the liquid character played by Divyendu has suddenly become the talk of the town. In the same manner the Bhubaneswar chap in SHOR IN THE CITY, Pitobash who played the character of Mandook, endeared the audience with his performance.

These are the actors who have become a hit with the audience primarily because of the fact that they are not enacting the role but are playing the character, and the same is facilitated by the nature of content as well. The content of all these films is contextual where one can easily identify with the situations, same being facilitated by these actors by slipping into the skin of the character, whereby the audience in the cinema hall can easily identify with them.

These new performers are not relegated only to acting; they have made their presence felt in other departments like editing and music direction as well. So we have a Namrata Rao, who has emerged as a force to be reckoned with by her crisp editing of BAND BAAJA BARAAT, which catapulted her to bag all the awards last year of any form and any kind. In the department of music as well, the songs are making heads turn and swoon, be it 'Dheere Dheere' from SHOR IN THE CITY set to tune by Sachin Jigar or that of TANU WEDS MANU. The zeal to experiment is such a key differentiator that probably for the first time in Hindi cinema one found a fusion between Punjabi-Kannada sounds, here one is talking about WUNDOO YEREDOO from Onir's I AM.

What cinema is seeing, in essence is the attempt by the new breed of cinema aficionados who are well read and well nuanced about cinema trying to assert their presence in a big way in Hindi films, and on the other hand one is finding emergence of second or third generation of family stars who are being catapulted to the audience on the shoulders of Big Banners. So, it is going to be an interesting build up, as one thing that has emerged from the new wave of cinema is that now the audience is interested in content and not the banner, and by its choices for off-the leak films it is giving tough competition to the established banner by associating the footfalls with the new cinema. May be the glasnost that was required for Hindi cinema is just round the corner.

Tweet

Read / Post comments on this article