Once Upon A Time In Bollywood .........

My unconditional love for Bollywood had crept in pretty early

The mahaul and the place couldn't have been more apt in helping the conception , nurturing and blossoming of an everlasting Prem Granth 💞💕💓💓💓💓 !!!

I was perhaps a little under-age to indulge in a love affair back then , but age ka ishq se kya lena-dena 

So it happened ... in Khopoli ... 😊🤗💖💐💐💐

Khopoli is a small urbanised village nestled in the natural warmth of dreams and romance at the foothills of the Western Ghats

Our colony is spread in a colourful abundance on both sides of the old Bombay-Poona Road away from the hustle n bustle of Khopoli village 

 

The Company had provided for its employees spacious bungalows , a well-stocked provision store , conveyance for children going to school and employees going to the Power House and other offices of the company , a well-equipped dispensary and a recreation club 

Our evenings used to be pleasantly enjoyable as most residents would indulge and unwind playing Carrom , Cards , Tennis , Table tennis , Badminton , Billiards etc , or sink into the cozy sofas in the reading room with a book or a magazine  

Also an interesting first in my life was watching the club attendant making carbonated fresh soft drinks on orders from the members 😀

In addition every weekend , except in the rainy season , old Hindi films would be screened in the sprawling open space behind the main club building .

It was there that I actually saw films for the first time ... and fell in love with Bollywood ..... 💕💕💕 !

Bachpan ki mohabbat , unshakably sturdy , has stood the test of time thus far 😍🤗😄

"Teen Deviyan" ,  "Dil Tera Deewana" , "Navrang" , "Geet Gaya Paththaron Ne" , "Junglee" , "Beti Bete" , "Dosti" , "Hare Kaanch Ki Choodiya" , "Jaanwar" , "Maya" , "Guide" , "Do Badan" and many many more have made a permanent place in my heart ... and as I grew up this Bachpan ki Mohabbat matured into a serious Love Story 💓💓💓

In between there have been such memorable instances of "madness-in-love" like barging  into the theatre manager's office when there was a "House Full" Board outside , and managing to get special entry into the picture hall ... or watching three different films in one day ... or sitting for all of three hours in the lobby of a theatre waiting to watch "Abhimaan" ... 6 to 9 😄 !!!

And who can forget battling the crowds when "Sholay" had released .... !!!


Even after so many years the magnificence , the impact and sheer bliss of watching "Pyasaa" , "Chaudhwiin Ka chaand" , "Tere Ghar Ke Saamne" , "Madhumati" , "Door Gagan Ki Chhaaon Mein" , "Kaaghaz Ke Phool" and such others in matinee shows with friends has not faded even one bit 😊

Watching films in Ramzaan afternoons while waiting for Iftaars  is yet another sumptuous memory of my profusely overflowing Bollywood-mania .....


Now fast forward to the present.
You get everything under one roof ..... And films are also available in all the malls like any other commodity ... !
Often I just stroll into one of these places , and if there is  no "sale" going on , I find some or the other film being shown in one of the many mini theatres called Hall Number 1 , 2 , 3 etc ......... 

The era of Silver Jubilees and Golden Jubilees is past in a mellinium where pictures are judged on the basis of 100 and 200 crore collections at the box office !!!

Titles like "Shahenshaah" and "Baadshaah" of Bollywood have replaced "Jubilee Kumar" in a hitherto thriving democracy now getting excessively obsessed with the soul-less pomp and show of monarchy 

Once upon a time songs used to be a strong and beautiful part of Bollywood films , especially the qawwalis and background songs , which added to the narrative brilliantly. 
Even the so called  song-and-dance-around-trees-and-bushes had a role to play in unfolding the magical tenderness of love between the lead screen couple 

 

Fans like me who have not been initiated into Classical music , began  appreciating musical compositions as the melodious notes mingled with meaningful poetry to create tasteful and timeless songs that are sung even today and continue to delight the listeners of all ages 

Nowadays our film makers "import" technicians and technology to make films , as if it is only a cold blooded business venture where the end-product will be judged exclusively on engineering skills and profitability   

Huge amounts are spent on marketing "human emotions" displayed with crass crudity on the silver screen 

All the "creativity and innovation " that comes in film making today after attending diploma courses in colleges , workshops and training courses , is sadly reduced to just one thing :  Dukaandaaari ... !

And that too is done in an undignified and disgraceful manner most of the time.

Film makers are getting away with unpardonable filth under the guise of  "Films show what the audience want " and 
"This is the real face of our society !"

I can't believe that most of our boys and girls have such gutter-tongues and are interested only in sex and violence , and are stalkers , if not rapists ... !!!


In the formative years of Bollywood we had exemplary craftsmen who trusted their own creativity and working with meager resources created everlasting masterpieces , that are still the pride of Hindi Film Industry .


I am quoting here a friend's comment to a song posted on Sahir Ludhianvi Facebook group some time back

She says : 
"There are two technical stories from the time my grandfather worked with Pancholi Arts.
Its a matter of pride to everyone who has worked with my grandfather that he could record every dialogue and song in a way that it could be reproduced with a certain wholeness in the movie theatres of pre independence.
He could even repair any movie machine that existed between 1935 till about 1980. This included cameras and sound recording machines. At the time he was in Lahore, he built sound recording machines from scratch. One of these machines was later owned by Dev Anand and his studio. The machine he made in Lahore was built within a trunk. Lohey ka trunk. He drilled holes on it and put parts that could record dialogues and songs. There is a chance that this song that you have posted has been recorded on an in house trunk wala sound recording machine.
He also built wooden cranes to lift the camera man and camera to get aerial shots while in Lahore."

In the initial days of our Film Industry, as we all know there were obviously no star sons / daughters , no Nawaabs and their Begums , no acting schools , no gym-perfected bodies and yet they managed to create benchmark masterpieces through an incredible sense of dedication to their work and to art 

Innovation was not a soulless mechanised procedure . 

Stories may seem to have been the formula hero-heroine-villain types , but they still had some morals , some values to share
They were not precisely Moral Science lessons , yet they talked of honesty , duty , empathy , sincerity and principles and these values seeped in to the psyche of the masses as they watched their favourite stars on silver screen ... There was an over all sense of humaneness , purpose and dignity in how the story was told 

Even the "dhiishum dhiishum" fights were so enjoyable , bereft of the superficial "special effects" they came across as delightfully "filmy" 😄

Aajkal we are fed "real" stories on screen with so much artificiality , monotony and repetitiveness that nudity and lewdness are the only attractions a film boasts of now !

In a glaring irony our world talks of peace and privacy on the one hand , and on the other bedroom , bathroom , toilet is all in the open now !!! 

There is no effort to dress up a passionate personal situation in the warmth of romance ... neither is an emotionally charged situation dealt with mature serenity
Everything has to to be loud and raunchy .... only then it is deemed to be real and true !

And I'm not being cynical , nor am I over reacting when I say that
I had to watch a refreshingly therapeutic "Junglee" to get rid of the  Barfi-sickness !!!