In the world?s largest democracy, it?s no surprise that politics often appears as a subject in films, but do we have enough of the heat and dust associated with it on screen? Is Bollywood fascinated enough with politics? This year, even if Anurag Kashyap?s politically-charged Gulaal was released just as campaigning began for Elections 09, no other ?political? films are releasing in April and May. Prakash Jha?s Rajneeti is slated for a September release. But that?s not to say the world?s largest film industry hasn?t dabbled in politics. Student politics and youth rivalry have always made for gritty thrillers. Back in the 70s, Gulzar cast a young Vinod Khanna and a ?villainous? Shatrughan Sinha in Mere Apne (1971) ? the story of a battle between two groups and the futility of violence. Ram Gopal Varma announced his entry into Hindi films with Shiva (1989), while Mani Ratnam?s Yuva (2004), set in Kolkata, established Abhishek Bachchan?s credenials as an actor.
A film that stood out in the last few years was Tigmanshu Dhulia?s Haasil (2003). However, the film had a tepid ending where political gameplay was sacrificed for interpersonal relationships and a love story. Gulaal, sadly, succumbs to a similar problem. When it comes to politics and films, we have films such as Interview (1971), Mere Apne, Aandhi (1975), Ardh Satya (1983) before the 90s followed by Hu Tu Tu (1999), Gangajal (2003), Satta (2003), Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi (2003), Rang De Basanti (2006) and so forth.
So, what?s a political film? Quips Gulzar, who has made films such as Mere Apne, Aandhi and Hu Tu Tu: ?It?s not the life of a mantri. When you comment on politics or comment on the system, it becomes a political film.? Gulzar adds that ?MS Sathyu?s Garam Hawa (1973) on partition is an outstanding political film; Kamal Haasan?s Hey Ram (2000) and Neeraj Pandey?s A Wednesday (2008), and Nandita Das? Firaaq (2008) are sober serious political films that comment on the current scenario.?
Agrees music director Piyush Mishra: ?One need not show violence and murder to depict politics in a film, it can be communicated through a love story, like West Side Story or New Delhi Times (1986) or even Garam Hawa (1973).? Often, student politics is put under the scanner. Says Raja Singh Choudhary, scriptwriter, Gulaal: ?A lot of films show politicians in a poor state but they don?t portray politics at large. In movies such as Gulaal and Haasil, it?s student politics that has been played up.? Does a political film affect the common man? Says Gulzar: ?There is a direct relation between politics and the common man. I am no expert in politics but as a common man, I try to depict whatever I see around me. You try to say what you want to say without having it diluted.?
Road blocks
So, are there enough movies made on politics? Industry veterans believe there aren?t but point out that we need to have a quiet period after a particular political event to make a film on it. The Gujarat riots happened in 2002 and films on it are being made now, like Parzania or Firaaq, and still they can?t be screened in Gujarat.
Says Kiran Ganti, who assisted Mani Ratnam in Yuva: ?Filmmakers don?t make a film keeping in mind the elections. The motivation for making the film is different. Everywhere there?s politics. So if one makes one more movie on politics, people might not watch it. It?s not like IPL that you need to reflect the product then and there to cash in on. Maybe when everything is quieter, people are more conducive to take the theme seriously.?
Filmmaker Govind Nihalani admits that censorship is a huge roadblock. ?Power plays a big role inside the censor board,? he points out, adding, ?people in power normally have their representatives and their job is to uphold the party?s
ideologies. One can?t just go out and make a film on a serious issue. I?ve also faced it. For instance, for Tamas, no distributor was ready to screen it for the simple reason that there could have been a law and order problem during the shows. I had similar problems when my last political film, Dev (2004), that portrayed events from the demolition of the Babri Masjid to the Gujarat riots, was released. And now, I hear some of the multiplexes in Gujarat are unwilling to show Firaaq, which is very discouraging.?
Box-office verdict
While Gangajal and Yuva did quite well at the BO, movies such as Hu Tu Tu, Dil Se, Haasil etc didn?t get commercial success. Gulzar explains why: ?You don?t know whether the film will run or not when you make it. You just need to say your story. No one knows about the box office outcome. In the case of Hu Tu Tu, probably people might have thought that they read about such events in newspapers, then what?s the need to see a film on it.?
But political films do find an audience, especially among the youth. Says Choudhary: ?For Gulaal, we are being told that what has been portrayed in the movie is real.? Nihalani says Prakash Jha?s Gangajal is an example of how well a movie can hold the audience, which is quite evident from its BO collections (see box). ?If we have a good drama people will watch,? he adds.
As Mishra puts it: ?When characters get affected, politics gets communicated. In Shool, we support the police officer the moment his child and wife are dead. No one is interested in knowing what the politician is doing.?