The economics of Hindi cinema was turned on its head while we were not watching, and scripts, sets, locations, language, heroes and heroines are all no longer what they were. That is because the demograpic profile of the audience has changed and with it a reorientation of values which makes Bombay cinema less and less representative of the people as a whole.
The more things remain the same, the more they change. Hindi cinema is no longer what some of us grew up on. The last ten years, the decade of economic liberalisation, has transformed Hindi cinema quite thoroughly, though not beyond recognition. As a result, what seems to us to be the same old fare, merely suitably repackaged for our globalised times, is actually quite new stuff. So what has changed?
The financial foundations of the film industry, for one. Consider this: in the 1960s, Rajendra Kumar, star of films like Mere Mehboob, Arzoo, Goonj Uthi She'mai, Dil Ek Mandir, etc, was called Jubilee Kumar. The legend goes that several of his films did a silver jubilee run-25 consecutive weeks—while some went on to a golden jubilee (50), and a few platinum (75). Old timers talk of films like Azvaara, Mughal-e-Azam, or Mother India, all with incredible runs. About one such film, it was said the touts who sold tickets in black outside the theatres could save enough for their daughters' or sisters' dowry. That may be hyperbole, but one based on some element of truth. I remember, quite distinctly, as a boy of eight or 10, when I saw Sholay for the first time, the film was already in its 23rd week, and was simultaneously running in half a dozen or more theatres in Bombay.
You do not get those sorts of runs any more. Now, posters are put out to celebrate a film's run of 100 days. That is just two days over 14 weeks. In fact, in June this year, Satish Kaushik's eminently forgettable Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai, the launch pad for former hero Jeetendra's son Tusshar Kapoor (pairing him with Kareena Kapoor), in its third week, was running in nine theatres in Delhi. Later the same month, in the week that saw the simultaneous release of an Aamir Khan and a Sunny Deol starrer (Lagaan and Gadar, respectively), the number of theatres screening Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai was already down to three. But who cares? Certainly not producer Vashu Bhagnani. The film, trade magazines tell us, has already been declared a hit. Which is very good news, because the industry has not really seen a proper hit so far this year. So young Tusshar Kapoor has brought cheer to the industry, and is reportedly flooded with offers. No one can say how long he will last, whether five years down the line anyone will even remember his name (one barely remembers even yesteryear's Jeetendra these days), but no one is asking either. As the industry cliché goes, you are as good as your last hit.