3:04 pm (1½ hours ago)
In a totally unexpected way the Hindi film industry today seems to be a child of the revolution Aamir Khan launched more than half a decade ago with Lagaan. Unlike Sholay, a film that bred entire genres and codes of film-making, Lagaan's impact has been far more structural. It could not be said that Sholay altered the essential dynamic of the film industry. That movement was in place at least since Zanjeer and even in 1975, the year Sholay released, Deewar was an equally influential film and perhaps moreso for questions of genre. In any case Sholay and Deewar formed a double helix for 70s 'masala' genres and in some ways we are still inheritors of that legacy, not least because it is so intertwined with the unequalled career of Amitabh Bachchan. Lagaan's impact however has been crucial in terms of defining the 'meta-narrative' of 'Bollywood'. It is not that Lagaan has bred other similiar films. This clearly did not happen. What did however occur was a sea change in the way 'Bollywood' started functioning from this point on. If Sholay offers a study in influence Lagaan re-defines the terms in which such influence might come about.
3:04 pm (1½ hours ago)
Aamir Khan introduced to 'Bollywood' what should be properly be called the 'prestige film' and eventually linked his fortunes to this cinema. Basically the star resuscitated a 'Bollywood' that was reeling under the Yashraj onslaught of the 90s and that had in any case not found a mass alternative to the formula genres that collapsed in the 80s. The Yashraj paradigm was clearly the dominant one in its decade but it was never able to breathe oxygen into the industry in any real sense. The love stories or family films the studio created were to start with few in number. There were not many films that literally followed in the Yashraj footsteps and most often it was simply a set of songs shot in Switzerland (and elsewhere) that became the 'Bollywood' response to the former. In other words the Yashraj contribution was 'exotica'. This created a new economic model for the industry by combining major metro (urban) audiences with 'diasporic desire'. Aamir Khan's Lagaan intervention however changed all of this. The star had even in earlier years been evolving towards this goal in various ways but with Lagaan he found the perfect vehicle not just to re-invent himself as a star on a complete different scale but also to re-invent 'Bollywood' at the same time. 'Lagaan' became the first authentic example in contemporary times of a film that seemed to transcend the box office numbers by way of 'prestige'. Of course there had always been such films in Bombay film history but the word had currency as either a notion tied to the big banner film or to alternative cinema with often no overlap between the two. The two in fact usually spoke to different audiences. But Aamir Khan made 'prestige' the very point of his cinema, he achieved the 'overlap' whereby films could have a significant audience, even a mass one, and yet be true to the idea of 'quality' cinema, even 'world' cinema, and to this extent Lagaan's Oscar nomination can hardly be underestimated.
3:05 pm (1½ hours ago)
A brief note must be added here on Ram Gopal Varma's decisive intervention in the 90s with somewhat similar goals to Aamir Khan's. It is seems rather fortuitous that Ram Gopal Varma essentially began his Hindi career with Rangeela, a film which can also be said to mark the first truly 'different' one (excluding the very experimental Raakh early on) in Aamir's career and one that also was a commercial success. The paths that each took following this film (ironically there was a falling out during the making of the film but this is understandable in terms of the history being traced here) have really led to a sort of marriage in the new milennium where most films of any note seem to be dependent on the decisions taken by either Varma or Aamir Khan in the prior decade. The distinction is that Varma was and remains most interested in subverting genre norms and star signatures, even the very grammar of Hindi cinema, even if he paradoxically does so typically by way of the niche film, somewhat self-defeatingly in terms of his overall goal though over a period of time he has definitely had a snowball effect and impact. Aamir Khan conversely is much more fascinated with the mainstream film and the possibilities that can be explored within the format. Hence 'alternative cinema' is made mainstream while purely commercial genres are enriched with numerous unconventional moves.
3:06 pm (1½ hours ago)
If Lagaan heralded this new career for Aamir Khan he followed it up rather quickly with Dil Chahta Hai. The latter has become the very prototype of the Generation X multiplex film and has since bred a thousand clones. After a four year hiatus the actor tried his hand at the epic period piece in Mangal Pandey. The film eventually sank at the box office but the idea took root. Much as on a more pop cultural level the decision to grow a moustache, and his hair became a rather influential one imitated since by his peers. Aamir Khan struck back after the failure of Mangal Pandey with Rang De Basanti, a film which offered a variation on the Generation X theme but by marrying it to larger nationalistic concerns that had also occupied the actor for some time. Fanaa then followed, a film which did authentic masala in the guise of Yashraj and in fact this hybrid of 60s and 70s genres did a great deal to subvert Yashraj trends by not opting for the happy ending and having an unrepentant Muslim terrorist as the film's (anti)hero. After another relatively long gap Aamir Khan returned very recently with his first directorial venture in Taare Zameen Par, a film which was truly 'alternative' and nonetheless a very successful one in box office terms. His next project is now an action thriller in Gajini. Much as the actor has played around with his 'look' prompting other stars to do the same in all of his films following Lagaan, Gajini is no exception in this sense.
3:06 pm (1½ hours ago)
The other stars have followed Aamir by either attempting the 'prestige' film (even at the cost of the box office in some instances) but by also replicating his work ethic to varying degrees. A few quick examples would be in order. Hrithik Roshan after an early career where he did films quite regularly has since moved on to a model where he does very few films. Admittedly a lot of this was brought about by a string of failures at the former stage but the point is that Aamir Khan's model allows him the luxury to do this without necessarily being seen as 'out of the game'. This kind of minimal work load also hearkens to the Hollywood paradigm but Aamir Khan made it acceptable within 'Bollywood'. Similarly, Shahrukh Khan, who has slowed down in recent times, has also followed this work ethic as a way of dealing with changing trends. In each case these stars have tried to negotiate the pressure of their respective fan bases with the general demand for the 'prestige film'. This model has not enabled these stars to the degree enjoyed by Aamir Khan (who is really in the midst of the best phase of his career, arguably one where there is a plausible claim for him being considered the top star or at least a co-equal one at the top) for a whole set of reasons but nonetheless the former remains in place. Moving on, one sees Akshay Kumar as the great exception to this system or rather the star who survives on formula cinema precisely because no one else attempts it among his major competitors. On the other hand there is the very interesting example of Abhishek Bachchan, the only one of the major stars who promises to marry the Aamir Khan paradigm with the volume of Akshay Kumar. It must be pointed out here that lower visibility has not damaged Aamir Khan much while it has had the opposite effect on a younger star like Hrithik Roshan, for whom being 'under the radar' for extended periods of time has had its costs. One could multiply these star examples.
3:07 pm (1½ hours ago)
Again it is equally important to note that as one really expands on this entire idea the impact of Ram Gopal Varma also has to be accounted for to a much greater degree. Finally, Amitabh Bachchan himself has been the greatest beneficiary of this new model as it has allowed him at his age to constantly experiment as an actor as well as also appear in 'safe' films that are nevertheless removed from his erstwhile strength genres.
To be fair all of this is not to suggest that Aamir Khan has himself not profited from larger 'new India' cinematic trends but that he has had been most visionary in terms of appreciating what the future would be 'about' and how he could mould it in certain ways to further his career as well as fashion a healthier course for the industry. As a result he has contributed to a cinema that is not only connected with the idea of 'prestige' or the 'alternative' but is also more rooted than it was just a decade ago. In fact his interventions have not been limited to the purely cinematic or just to a new work ethic. He has even heralded a new 'age' with his blog. Today increasingly various 'Bollywood' figures are enaging in the same, irregularly for the most part, but with the all important exception of Amitabh Bachchan who has had a massive response to his blog and really seems to be unsurpassed even in this field! It is Aamir Khan who began all of this.
3:08 pm (1½ hours ago)
One could end on a somewhat predictive note. Aamir Khan's critical function has been to define a post-Bachchan Hindi film industry (which is to say an industry that comes 'after' his peak period though also one where Bachchan is critical to this project in other ways and even 'necessary'). He eschewed the Shahrukh-Yashraj dynamics in the 90s and since then has really wrested the advantage away from the latter. As indicated above the careers of his peers, as well as the general trajectory of 'Bollywood' bears testament to this. However he might also be seen with time as the 'renewer' in an age dominated by the Bachchan signature. The Yashraj-SRK phase was clearly influential but also part of a post-Bachchan interregnum. Now another Bachchan promises to be the biggest beneficiary of the Aamir Khan revolution even as the prior one is still completely relevant and has already profited from it. The cycle might be close to completion. It is a tribute to the strength of the Aamir Khan paradigm that he himself can forever serve as the 'exception' irrespective of how his peers do. His 'prestige' is just about unparalleled at this point, a fact reflected continually in anecdotal opinion and various polls. It is hard to imagine where the actor will be five years or a decade from now but it seems certain that he is only adding to what has already shaped to be a rather remarkable legacy..
