The metamorphosis of the Bollywood hero

‘Uff tumhare usool, tumhare aadarsh! Kis kaam ke hain tumhare usool? Tumhare saare usoolon ko goonth kar ek din ki roti bhi nahi banayi jaa sakti!’ Gone are the days when the towering character of angry young man (Amitabh Bachchan mostly) delivered these dialogues in passionate anger, and the cinema hall echoed with cheers, whistles and claps. Bollywood has gone through significant changes since then. Beginning with the seventies, the romantic image of the male protagonist which was dominant in cinema was swept aside by that of the angry young man.

Earlier, we had an ideal hero, romantic, idealist, suffering yet winning in the end. In the fifties and early sixties, Hindi filmmakers toyed with the idea of projecting a different, rebellious though idealist male protagonist. Seema (1955), Patita (1953), Do Bigha Zamin(1953), Sahib Beewi Aur Ghulam, Haqeeqat and Raj Kapoor’s many commercially hit and beautiful flicks presented a protagonist, who was broadly a rebel fighting against the system, traditions, society, and emerged as a hero even if he lost in the end.

These heroes, though in a larger than life manner, reflected the conflict of a newly independent India, wherein the society was trying to reinvent itself, breaking the chagrins of tradition and dogmatism, sometimes falling prey to them, sometimes winning over them. When Rajesh Khanna arrived during the late sixties and early seventies, the idealist urges of a society ridden with corruption, age-old conventions, shattering of dreams to create an environment of equality, harmony and prosperity was waning fast. In films people wanted an escape from the burdensome reality and Rajesh Khanna provided it with romance, tragic or otherwise adorned with melodious songs. Love or loss in love became a primary concern in a society where common people were utterly unable to bring about or become a much-required change. He was an escape from their reality. The angry young man was the natural outcome of a frustrated society. Amitabh Bachchhan’s character in most of his early films was a character of a common man who, after being wronged by the system, stands up and takes revenge. Ideals did not have much significance for him, success did. He did not mind using illegal andunlawful activities to succeed. He was actually the harbinger of a consumerist society where success and riches are the yardstick of a man’s happiness. A song from his film Zamir, says it clearly: Jahan sach naa chale wahan jhooth sahi/ jahan hak naa mile wahan loot sahi (where truth doesn’t work, let’s use the lie/ where we don’t get our rights, lets rob it). This phenomenon of the angry young man was a serious trend in western literature, art and cinema primarily focusing on the frustration and rebellion of the deprived class, but in Hindi, the image could never occupy serious nuances in literature and art. Though surprisingly, in parallel Hindi cinema, this image was used quite effectively in films Ardh Satya (1983) and Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai (1980). In the eighties, parallel cinema successfully portrayed nuanced male protagonists, some of them verging on even anti-heroes: Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989), Bhoomika, Chakra, Ankush, Ek Doctor Ki Maut, Sparsh and many more. But these films did not have a wide audience and were just limited to film award circles.When Amitabh Bachchhan was at the peak of success as an angry young man, some low budget films did quite good business and were appreciated by the masses. Their hero Amol Palekar was even called the poor man’s Amitabh Bachchan. His character was closer to reality, stories too were simple, sweet and down to earth. Gharaunda, Chitchor, Baaton Baaton Mein, Chhoti Si Baat Rajni Gandha and Gol Maal, an excellent comedy, were not only commercially successful movies, they also depicted a protagonist who was closer to life, did not indulge in violent revenge but had the capability to emerge as a hero despite his apparent flaws. Although these films are not frequently mentioned and were overshadowed by the hype and hoopla of the angry young man, yet it is these films and their protagonists whose reflections are now apparent in today’s heroes. But first Shah Rukh Khan. Shah Rukh Khan’s phenomenal success can be attributed to not only his onscreen presence, energetic and fresh, but also to the fact that he experimented with the image of negative hero during the dull phase in Bollywood when heroes were still not being able to shed the angry young man image. He glamorised the concept of the anti-hero in Hindi film industry with his famous stammer “KKK..Kiran” in Yash Chopra’s Darr. Today, the situation is different. The multiplex culture of cinema has opened vistas for various kinds of films, stories and heroes. The female voice in cinema too has become more prominent. Heroines or female characters are not just the glamour quotient anymore, they too have multi-dimensional characters and stories to tell. Gradually but surely, films have started focusing on women protagonists where heroes are there just to support the story. Piku, Ki & Ka, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Shadi Mein Zaroor Aana, Bareli Ki Barfi, etc. are films focusing on women characters. We even have films like Padman and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha highlighting the problems and taboos women have to face in our society. The hero of Noor (2017) is just a friend who keeps supporting Noor in her struggle to prove herself as a professional. In Queen, there is no hero but a flawed ‘anti-hero’ who leaves the heroine right at the altar and she decided to go to Paris, on what was to be her honeymoon absolutely alone. In Shubh Mangal Savdhan (2017), the hero is an anxious and shy person who suffers from erectile dysfunction but her fiancé, a strong-willed young girl, helps him overcome this. Simran (2017) doesn’t have a hero but a Gujarati divorcee young woman based in America who ends up robbing banks to pay the loan she has taken from a loan shark. These stories and characters are multi-dimensional and touch upon women-centric subjects hitherto understood to be forbidden for commercial cinema. These are strange and interesting times, when on one hand we have films featuring run-of-the-mill heroes killing villains in one go (Baghi 2), and on the other, we have films featuring sensible even sensitive heroes (October, Tumhari Sulu, Meri Pyari Bindu etc). Not only that, films have now started exploring relationships beyond the defined ones. Qarib Qarib Single even focuses on man-woman relationships in the times of dating websites and Shubh Mangal Savdhan very deftly talks about erectile dysfunction and a couple dealing with this problem. Commercial Hindi cinema still have miles to go before it is able to accept, portray and project a free, strong and independent woman without the baggage of traditional ‘pativrata’ wife, daughter or beloved, but it still is reassuring to see that an interesting journey to this purpose has started now.