Nahiiii! Enough of cliches

TEJASWINI TIRTA / TNN / Dec 21, 2007, 00:00 IST

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Bollywood filmmakers have broken a few rules this year. But some formulae simply refuse to phase out. BT lists the filmi cliches that must go.

<arttitle><i>Nahiiii!</i> Enough of cliches</arttitle>

doweshowbellyad=0; Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya. More picsUnreal action, corny dialogues, naach-gaana in gardens — Bollywood films seem incomplete without them. And yet, this year there have been films like Chak De! India, Life in a... Metro, Bheja Fry, Cheeni Kum, Guru and Jab We Met that bucked the trend and still struck a chord with audiences.
“A film like OSO, a spoof on Bollywood that is packed with cliches, is new to the industry,” says entertainment pro Anjaan.But old habits die hard. And so there are films like Saawariya, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Aaja Nachle and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag that critics termed ‘cliched’ and audiences found boring. BT does a round-up of Bollywood formulae that have outlived their usefulness and appeal.
The grand entrance Vrroooom! A sleek car, bike or even a chopper rolls in and out steps the hero in a designer suit, with the wind in his hair and everyone around stops dead in their tracks. The Bollywood hero has always been larger than life. And his introduction just as grand. “I like the way Shahid’s character was established in JWM. Saif’s entry in Ta Ra Rum Pum and Ranbir’s song and dance were so ordinary, almost funny,” says techie Ajit G. “It’s time we stopped introducing the hero and heroine with a song,” says actor Ashwin Mushran, “It’s pointless, especially if it doesn’t say anything about the character.”
Die another day

Accidents, bullets, bomb blasts — nothing affects our filmi heroes, right from Dharmendra to Amitabh Bachchan, Sunny Deol and SRK. “Even if it’s a tragic tale, it takes the hero half an hour to die. He has to apologise, confess his love, bless the world and then bid farewell. I wonder where he gets all that stamina from,” says DJ Jasmeet.
Damsels in distress
She wears designer clothes, works in an MNC, talks tough about life and dreams big. But the minute she is accosted by a gang of notorious boys, she cries, “Chodo mujhe. Bhagwan ke liye mujhe chodo! (Let me go, for God’s sake!)” Actor Jennifer Kotwal, despite being a fan of Bollywood masala, feels it’s time the heroine grew out of the ‘please protect me’ mould. “The

‘bachaaaaao’ is so passe. I would rather see a heroine pull out pepper spray and throw a few punches,” she says.
Song and dance
Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, on a talk show, said that lip-syncing is one trend he wants filmmakers to give up. Directors like Anurag Basu and Shimit Amin did and introduced slick background scores in Chak De! and Metro. It happened with Cheeni Kum as well.
“It’s alright if Himesh Reshammiya sings in his films. But we know that every actor can’t sing. So why not stick to OSTs or get real singers to perform? JWM was still ok, since the character is supposed to be a good singer,” says Anjaan.
Ashwin believes item numbers have had their day. “The promotional numbers are doing well, so we could do away with skimpily-clad Amrita Aroras and Kareena Kapoors making an appearance for one song,” he says.
Picture postcard places
“We’ve had enough of stars cavorting among tulips, on Alpine slopes and the beaches of Mauritius. The movie is set in Mumbai and the song is shot in Switzerland. Our films don’t have to be that fictitious!” says Jasmeet. “The costume changes in one song also must go,” points out Anjaan. “Plus, if the characters are portrayed as poor, you can’t get them to sport designer wear for one song,” adds interior designer Sahana K.
Dialogue baazi
The ‘Nahiiiii!’, ‘Tum Yahan?’, ‘Main tumhara khoon peejaoonga’, and other melodramatic dialogues must be erased from the scripts, say movie buffs. “But our writers are now thinking beyond these quotable quotes. Movies like JWM had very real dialogues, like how people talk normally. The audience connects to it instantly,” says Jasmeet. “I loved the refreshing humour in Golmaal, Partner, Dhamaal and Bheja Fry. Even films like Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Shootout at Lokhandwala had some great dialogues,” says media executive Mansi Jain.

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