If all of
Bollywood could be stretched out like a timeline and examined for some
recurring variants, you would notice a striking trend in the genre of movies.
Every time a path breaking and radical movie would come out, others would
follow suit and anything that tried an archaic formula would crash and burn.
The last time this occurred was during the release of Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan
in 2001. Any other movie that tried the ye old formula of doppelgangers,
reincarnation, running away from a feudal household and getting hitched tanked
awfully at the box office. These trends kept happening throughout the decade
and yet Bollywood churned out some old brews in brand new bottles.
With the rising
number of Box Office disasters, it’s time to recap some of the most infuriating
and repetitive stereotypes that keep torturing us every single Friday -
No Commitment Only
Enjoyment.
Yeah! We get that commitment
is tough. It’s a risk that’s absolutely not worth taking if one is not serious
about it. But give us a freaking break will ya? How many movies are going to
have the same old scene featuring the hero and his ladylove taking an oath
about not getting serious? And then fall for each other. And then cry about it.
It’s stereotypes like these that make us feel we’re stuck in a karmic cycle.
Heartbreaks Are The Ultimate
Exam
One cannot compose, write,
sing, paint, drive, brush their teeth and look at traffic in a different way
unless they have a heartbreak in their lives. Heartbreaks are like the UPSC
exams in films that revolve around romance, untapped talent and the
coming-of-age genre. This becomes further exasperating when someone asserts in
the film “Jab tak dil nahi tootta na tab tak andar se awaaz nahi niklegi.”
Marriage = Satan's
Playground
As if the heartbreaks
pigeonhole wasn’t enough, here comes another favourite of senile producers –
the bane of holy matrimony. We are definitely aren’t claiming, that marriage is
a must or that every marriage is heavenly, it’s just when Bollywood keeps
repeating that a husband is nothing more than a manservant and that marriage is
almost asphyxiating, it becomes mind-numbingly contrived.
First World Issues
No we’re not saying that
rich folks don’t have problems, they probably have issues twice as harsh as
ours. It’s the part where filmmakers think they have an easy way out. If scuba
diving, world tours, photography, destination weddings and making ketchup by
grinding your posterior were the solution, life would’ve been much easier.
All Women Are Evil.
If the world was left in the
hands of filmmakers of Bollywood sex comedies, bachelor humour films and
college buddy marathons, women would have a really miserable time. Scene after
scene, monologue after monologue, these films make the same point – Women are
nothing but soul sucking beasts from hell.
Confused Nerdy Girl &
Rich AF Man Who Meet Again.
Twenty years back, this
combination must have been the quintessential odd couple. A girl who is bound
by her adherence to the rules of the Indian household and a guy who is pampered
to the core and lives life like a cool host from any travel channel. But now
this formula is as stale as a bag of cold French fries. Every film sounds more
like a listicle that mentions the things to do before you die.a