Acceptance of Parallel Cinema: Has Bollywood failed it or we, the audience?

Bollywood movies that come under this category are known for their serious content, realism or naturalism. These movies tend to take a subtle dig at socio-political scenario of the times and generally refrain from having any kind of songs. The name that is bound to strike people is that of "The Lunchbox." Why? "Kyuki aisi movie ka promotion kaafi kiya tha aur Irfan Khan jaisa actor hai" would be the reply.

 

                                        

                                                   

                                  

 

Parallel Cinema is a term which now has begun to be referred to offbeat/art house of cinema. Bollywood has seen a great increase in art house films but has been outdone by commercial cinema since  the introduction of art house cinema in 1955 as Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali".

                                                 

                                                 

Movies under this category are known for their serious content, realism or naturalism. These movies tend to take a subtle dig at socio-political scenario of the times and generally refrain from having any kind of songs.

 

 

 Movies like Bombay Talkies, Bollywood Diaries are some of the mentions of art house movies made in the recent times. Specifying these two movies, they are an ode to the much popular back then, The 100 Hundred Years of Indian Cinema. Movies under parallel cinema come quite often back in the early 70s and 80s but had been on an unprecedented decline from the early 1990s to 2010. The major reason for this decline was because these movies have a limited appeal hence, the return on investment for such films is not guaranteed because the cost of production is high. Coming back to the question, " Has Bollywood failed to accept this cinema or is it we, thee audience?"

                                                                                  

 

 

I am pretty sure that people reading this, have probably not heard about the movie, "Bollywood Diaries", so it is only possible if the producer did not want to invest a lot on the promotion of the movie. What led to that the producer did not want invest his money? The answer is that WE, the people are responsible for it. The producers do not want to invest money on something which we don't appreciate. There are a handful of art house films that have managed to recover their investment and give some profit to the producers. Movies like Meghna Gulzar's Talvar, Aamir Khan's home production Peepli Live, Nawazuddin's Haraaamkhor, Rajat Kapoor's Aankhon Dekhi and Mira Nair's Salaam Bomby are perhas those of the few art house movies which managed some noise at the box office either because of the cast or because of the subject they were related to.

                    

 

 

 The movies named here, "To sab ne suni hongi, but aisi picturon ke liye cinema kaun jaata hai?" is the type of mentality everyone has. The avoidance of such precious gems of the indian cinema can be because of 2 reasons: 1.) One does not have a  "niche" for such a genre. 2.) One does not have the guts to face the hardcore reality of the country.

There is no third reason why these movies should fail. I am not saying that everyone should watch these movies, at least those who belong to "aisi picturon ke liye cinema kaun jaata hai?" category of audience should watch it so that they do their part by propagating Meaningful and Realistic cinema and it may indirectly help their box officer response.

 

Just to bring to the notice of the people is that  it is the Parallel Cinema that represents India at the global level. And they receive immense critical praise and their somewhat earnings overseas is much higher than that in India. Aankhon Dekhi and Salaam Bombay are examples of such movies. 'The Last Lear', 'Liars dice' have been India's representatives at global scale.

 

Parallel Cinema has been promoted by Bollywood celebrities in the form of waving off their fees for such movies. The most "generous" person in such cases is Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who did not charge a single penny for Haraamkhor or Liar's Dice. Amitabh Bachchan did the same for "Liar's Dice" and everyone who has acted did their bit.

                    

 

It has rightly been said, Bollywood does not make Good movies because we as audience don't appreciate them. Masaan, Madaari, Waiting and Phobia are the recent examples of such movies. The want for propagation of meaningful cinema can only happen if we, start appreciating good movies and disregard movies like Housefull 3, Singh is Bling, Son of Sardaar, almost every movie of Sajid Khan, Entertainment etc., which slowly and steadily is happening.

 

 

 

                                                                                           

                                  

                                                          

                                                       Box Office Collection: 3.2 crores*

 

 

                                              Box Office Collection: 2.65 crores*

 

 

                                                                                                                                 *(Box office India)

 

 But to bring Bollywood back on track, we need to start appreciating movies even quicker before such cinema dies out. Though, there has been some improvement but not to the level one expects.