Hindi Cinema has been a part of life for most of the Indians, particularly in the post-independence era. Six decades of entertainment, and Bollywood keeps getting younger each day. All these years, Bollywood has been offering favourable conditions to budding talent. Looking back through these decades brings us a mixed bag of entertainment- emotions, romance, action, patriotism, comedy, there is something in it for everyone, no matter- Bollywood is omnipresent.
Innocent 50’s and 60’s
Hindi Cinema (it wasn’t called Bollywood then J) was a budding industry in the late 40’s and early 50’s. India had just been independent from ages of foreign rule, and Bollywood had its role to play in building society. Directors like V Shantaram and Bimal Roy were the front runners in showcasing social concerns through their movies- movies like Do Aankhen Barah Haath, Sujata carried a message for the audience.
It was an era of B&W cinema, the trio- Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand were the heartthrobs and had their own set of sincere audience, and at the same time, Pran and Ajit played the object of ire. Those were the days when movie dialogues would come directly out of Hindi literary works; choreography found its origins in Indian classical dancing and music emerged out of Indian classical ragas. An industry which was very much “Indian”. This era supported a very narrow spectrum of topics- emotional family dramas were crowd pullers and a movie’s success would depend proportionally to the tears shed by the audienceJ.
Raj Kapoor was the ShowMan creating larger than life portrayals. This was the time though when Guru Dutt was busy creating classics that would attract only a limited audience. His movies being ahead of time would hardly appeal to the mediocre Indian audience then, but his work was to be rightly appreciated by generations to come. His work made him a Genius.
It was 1960 when the most prestigious Bollywood movie ever made ascended the silver screen in elegance; Mughal-e-Azam, a larger than life portrayal of a royal love story and a conflict between blue blood. Till date Mughal-e-Azam finds a respectable place in the hearts of Bollywood lovers.1960 gave another trend setter movie; B R Chopra came up with a fantastic creation- Kanoon - the first song- less movie of Bollywood.
Another trend setter movie – Sangam was released in 1962. This was the first Bollywood movie ever to be shot in a location outside India, also a movie with 2 intervals. A considerable portion of the movie was shot in some beautiful locations in Europe, Raj Kapoor undoubtedly was a ShowMan.
Proceed ahead into the 60’s and Indian cinema was getting trendy. Fresh breed of actors like Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor and Jitendra shared a considerable portion of the silver screen. This was a time when every actor would be an elite- driving Left Handed Impalas, singing songs in 3 piece blazers and normally an “Iklauta Waaris” of huge “estates”J. While Shammi Kapoor was busy entertaining every genre of the audience, Jitendra was getting ready to replace him in the late 60’s.
This decade bred some truly talented directors including B R Chopra, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, Manoj Kumar and Shakti Samanta.
Some of the best lost-and-found family dramas like Waqt (B R Chopra), suspense thrillers like Jewel Thief, Teesri Manzil (Vijay Anand), emotional dramas like Guide (Vijay Anand), patriotic movies like Upkaar, Purab aur Pascchim (Manoj Kumar) and romantic movies like Aradhana (Shakti Samanta) were released during this time.
Music in Bollywood lived its best times during this era; Melodies crafted meticulously by Shankar-Jaikishan, S D Burman, Naushad rule the hearts of millions till date. This was also a time when musician duo Lakshmikant-Pyarelal worked hard and had their place reserved in Bollywood. But it was in mid 60’s that a star was born; Bollywood got its most trendy and popular Music Director ever – R D Burman.
Approaching the end of this era Indian audience was to get the first SUPER STAR of Bollywood- Rajesh Khanna, who instantly became a heartthrob of the whole country. He was here to stay and rule, but only for a few years… another star was just on the horizon. More of the rise and fall of SuperStars in the next post- “Sparks and Shadows of 70’s and 80’s”.
