70s was a period when hindi cinema was getting young. Heroes got trendy with westernized looks- long hair, bell-bottoms, everything that supported the Hippie ways. While the Vinod Khannas and Feroz Khans of Bollywood were transforming heroes to hunks, the Zeenat Amans and Parvin Babis were making the silver screen sexier.
70s had a bite for every taste bud, be it the best of action, emotions or pure humour. From Zanjeer via Koshish to Chupke Chupke, Bollywood was busy feeding everyone on its way, hmm..can’t ignore the hands that crafted these classics. This era reared an intelligent breed of directors like Gulzar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Movies like Mere Apne, Aandhi, Koshish and Angoor have made Gulzar a legend. Through Gulzar, practicality had started being practiced in Bollywood.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee has been a unique story teller and through his flexible ways of film making, he gave some of the best comedies like Chupke Chupke and Golmaal, at the same time some of the best emotional dramas like Anand, Abhimaan and Namak Haraam…movies that hitherto have no parallels in Bollywood.
Hand in hand to the commercial hits was a new genre of movies rooting in deep-the parallel cinema, thanks to directors like Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihlani. They had a great way going- hiring the best talent from the NSDs and FTIIs, getting a strong screenplay built on a sensitive topic, churn out their grey cells succulently and whoa…what came out would be a masterpiece. Movies like Nishant and Kalyug (a modern day parallel to the age old epic- Mahabharat) proved a silver lining for the critics. Bollywood is indebted to parallel cinema for acting geniuses like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Shabana Azmi who got a hard earned and well deserved attention in Bollywood.
It was also a time for superstar Rajesh Khanna to share his space, and step down under the aura of another SuperStar- Amitabh Bachchan, oh boy, anger and action appeal more than romance these days J. “Angry Young Man” Amitabh Bachchan, after a brief stint in mediocre movies and a second-to-Rajesh Khanna role in Anand, gave his first solo superhit- “Zanjeer”. The show had just begun, and destiny had lined a series of superhits …Deewar, Sholay, Don..the star was getting brighter. 70s was undoubtedly the “Bachchan era” of Bollywood.
Banking on the Bachchan mania and hitting the gas harder was Yash Chopra, who crafted beauties with AB through Deewar, Trishul, Kala Paththar and Silsila. Ramesh Sippy too came up with the Biggest Hit ever of Bollywood- Sholay in 1975.
Moving into the 80s hindi cinema was entering a rather inert phase, with very few Superhits. Sai Paranjapye would occasionally chip in with some innocent and equally beautiful creations. Farooq Shaikh and Dipti Naval (girl next door), paired up with Sai Paranjapye formed a trio that gave some truly beautiful and entertaining movies like Katha and Chashm-e-baddoor.
It was a period when ageing bones were making way for the fresh blood, and an entirely fresh breed of actors came in from in-house acting schools, yes this was the Gen-Next of the stars of the 60s. Sanjay Dutt, Kumar Gaurav, Sunny Deol were set to rule the silver screen, but hey..there was another one coming who was not as an elite as his competitors. He was Anil Kapoor, one of the finest and most respected actors of Bollywood, he was here to stay and rule, all by his own. Anil Kapoor paired up with the new Showman- Subhash Ghai to give some superhits like Meri Jung and Ram Lakhan, but it was N. Chandra to get the angry Anil penetrate into the audience through Tezaab- the 1988 Superhit which bagged him his first Filmfare award for best actor.
Late 80s also launched the chocolate hero- Amir Khan, his debut movie- Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was a major Superhit of 1988 and a trend setter. QSQT definitely transformed the way love stories were handled in Bollywood, and most importantly- it gave Bollywood one of its greatest actors- Amir. Salman Khan too made his presence felt as a Lover Boy in Maine Pyaar Kiya, released in 1989.
Bollywood music lived its best time in the 70s, thanks to R D, but 80s was a leaner graph, short lived songs diving towards mediocrity due to lack of melody. Again, QSQT was a trend setter here.
All in all, apart from Amitabh Bachchan, there have been a lot that Bollywood has received from these decades. More on the success stories of the Khans and other Bollywood actions, coming soon - “90s- It’s an all Khan affair”.
