It's Terminal - Bollywood director's who've lost the plot

Despite several warnings, I was brave enough to go and see the new Chashme Buddoor. Of course it would be naive to expect anything close to the simple yet wholesome enjoyment of the original. However, this new version is directed by David Dhawan - undisputed king of comedy and paisa vasool movies until a few years ago. How wrong I was. As is usually the case, the warnings were correct - it was a complete, utter disaster of a movie and a complete waste of time.

The disappointment of Chashme Buddoor, drove home a sad realization - many of my favorite Bollywood directors seem to have completely lost the plot - for good. Not only have their recent movies have been complete duds, but more importantly, their cinema has lost (at least for me) the very essence that made them so successful in the first place.

So here I am, chronicling the failure of a few of my favroite Bollywood directors. Over the next few posts I'll cover a few film makers who should know better than to make the rubbish they've been dishing out over the past several years. 

Be warned though - expect a coherent analysis at your own peril. Mostly this mini-series of posts will see me ranting about my personal disappointment of these wildly successful individuals who have not produced works which meet my ephemeral expectations.

Ram Gopal Verma

Alas, the maverick of Bollywood is no more.

He's been replaced by an impostor who displays the worst traits of the original master who gave us Shiva, Rangeela, Satya, Bhoot and many other good and great entertainers. Besides the cool movies he directed, he provided a terrific platform to a whole new generation of directors and technicians (Shimit Amin, Sriram Raghavan; Anuraag Kashyap - to name just a few) through his aptly named production house - Factory.

How bad has it got you ask? Take your pick from any one of the last 5 (maybe 10?) years of Ramu's efforts. I give you Department, Bhoot Returns, Nishabd and the benchmark by which duds all over the world should be judged - RGV Ki Aag. I will save you the frustration by not linking to any of these black holes of time.

With his most recent efforts Not a love story and The Attacks of 26/11, he's plunged to even greater depths. These attempts to cash in on sensationalist headlines with C grade movies are nothing more than the desperate acts of a man well beyond his prime. Even the great Amitabh Bachchan has been reduced to hamming, hawing and boring us with his turns with in a variety of roles for RGV.

As for the fans, any of RGV's remaining fans who watch his recent movies are only doing so in the faint hope that the original RGV might resurface with his craft intact.

Alas, the maverick of Bollywood is no more.

Subhash Ghai

First he gave us this in Vishwanath and Kaalicharan which shot Shatrugun Sinha to stardom and immortalised the eternal conversion of lions to loins ... along with from iconic dialogues such as

जली को आग केहते हैं, बुजी को राख केहते हैं
और जिस आग से बारूद बने उसे विश्वनाथ केह्ते हैं!!! 

Several more blockbusters and even more iconic dialogues followed...

I give you Subhash Ghai. The ultimate wannabe showman of Bollywood. The man whose canvas on screen was always larger than life. The man who loved telling us epic tales of love, betrayal, revenge in loud melodramatic overtones.

At his best, his movies embodied every caricature and stereotype bollywood is known for - only larger. Bombastics dialogues, massive sets, dollops of melodrama and operatic musical set pieces brought to life with a master's flourish.

Then the 90s called.

While RGV is blamed for being too inflexible during his prolonged (terminal) slump, Ghai has been the complete opposite. He has reversed his style dramatically with disastrous results.

Try comparing the maker of Kaalicharan, Karz, Karma, Ram Lakahan with duds such as Yaadein, Black & White, Taal and Yuvraaj. You'll find a film maker who's turned away from every element of his success in his quest to appeal to an audience that has moved on without giving him a forwarding address.

This is a real shame, since many of today's (commercially) successful movies such as Dabangg, Singham, Rowdy Rathore would be right up the Big Ghai's alley! Surely he can see that the best way to get his audience back is to show them what he wants to make and watch himself rather than what he "thinks" they want to watch.

However, after several decades in the industry, I doubt if we'll see any more blockbusters from The Subhash Ghai. More's the shame.

One two ka four, four two ka NONE!