THE ONE WORD MAGIC

What’s in a name? Lots, says trade experts and makers, going by the trend of singleword, short film titles being booked in full gear

Bollywood is pretty serious when it comes to movie titles. Numerology holds a lot of sway with film-makers, and there’s no lack of evidence of offbeat spellings for common words in film names. However, there’s an interesting trend on the up and up this year: short, quirky, one-word titles are gaining purchase in B-Town, and this year’s movie roster has a lot of entries that don’t extend beyond a single word.

At least 17 big-budget films are set to release with singleword titles this year. The list currently includes PadMan (R Balki), Aiyaary (Neeraj Pandey), Hichki (Siddharth P Malhotra), Padmavati (Sanjay Leela Bhansali), Zero (Aanand L Rai), Dhadak (Shashank Khaitan), Simmba (Rohit Shetty), Kaalakaandi (Akshat Verma), and Kedarnath (Abhishek Kapoor) .

“A title is like a window to the film,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan. “Film-makers are thinking that if they can convey everything in one word, then why not? Sometimes, even long titles fail to convey the essence of the story. Also, in today’s day and age, and especially for the younger generation, everything needs to be short, simple and attractive,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan.

It’s all about the kind of impact a title has, feels Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment, which has PadMan, Pari and Kedarnath lined up. “A title creates the first impression, and keeping it short and crisp helps. Also, it defines the level of intensity. One-word titles are, at times, quirky and fun,” she says.

Malhotra says the title for his film Hichki (starring Rani Mukerji) resonates with its story of a teacher who suffers from Tourette syndrome. He says, “The title of the film needs to engage and intrigue audiences at the same time. It tells the viewer what to expect from a film. Rani plays Naina Mathur, who has a nervous system disorder. She has a ‘hichki’ in life, and our title resonates with this thought. The title is also a broader take on discrimination in our society.”

Choosing a title is like naming your child, according to Amit V Masurkar, who directed last year’s hit, Newton. “The title of a film highlights the kind of audience you are targeting. It also explains the tone of the film. But at the same time, I was not thinking that my film must have a one word title. We just zeroed in on it because it was apt,” he adds

Mohan opines that the trend is more of a revival of sorts than anything new. “There have been times when films had single word titles (1975 saw Sholay, Aandhi, Amanush, Anari, Julie, Mili and Zameer), so the trend isn’t new. But it has definitely caught up this time. I won’t be surprised if more films with single-word titles are announced soon,” he says.

Filmmakers are thinking that if they can convey everything in one word, then why not? Sometimes, even long titles fail to convey the essence of the story. ATUL MOHAN, TRADE ANALYST

(Clockwise from top) Stills from Zero, PadMan, Dhadak, Hichki and KaalaKaandi