Humpty Dumpty had a great FALL
After watching the sorry fate of the recently released Thugs Of Hindostan, I recalled the wisdom in Tom Robbins’ words: ‘A lot of life boils down to the question of whether a person is going to be able to realise his fantasies; or else end up surviving on compromises he can’t face up to.’
There’s no doubting the overarching ambition fuelling the expensively mounted Yash Raj production; with megastar Amitabh matching talent and swords with superstar Aamir Khan in a period maritime adventure. But after a great take-off, the film sank like a torpedoed pirate ship. It may be unfortunate that trolls delighted in dissing the film. However, the bigger the film, the bigger the disappointment; and bigger is the backlash of criticism too. It’s a trajectory I have witnessed over the years in which I have seen the biggest stars and the best filmmakers fail.
In 1978, enterprising filmmaker Krishna Shah intrepidly brought international and Indian film stars together for his film, Shalimar, grandly announced in both English and Hindi. But the film proved to be a cocktail from India and Hollywood gone sour. Supposed to be a heist film about the theft of a priceless jewel, Shalimar, the film ended up as a lustreless lampoon of a thriller. Shah pitted Dharmendra against an ageing Rex Harrison. Renowned vamp Nadira dubbed for Sylvia Milles while Kader Khan lent his lines and voice to Rex Harrison. It was a howl. The title song Mera
pyar Shalimar by R D Burman proved to be the only gem in Shalimar. Dharmendra made the effort to learn English diction from Pearl Padamsee but in vain. The mish-mash of elements made the film about as accessible as the tribal chant ‘Gina-la-la-hoo, Gina-la-la-la-hoohoo’ that intersperses the Kishore Kumar beauty, ‘Hum bewafa hargiz na the’. Shalimar was an epic disaster that changed the course of Bollywood itself. Nobody dared attempt a Hollywood collaboration for a long time thereafter.
Unlike Krishna Shah, legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt never directed another film after his Kagaz Ke Phool (1959) proved to be a major commercial disaster – even though he lived for five years subsequently and produced several films. When Dutt made Kagaz Ke Phool, he was at the height of his fame as an actor-director having just helmed the classic
Pyaasa. In KKP, he made a bold semi-autobiographical film about a middle-aged and married director’s relationship with his female discovery and his struggles against the oscillating nature of cinematic fame.
Actress Kum Kum, who worked with Guru Dutt in Aar Paar and Pyaasa, recalls, “He had many expectations from Kaagaz Ke Phool. I remember the premiere night of the film held at Maratha Mandir cinema house. When I congratulated him, he said, ‘Kumi, this is not a good film. People are not liking it.’ I told him that it didn’t alter the fact that he had made a classic.”
If Guru Dutt made Kagaz Ke Phool ten years too early, I believe that another noted filmmaker, Raj Kapoor, made his definitive flop, Mera Naam Joker, ten years too late. Though he was only in his mid-40s, Kapoor looked too podgy for the role of a 20-something joker in the throes of passion with a succession of pretty maidens.
Mera Naam Joker starred Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Padmini, Simi, Rishi Kapoor and Raj Kapoor himself. But the four-hour long Joker with two intervals was self-indulgent. The Padmini chapter of the film, despite her uninhibitedly displaying a lot of cleavage, was particularly tedious. After Sangam, people expected miracles from the Rajendra Kumar-Raj Kapoor duo. But only the first chapter of the film, featuring Simi, Manoj Kumar and Rishi Kapoor, had Kapoor’s classy signature. Rishi Kapoor won a National Award for his endearingly vulnerable portrayal of a teenager grappling with his sexual awakening and impending adulthood.
But Raj Kapoor was a true auteur. He sprung back into the limelight, with his next directorial venture – the teenage love story, Bobby.
Success spawns courage, failure encourages compromise. Encouraged by the astounding success of his poetic Pakeezah (1972), Kamal Amrohi plunged into a hugely expensive historical, Razia Sultan (1983). But the film was declared a jaw-dropping disaster on the premiere night itself. The chaste Urdu that was beyond the common man’s perception; a fractured time sequencing and Dharmendra’s palpable disinterest in his role of a black slave in love with an empress (Hema Malini) were cited as the many reasons by the film’s cast and crew when I interviewed them post the debacle.
More recently, Ashutosh Gowariker, who had helmed huge hits like Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar, came up with the lavishly produced Mohenjo Daro starring heartthrob Hrithik Roshan. From the costumes to the content, everything about this period film was surreal and suspect. The film ended up sharing the fate of its namesake famous ruins.
While I do wish that filmmakers made entertaining cinema and didn’t blow up their resources on indulgences, I would like to add that my respect doesn’t diminish for directors who aim for the skies but fall flat on their face because like a famous poet said:
Girte hain shah sawar hi maidan-e-jung mein Woh tifl kya girenge jo chalte hain ghutno ke bal (Only those who ride astride a horse can fall; not those who crawl on their knees)