Born in 1974, the 35 year old has quite a formidable academic background, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and IIM-A, he had all the makings of becoming a corporate head honcho. But he took a plunge into writing while still working as an investment banker in Hong Kong. ‘Five Point Someone –What not to do at IIT’ was released in 2004 and is, arguably, his most famous book. “Five Point Someone is Chetan Bhagat’s best work because it has real-like characters spun around very relatable subjects. Every rebel saw a Ryan in himself and likewise, a Hari or an Alok. The best part about the book is that it’s a fun, light hearted and an optimistic story with a dash of romance and a lot of vodka!” says Nithya, who has read all of Bhagat’s books. Over the years, Bhagat has ventured into other fields as well. He is a regular columnist with Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar and is also a guest speaker at many institutions across the country. The links to all his columns can be found at his official website, www.chetanbhagat.com/.

His previous novels. Credits: RougeWave

A lot of reasons can be attributed to the transformation of Chetan Bhagat from a banker to a very successful novelist. The fact that some of his books are based, to an extent, on his life has drawn a lot of readers. His writings also closely portray the people and their lives in modern India, making them very relatable to the masses. “Even if the main characters and some of the situations in Bhagat’s books are predictable, it’s very easy to connect and empathise with the characters because a lot of us find ourselves in similar circumstances as mentioned in the books,” says Nitin, a Bhagat fan. “His books are also very addictive primarily because his narrative style is fairly simple. And the lingo is very close to what we use in real life; his books don’t have me running for the dictionary every two seconds,” he adds. Priced at Rs. 95 by the publishers Rupa, all the four of his books have sold huge numbers of copies largely thanks to the affordable price. Most of the students agree to the fact that being modestly priced is a major reason for them to want to buy these books first hand as they don’t empty their pockets.

This is not to say that the whole country adores Chetan Bhagat and his novels. Like everything else, this also has a flip side and there are people aren’t terribly impressed with the hugely popular novelist. “I hate it when people say Chetan Bhagat is their favourite writer and his books are the best they’ve ever read. It’s more like they’re the only books they’ve ever read. They think Chetan Bhagat comprises of everything that Indian English literature or for that matter World literature has to offer,” fumes Snigdha at the craze over Bhagat’s books. Another reason for scorn is that the books are high on the drama quotient. “Every book of his is filled with melodrama. It’s like reading a Bollywood movie. Just when you’re beginning to think that a book is a little realistic, the exaggeration hits you. Why read it, when you can watch it?”questions Shyam, who obviously doesn’t root for Mr. Bhagat.

The 3 Idiots website. Credits:www.idiotsacademy.zapak.com/

“I think it’s great that Chetan Bhagat’s books are being made into movies. I’m sure there are people who’d appreciate reading the books more than the movies but for a non-reader like me, I’d rather watch an adaptation of the book on screen than read it. I’ve been waiting for 3 Idiots to come out for a long time now. With Amir Khan in it and Rajkumar Hirani having had directed it, I’m sure they would have done justice to the book,” says Karuna when asked about what she thought of Chetan Bhagat’s books being made into movies. While 3 Idiots is generating a lot of interest among the crowds, the Salman Khan starrer Hello, an adaptation of ‘One Night @ the Call Center’, did not do too well at the box-office. “I went to the movie after having read One Night, and was kinda disappointed,” says Kiran about the movie. “The actors didn’t really do justice to their roles and important portions of the book were missing. The movie had its moments here and there, but it wasn’t as racy as the book. And the unnecessary songs got on to my nerves!” he further adds.

Nothing is currently known about Chetan Bhagat’s next venture but unfortunately for people complaining about an overdose of the ‘youth icon’, looks like there’s no way out. One will only get to see more of this investment banker-turned-novelist in the future, a reason for the fans to rejoice. Whatever one thinks of him and his works, he perfectly fall into the cliché of ‘Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him!’

“I’m so happy that I can finally watch Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and John Abraham on the big screen. My friends and I couldn’t watch many Bollywood movies in the vacation and it was such a disappointment. The fact that they’re releasing now, after the colleges have reopened doesn’t matter, as long as I can watch them. I missed going to the movies so much and I can’t wait to start my movie-watching spree”, says Nidhi, a 19 year old, who shares the same excitement as many around her. The absence of movies from the theatres for over two months has left the crowd starving for new movies and with movies starting to release again; they’re being welcomed with more just than open arms.

The said absence was due to the almost two month standoff between the producers and the multiplex owners over profit distribution of movies. The strike meant that, for the first time, Bollywood went without any major release during the summer. One of the very few movies that was released during the strike was the comic caper 99. But the theatres were bare and the audiences bored due to the absence of the big movies. After a lot of negotiations, the standoff has been called off with both parties working out an agreeable revenue sharing system. As a result, movies are finally hitting the screens. “Movies, to an average Indian, are much more than just entertainment. We live through them and to not have them for so long was torturous. The weekends were getting boring and we were fast running out of places to hang out at. Whatever the differences between the producers and the theatres were, they should have sorted it out behind closed doors without affecting the release of movies”, says Vineeth, an ardent movie buff.

Some of the upcoming movies. Credit: Rouge Wave

So what did people around the city do during the summer? “It isn’t fair saying that there were no movies. It was only the Bollywood movies that weren’t out. Telugu movies weren’t a part of the strike. That’s not saying that the movies that were out were great. Only a few movies like Kick and Prayanam were worth watching. Hollywood didn’t particularly have much to offer during the summer either. The biggest release was Angels and Demons. Terminator and Transformers 2 released only last week”, says Sravanthi, an engineering student. Renting and downloading movies fast became alternate options. Quite a few people caught up on movies they’d missed in the last few years.

And for the sport lovers, this summer saw a lot of major events happening, with IPL taking away the cherry on the cake and the T 20 World Cup following closely. “You couldn’t possibly miss Bollywood; the stars were all over IPL. I thought that, in the initial stages, it was the actors that got more media coverage than the cricket itself. I was so glad when none of the Bollywood-backed teams made it into the semis. Bollywood or no Bollywood, IPL had enough drama and it made up for the lack of movies. The T20 World Cup just wasn’t the same but it  filled the void”, says Prashant, who had his hands full with cricket to have been bothered about the strike. It was also the end of the football season and the French Open also took place around the same time. “This time around, there were more places to go out to. Watching the matches on TV was old news. My friends and I went out as much as possible to watch matches on large screens. We hung out at Xtreme Sports Bar a lot during the summer”, says Dhruv, another sports fan.

Movie info in the newspapers. Credit: Rouge Wave

But now that the strike has been resolved and with movies back in action, there’s no stopping people from watching them. “I watched Kal Kisne Dekha on the second day. Beat that! There hasn’t been a moment since where if haven’t regretted it but I all I wanted to do then was watch a Hindi movie in a theatre because I hadn’t done it in forever. Even if the movie sucked, being in the theatre and enjoying my popcorn with friends felt great”, says Neelam, a graduation student. The excitement and enthusiasm seem to be pretty contagious. “The last week was awesome, I was on a roll. I watched three movies in three days. I ended up watching Terminator, Transformers 2 and New York on consecutive days. The rush I felt was amazing and I can’t wait for Kambakth Ishq to release”, says Sameer, who plans on watching New York again, this time with his girlfriend.

With over 100 films scheduled to release in 2009 and with less than six months left, movie lovers are in for a treat. A lot of them being big-budgeted, hyped films only makes the situation better, a compensation of sorts for the dull summer. “I feel like a kid in a candy store. There’s so much to choose from and I want it all. With so many movies lined up for release, I’m raring to go. I can’t wait to get on a movie-high”, says Sanjana excitedly. Here’s hoping all of us get our share of our beloved Bollywood masala movies and that we won’t have to suffer through another strike any time soon. Happy movie watching!

Recently, the Ravi Teja starrer Kick got released which has already been confirmed a super hit. The movie generally runs full at the theatres in RTC Cross roads, where most Telugu movies release. It has a series of theatres like, Odeon, Sudarshan, Sandhya, Devi, Sri Mayuri, and Usha Mayuri. The area is almost always crowded, considering the number of movies running at the theatres there. The movie Kick is running at the Odeon theatre where black marketing is openly practiced even with the Police around. Even if you go an hour and a half before the show begins, the tickets are sold out, out of which at least half the tickets are sold to the black marketers and they start chanting, “Dus ka tees”, “Pachaas ka sau” and so on.

Police chatting, at the Odeon theatre. Credit: silent screamer

One of the black marketers at Odeon says, “This is by far the best business I have been in. I sell the fifty rupees and forty rupees tickets for hundred minimum. And its not that people don’t buy! They do! There are hard core fans out here. For people, movies are the best source of entertainment here, and for them money doesn’t matter if they decide to watch a movie. We sell the tickets at double the price and get the profit we want. This is how we survive.” When asked if they were scared about the police catching them red handed, this business being illegal, he says, “The police? What will they do? We give them their commission, and they mind their own business. Nobody bothers us.”

Students have their say on black marketers too. Bhanu Kiran, a para medical student says, “Buying tickets in black come handy sometimes, though what they do is illegal and we encourage them more.” Ramya says, “Well, selling tickets in black is bad, but its good when you want to watch a movie you have been waiting for and you don’t find the tickets!”. Karthik says, “Black marketers should be jailed. What they do is not only illegal, but also disadvantageous for the buyers. I would rather not watch the movie at all than buy the tickets in black”. Akhil, a school student says, “I don’t have anything against the black marketers. It is actually cool, when you don’t get tickets, and you still have an option to buy them in black. It is expensive, but I would do anything to watch my favorite movie on the first day.”

Crowd near the ticket counters Credit: silent screamer

Some movies, which have mega star Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan, go for at least a minimum of Rs.600 on the first day of release at local theatres. And they are sold well! Fans buy the tickets even for a 1000 sometimes, just to watch their favorite stars on big screen on the first day of the movie’s release. The youth are the craziest movie maniacs of the lot. For most of them absolutely any movie would do, as far as it passes their time. Maybe selling tickets in black is illegal, but I bet every student has watched a movie in black, at some point in their lives.

The all-time favourites list of comics (books and strips) is quite a long one. With superheroes, animals with intelligence that puts humans to shame and imaginative whiz kids battling it out to reign supreme, the popular ones are Archie’s, Batman, Asterix and Obelix, Spiderman, Tintin (the teen reporter turned 80 this year), X-Men, Calivn and Hobbes, Justice League, Peanuts, The Phantom, Garfield (holds the Guinness World Record of being the most published cartoon strip ever!) and a bazillion others.

Comic strips in newspapers. Credit: www.twentytwowords.com

“I absolutely love Batman. You can’t beat Bruce Wayne and Gotham City is eerily perfect. I love his Batsuit, the Bat-signal and I wish I could visit the Batcave. Everything about the series is great; the comics, the cartoons and the movies. I thought Dark Knight was the best of all the Batman movies. And the first comic I ever bought was a Batman one too.” muses Kiran, an engineering student. The reactions vary from one comic lover to another. Some like the stupendous superheroes, while others prefer to be blown away by the humour. “It’s fun to see how the adventures of a six year old kid (Calvin) and his stuffed tiger (Hobbes) can be so much fun to read. Whether it’s Calvin and his unimaginable imagination or Hobbes, who is surprisingly smarter of the two, the comic strip is the best. Bill Watterson uses his characters incredibly well and touches certain serious issues with an extremely sharp wit.” says Prakash enthusiastically when asked about his favourite comics. “‘Calvin and Hobbes’ is the first thing I read every morning in the paper. And I have a huge collection of its books too.” he adds with pride. What is common to most of the comic lovers though, is the fact that they don’t shy away from admitting their craze for them.

For years Indians relied on the likes of Archie’s and Tintin to fulfill their comic book hunger. Indian comic books were no where to be seen in the picture. But it started to change in the 1960’s and 70’s with comic magazines like Chandamama adapting the Indian epics Rmayana and Mahabharta. And with Anant Pai launching the Amar Chitra Katha series in 1967, the face of Indian comics started changing, but the characters were still mostly mythical and not original.  After a few unsuccessful attempts at original comic books, the revelation came when Pran Kumar Sharma, better known as Pran to the comic lovers, introduced Daabu , Prof. Adhikari, Pinki and the most famous Indian comic characters; Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu. Most of Pran’s comics were published by Diamond comics. The 1980’s saw the birth of the Indian comic book superheroes. Raj comics gave us Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruva, Doga and many others.

India's most famous comic. Credit: www.diamondcomics.tradeindia.com

“Comics bring back wonderful memories from the past. There were many comics that I used to read but my favourites were Chacha Chaudhary, Nagraj and Tinkle. There were a large number of them and each one had a cult following of its own. I used to imagine myself in those situations most of the times and they acted as excellent stress busters. They were also a great topic to talk to friends at school. It’s a little sad to know that not many people are tuned into comics these days. The kids are definitely missing out on a lot of fun.” says Sumant, a twenty-five year old, who still takes time out to read comics.

Comics have always been evolving. Some say their origin could be traced back to the Egyptian hieroglyphics which conveyed the idea with the help of pictures. A majority of the initial comics were based on images. Words weren’t widespread until the word balloon came about. With the emergence of the likes of Underground, Alternative and Graphic comics beside the mainstream ones, comics continued their evolution in America. At the same time, the European (French, British and Italian) and Japanese comics could brag about their own contribution to comics history with their growing popularity. The growing fad of the Japanese comics, popularly known to many as Manga, through out the world is living proof of the popularity of comics even today. Movies and magazines based on Manga are widely sought after. In fact, it is so popular that it has a large number of awards dedicated exclusively to it.

The 1990’s saw the onset of something unique, something that would continue the tradition of comics but would change comic publishing as we knew it. Webcomics had been started and were appearing all over the net. Online comics, as they are also called, were published in websites and could be authored by anyone who had the basic tools. Spreading across different genres, there are close to 18,000 webcomics today. Their popularity, with the online communities and fan bases set up for them, is reaching  new heights. Some of the webcomics are now also being printed and published in newspapers.

The latest movie based on comics. Credit: www.cmax.net

Comic books have always had a history of being adapted by the big screen, with the characters on paper getting flesh and blood. The reason could be lack of ideas on the film maker’s side or the box-office success (because the audience is already well acquainted with the characters) that isn’t quite guaranteed. The last decade has seen a giant rise in the adaptations with the movies being made on multi million dollar budgets with spectacular special effects in place. Some of the successful ones have been Spiderman, Batman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Superman, Transformers and the newly released Watchmen. What is interesting is that each of these movies has various numbers of sequels being made on it.

“I think remaking comics into movies is a great idea. Because for people who have read the comics first, to be able to see their 2D heroes in 3D form is exciting. And if your favourite actor is playing the role, you’ll only like it more ‘cause you can idolize them all the more. I like Hugh Jackman as an actor and him playing Wolverine made the X-MEN series and X-MEN Origins better movies for me. I also enjoyed the Spiderman series.” Says Bharat, who likes to call himself a comic freak. “There is a charm in comics that is exclusive to them, which kids these days are missing out on. Once they realize it, they’ll read the comics before watching the movies. Today TV has taken over and converting comic books into TV shows is a good way of bringing them back into vogue.” adds the comic freak.

Celebrities in comics. Credit: www.artschoolvets.com

Comics seem to have taken another twist in the recent past with celebrities being introduced in them. One of the first stars to be given a comic character of his own was boxer Muhammad Ali, who was pitted against Spiderman in a 1978 edition. While Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran met The Joker and Jay Leno met Spiderman, Princess Diana was teamed with X-Statix. Not to be left behind, the Indians released their biggest stars into the fray. Amitabh Bachchan became Supremo in the ‘Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan’ and Rajnikanth became a special agent in a Tamil comic series. In a country where cricketers are idolized, it was only logical to dedicate comic books to them. As a result, ‘Sunny The Supersleuth’ and ‘Kapil Dev: Adventures of a Cricketer’ were born. The latest celebrities to be comic-ised are the American first couple, Barack and Michelle Obama with Mr. Obama joining hands with Spiderman and Mrs. Obama joining the ‘Female Force’.  “I think it’s an amazing idea to see your favorite celebrities in comic books, especially if you love them the way I do. It’s like a double treat, favourite superhero and favourite hero together. I hope they make a comic character of Hrithik Roshan one day. He’ll make a great superhero.” says Karuna, who wants him to join hands with Superman.

The irony about comics is that they were started to tell stories but have now become a part of the very stories that are being told. For all those people who already are big fans of comic books, it’s known that once you get hooked to them there’s no turning back. They let us take solace in them in a crisis, they let a part of us remain kids no matter how old we get, they let our imagination go wild and they let us enjoy the simple pleasures that are so hard to find. And for all those people who still haven’t gotten a hang of it, go ahead and take the leap. Comics give you freedom like nothing else!

Happy Endings... Credit: www.culturefeast.com

Defined by filmsite.org as “movies that appeal more to the stereotypical interests of women than men and are often romantic comedies, tearjerkers with female characters, Cinderella-like ‘fairy tales’ about finding love, or tales of feminine bonding”, CHICK FLICKS are stories on celluloid where, more often than not, a woman who is positive, cheerful and carefree but unlucky in love eventually ends up meeting a bloke that’ll take her to her destiny of happily-ever-after! These movies are the whole deal. They include romance [obviously!], a strong bond between friends [the good ol’ best friend is slowly giving way to a chic group of buddies], a good dose of mush and laughter and of course the male-lead whose job is to appear in the movie at sporadic moments and make his [eventual] lady love and the audience alike, swoon!!

Love's all around... Credit: www.2movieguys.blogspot.com

“Pretty Woman is my all-time favourite movie. It’s a fairy tale in a lot of ways with Richard Gere being the prince charming that comes into Julia Robert’s life. But I like it more for the transformation she goes through. She always had it in her and just needed a little help to discover who she really was and of course for the happy ending.” gushes Nithya, an under-graduate student. One can be a self-confessed addict of chick flicks or could outright deny watching them, but the truth is we’ve all watched them before and will continue to watch them. They are like the drug that one can’t help but be addicted to or a good book that one just can’t seem to put down. “Everyone wants to find love, a soul mate and chick flicks just confirm our hope of finding that love. Maybe not in a fairy tale-ish manner but in a realistic way. They make me more optimistic about finding love.” adds Nithya. The reasons for watching them could vary from one person to the next, a sudden bout of feeling low or just hanging out with friends to wanting to put a break-up behind or watch just watching them for the pure unadulterated romance without any mystery or action that transports one to an imaginary place.

Chick Flicks! Credit: www.7digital.com

“It has to be When Harry Met Sally.” says Keerthi, a 19-year old when asked about her favourite chick flick. “It’s fascinating to see how the lives of two complete strangers are woven together over a period of time. With the blend of humour and romance in right portions, it’s one of the best feel-good movies that I have seen. At the end of a long day, there’s nothing like a good movie and a tub of ice cream.” she says. Some of the other timeless classics that are extremely popular with movie goers of this genre are Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Dirty Dancing, My Best Friend’s Wedding, A Walk to Remember, Before Sunrise/Before Sunset, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, The Notebook, Love Actually, et cetera, et cetera…the list seems never ending!

Aside from being romantic, exciting and dreamy at times, romantic comedies and chick flicks have also been accused of being “exaggerated and unrealistic portrayals of love which interfere with future relationship functioning” by a research conducted on human behaviour. They give unrealistic expectations to young people about ideas of ‘love-at-first-sight’ and ‘flying sparks’ and the idea of fate and destiny is also made more fanciful and extravagant than it actually is. Another increasing trend found in the recent films of this category is the portrayal of the protagonist as a ‘fashion obsessed-extremely chic-slightly hysterical-size zero’ woman. It does give out the wrong message to teenagers and young people that are highly influenced by movies.

Love them or hate them, a girl’s gotta watch her flicks… Because at the end of the story of every girl, there comes a prince charming and together they go riding into the sun, even if it only for an hour and a half and in a movie. Amen to that!

Jamaal Mallik Junior of Slumdog millionaire. Credit: www.newsline365.com

‘Slumdog millionaire’ is the movie of the year and would be cherished and remembered for the time to come; after all, not all films manage to glide through global competition and be the number one, both in terms of the number of Oscars it grabs and in terms of being the winner of the Big Oscar, for the best Picture of the year. An uncomplicated love-story line and an inspection of the Mumbai- slum life are the key points behind the movie’s making while its success depended immensely on the flawless cinematography, perfect cast, background music, and various other bits and bites that completed it. The cast and crew have just started celebrating their success, and while the producers of the film begin enjoying their dazzling win, the debutante actors of the movie see a bright and brilliant future. With so much seen about this miracle-movie, we at VidYouth set out to find out more about what the youth of Hyderabad have to say about this movie. We caught people at a few popular hangouts and multiplexes just so we get the right general perspective of youngsters about the story of how a slum dog gets to become a crorepati.

Sandhya, aged 19 and a resident of Nallakunta says, “The film was a good one. But certainly it was not the foremost one to portray the culture of Indian slums. After having seen a couple of movies made by Indian directors about the same background storyline, this wasn’t the most excellent of them”.  We agree with you on the point that there were certainly nice pictures made about sad and hazardous life in the Mumbai slums, Traffic Signal for instance. Comparing the two movies, any youngster would say Traffic Signal was the better of the two, for the fact that it was down-to-earth, believable and simple. It wasn’t a mere romance and it highlighted the roles of slum people with much more reality than the actual Oscar Winner. “But the Oscar winner is the Oscar winner. It is wrong on our parts to speak of this movie as a nothing. It wasn’t a great make. It was only a simple film for the simple minds. And that might be the prime reason why it has been liked by so many viewers around the world. The only fact that it was understandable to most people and the point that they could relate to the characters, I guess, was what made the movie so special. It is a favorite of so many people, surely, not for nothing!” says Ritika Jaiswal a student of Arts College, Osmania University.

The Slumdog that becomes a Millionaire... Credit: www.newsline365.com

While hundreds of music lovers and A.R. Rehman fans are going crazy with the news that their idol bagged both the Oscars he was nominated for, they do admit it was a biased nomination. “Of the three songs that were nominated at the Oscars for the ‘best song award’, ‘Jai Ho’ was undoubtedly the ace, but then when judged against Rehman’s past ventures this one is by far not the finest. We loved Lagaan, Bombay, Roja and Taal. Rangeela, Bharateeyudu were great shows. Jeans had far better music. But the surprise comes only with Slumdog Millionaire. Question is why? Is it all because it is an English make? How many of us can honestly state that of all the wonders that Rehman created, this was the one deserving of the most honored award of the film-sphere?” questions Soumya an engineering student, and an ardent Rehman admirer. She insisted that Rehman as a musician deserves an Oscar, but if they had to choose one movie of all his works, at least 20 movies would have been ahead of Slumdog Millionaire.

However, forgetting the music and so-called-‘old’ storyline, we move on to the feeling the movie leaves behind. We asked a few teenagers what is their feeling after watching the movie. “It was a touching story, a sweet love story of how hope and belief rides one past all difficulties,” says Ananya Mithran. “It was a entertaining pastime. But it wasn’t as great a movie as it is being hyped about. I enjoyed watching it once, but I don’t think I will be able to stand it for another time. I’d rate it 3.5 on 5. If it has bagged the Oscars, it might be more because the Westerners cherish the sight of Indian slums and boost their false egos against the real competition Indians are facing them with, in every sphere of life. They are happy imagining India in the slums yet, which is not completely the truth of the case”. That is what Kalyan Ramakrishna thinks.

Whatever might be the opinions now, Slumdog Millionaire has sure made its place in the world film field already. With 8 winning places at the 81st Annual Academy awards, a movie based on Indian life, has made history. Whether it was on a basis of mass appreciation that the movie attracted, its success in portraying dark- reality or just a hyped-about story that made its audiences happy, the movie is the Best Picture of 2008. There is no denying that the effort and work put in by the no-star cast and crew of the production has paid off well with 8 Oscar Awards. Cheers!

The Story Of Indian Cinema... Credit: www.8ate.blogspot.com

BIG is no longer BIGGER. For a movie to be successful at the box-office, for a movie to be talked about by the audience and for a movie to pick up an award or two, it does not have to be a big movie today. The last few years have seen a healthy growth in movies that are fairly low-budgeted and do not boast of star names. Nevertheless, these movies have managed to strike a chord with the audience.

Call them whatever you want, PARALLEL CINEMA [films that are "equally" entertaining as mainstream films while exploring real-life issues and preserving the commercial aspect at the same time] or MULTIPLEX CINEMA [films that generally wouldn’t run at the general theatres for the lack of viewers]…they are here to stay! Something that started off as another way of story telling, cinema has now become an irreplaceable part of the society and the Hindi Film Industry or what we popularly know as Bollywood has been run by “fixed formulae” for quite a while. ‘Historical and Mythological’ movies were popular before the ‘Family Sentiment’ caught up. Then we moved into the ‘Angry Young Man’ phase which eventually led to the ‘Romance Fad’. These formulae ensured that the film-makers went laughing to the bank. There is no denying though that ‘middle-of-the-road’ movies weren’t made in between the out-and-out commercial ones. Movies where the characters were real even if the stories weren’t. Film-makers like Hrishikesh Mujkherjee and Basu Chatterjee made movies which were light-hearted, ahead of their times and heartwarming. Golmaal, Choti Si Baat, Chit Chor, Chashme Buddoor, Anand, Baton Baton Mein, Chupke Chupke are only a few out of the many movies of that time.

Indian Parallel Cinema. Credit: www.hubpages.com

“It is not only the story line but also the music/lyrics that played a major role in the success of these movies, we still remember and hum those numbers.” recalls Mr. Chary, a retired government employee who is not very fond of the present day cinema. The trend of similar movies being made seems to have been returning during the last decade. The movies are no longer only heartening to watch though; some of them deal with hard-hitting realities and the serious issues plaguing the society. The subject of the movies is being experimented with and the film-makers are entering into new genres. These movies deal with questions of identity, individuals searching for answers, deal with issues such as AIDS or have a take on episodes of communal violence or terrorism. Nagesh Kukunoor’s Hyderabad Blues and Rockford and Mira Nair’s The Namesake is about an individual’s coming-of-age. “I like The Namesake for the vibrancy it had about two different cultures and the way in which the American born Indians are in search of their identities” says Keerthi of Badruka College of Commerce. While Parzania, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Aamir, A Wednesday and Mr. and Mrs. Iyer are based on terrorism and communal violence of varied degrees, Onir’s My Brother Nikhil and Revathi’s Phir Milenge deal with AIDS and the awareness that needs to be spread regarding it.

We have our own Hyderabadi films in this genre too. Shekar Kammula’s Dollar Dreams and the very popular The Angrez seem to have made quite an impact!! Where Bheja Fry and Khosla Ka Ghosla are for the most part comedies; Dharam and Water fight religious prejudices. “The subtlety with which the movie depicted the serious issue of land grabbing in Delhi was what I loved the most. The fact that the movie wasn’t a commercial extravaganza and revolved around its strong characters played by less known-but-extremely talented actors was another highlightof the film.” says Prakash, a 2nd year student of Loyola Academy about Khosla Ka Ghosla. Many a reason could be attributed for the growth of these movies.

The ever growing need of the audience for change and an appreciation for work that wasn’t seen before coupled with the money an Average Joe is ready to spend on movies has resulted in the film-makers coming out with films with innovative storylines and the production houses willing to venture into newer pastures [it is not an impossible mission to find distributors for marketing the film these days]. With an industry that started off with small budgeted movies and graduated to the big league where it could not sustain the momentum [to an extent], the return of the small movies show that they are finally home and like the Justin Timberlake song goes…What Goes Around Comes Back Around! ]]> http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/02/22/big-is-no-more-bigger/feed/ 0 http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/02/02/fear-of-the-dark/ http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/02/02/fear-of-the-dark/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:53:29 +0000 Screed Hauteur http://vidyouth.org/?p=258

'Horror' books displayed at a popular bookstore Credit: Screed Hauteur

“Have you ever been alone at night
Thought you heard footsteps behind
And turned around and no ones there?
And as you quicken up your pace
You find it hard to look again
Because your sure theres someone there”
Does that sound familiar?
“Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that someones always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someones always there”

For those of us who’ve realized that Iron Maiden could bring out what, you would have otherwise felt, last night after watching a spine-chilling flick, it certainly meant every word to you.

There are people who fear the unknown. There are people who believe what they see. There are people who believe what they hear. There are people who make belief out of their own insight.But one thing that cant be denied is that all of us believe easily what we fear.
What is fear?  What exactly do we fear? Anoop Prasad,  student of MGIT says,”My biggest fear is death”
“Fear is something that you feel will harm you. We fear loss of our loved ones”  admits Alefiyah Zainuddin a student of the Apollo college of physiotherapy.
Fear is inevitable to mankind.Fear of death, terror, evil, mysticism, future and the unknown are all common to many.
Fear induces anxiety, phobia, terror that eventually embarks into an entirely intimidating genre of  horror.
Today, Horror is a genre which depicts its form through various  fiction writings, movies, music, art and photography.

The month's best selling horror based book Credit: Screed Hauteur

Movies play the most crucial part in delivering this genus even to the far-reached folks. Apparently, the early horror films were based on the classic literature until later when war, death and terror have infused further inspiration into them. Le Manoir du diable (French: The House of the Devil) is said to be the first horror film ever made. It was produced in the 1890s with an introduction of supernatural elements into a 2-minute long silent film. The early 1930s saw a plethora of films in this genre blending them with science fiction, and gothic influences, such as, Dracula (1931),The Mummy (1932), James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933).All of these which were seemingly popularized by the Universal Pictures Co. Inc.The Indian film industry produced its first horror film, Mahal(1949) which was based on reincarnation. The 1950s saw bolder films like the The Incredible Shrinking Man, from Richard Matheson’s novel and the most controversial, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) deals with the horror-of–personality subgenre and left the masses completely petrified.

Then came The Haunting (1963), Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) that saw huge crowds jumping and screaming in the theatres. Soon arrived the box office smash The Exorcist (1973) written by William Peter Blatty, who also wrote the novel. One evident Satanic horror movie was The Omen (1976), also in the 1970s, horror author Stephen King, made his first step into the film scene. His writings were made into scripts for horror movies.

In the 1980s, sequels to the already popular films became a celebrated phenomenon. The Evil Dead (1981), the Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) , also Silent Night, Deadly Night(1984), which was actually withdrawn from distributions as the story was based on a killer Santa Claus. The 1990s bloomed with  Peter Jackson’s Braindead (1992) and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Horror movies soon became a rage and suddenly they were everywhere. Final Destination (2000), The Ring (2002), 28 Days Later (2002) and The Grudge (2004) were all blended with modern age mysticism and science fiction. This genre consisted a new style of aggressive zombie. Wrong Turn (2003) projected cannibalism forthrightly and  gore-nography .The saw series was in the mainstream horror.

This should be creepy ! Credit: my.spill.com

The horror fiction is the first forms of existence of this genre. These writings served as a basis for several films since the 1980s. Often intended to scare the reader just by reading a few disturbing words or sentences, these writings of fiction containing gruesome,  supernatural or unsuspecting elements are termed “horror”. Stephen King, born in 1947, is the best known horror fiction writer. mainly known for his, The Dark Tower Series, most of his works were made into television series or motion pictures . Although they seemed to have less resemblance to the original works, such as The Shining, 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on his novel bearing the same name.

Art is a form of expression. Artists haven’t left the dark art untouched, under the horror, disturbing, nightmarish and gothic influences. Horror art has emerged as a wholly new gradient to the modern art and its popularity has been ever increasing due to the sudden emergence of horror into various forms of digital media. The entire culture has been revolutionized by the horror genre. Hieronymous Bosch, was best known for his gore artwork, based on hell, demons, killings and punishments mostly influenced by surrealism. Horror music doesn’t just limit itself to the background music of horror flicks, it has been blended with gothic, doom and death metal to turn an exorbitant part of the population into metal maniacs ! The genre, itself is said to be addictive for some.

Yet again, it just couldn’t spare the gaming arena! Little Fears,Kult bearing a  tag line, “Death is only the beginning”. All Flesh Must Be Eaten are all creepy enough. Also the movie Silent Hill which was based on a horror game with striking similarity.When we hear of horror photography, our images get straight on the deadly disturbing world. But,it generally settles for models dressed up as vampires or goths taming the norms of the ugly and mysterious.

Why do teenagers like horror films more than adults? “Because adults are occupied with the deadlier realities of life and teens are much into the gore, blood, violence from the movies and shit like that” adds Anoop.

Horror is evolving continuously and intensifying itself rapidly into a powerful genre of newer elements blended with the existing ones.Maybe one fateful day, when you are alone and the silence of the night grips you, a mere noise or a whisper might just leave you screaming  or even worse racing away. ]]> http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/02/02/fear-of-the-dark/feed/ 0