JOIN USThey remain great flicks
Think of Bollywood in the 1990s and you get swarming images of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol dancing in the Alps in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and shedding tears in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
And Madhuri Dixit’s jhakaas moves in songs like Choli Ke Peeche and Dhak Dhak Karne Laga. Coming to Hollywood, remember the kiddie flicks like Home Alone, Baby’s Day Out and Dunston Checks In? Or romance made eternal by Jack and Rose in Titanic?
But these films are getting older by the day with their prints getting duller in our minds and in reality as well. Not to mention the Gen-Y being too young to even stand straight when these films were released. So are the teenagers of today, aware of the colourful 90s and the plethora of good films that the decade left behind? Yes, say some of them.
Seventeen-year-old Adithya, a student of St Joseph’s, is not a big fan of Hindi films. However, he has seen most of the Hollywood flicks of the 90s like Saving Private Ryan and Home Alone. “I have seen a few famous Hindi films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and DDLJ as well,” he says. However, he prefers the Hindi films of today as they are more “realistic”. “A film like New York, which dealt with terrorism, was quite a good watch,” he informs.
As far as English films are concerned, he feels there has not been much of a change from the 90s to present day. “Their scripts have always been good,” he adds. Tanya, a first year arts student of Mount Carmel College, is a Shah Rukh Khan fan.
“I don’t know a lot about the films of the 90s as I have not seen all of the popular ones. But I have seen most of Shah Rukh’s films,” she exclaims. “The quality of the films today has gone down. Though the older films used to look silly at times due to the larger-than-life song and dance sequences, they used to be much better. There was less exposure as well.”
Nandini, a first year student of biotechnology at St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, is a huge movie-buff. Despite being just four years old when DDLJ released, Nandini vividly remembers watching it in the theatre. “Even now, I keep watching DDLJ whenever it airs on TV,” she laughs. “I have seen most hits of the 90s like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Dil To Pagal Hai. They were such fantastic movies.”
Her other favourites are Baazigar, Gupt and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai to name a few. Nandini has even seen older films of the 70s like Bobby and Sholay. She feels the movies of the 90s were way better than the films of today. “Today’s movies have a lot of vulgarity. You can’t watch any of them with your family.”
She adds, “The romance of the olden day films was so pure and nice. The sanctity of the movies remained. For instance, compare the Basanti of Sholay with today’s actresses, you will realise that today’s desi girl can’t even wear a sari with a complete blouse,” she laments. “Overall, Bollywood has just reached a state where vulgarity has to be used to
pull in the audiences,” she sums up.