With a lot of time on my hands these days, I decided to check on some of the movies of 2009 that I had missed out on. So in the span of 3 weeks, I checked out on a lot of different ones, some absolutely appealing, some dull and the rest, well, I didn’t bother to watch after the initial 5 minutes. Of the whole bunch, there were three movies; The Blind Side, Julie and Julia and An Education; that I thought were remarkable in every sense. Interestingly all three are stories of real people and has the protagonist as a woman with each one scoring an academy award nomination. These characters have again, like their predecessors showcased how soaring woman can get to change perhaps one life and how their words can take you an extra mile. Amazing isn’t, how movies open you to these ‘global women’, whom perhaps you have never heard of until you’ve watched their true lives unfold through cinema, and end up googling or reading their blogs to sense their moments of life.
I can’t help jotting down a word of criticism regarding our Indian cinema. Aren’t we done romancing with the age old fairy tales? Where are the stories of those survivors who have walked out of the flames and have enriched their lives for others to awe upon? Other than for the somber Madhur Bhandakar movies, the year-end Aamir Khan splendors and works of a few other gifted filmmakers, we have a long way to dig out those special tales of special people.
Every movie had an incredibly audacious hero by the names Raj/Rohit/Aman/Rahul/Vijay (sometimes with a sidekick called Mitto or Bittu or Chintu) who had fallen in love with the gracious Pooja/Tina/Priya/Sapna, with one of them from a super rich clan and the other clamped in poverty. The plot usually works out on how the couple fights on tirelessly till the end against the tyrants with wild names like Rocky/Tiger/Vicky/Robert and with the inclusion of the infamous dialogue from the lead female “Mujhe Bacha Lo!” every time the villains eye her. Oh and how could I go past without a mention on the sizzling songs where the lovebirds run around (yet managing to get the music notes a 10 on 10) with a 100 or something dancers out of nowhere amidst the rain, snow and the ‘holy smoke’. 
Ok, I quit with the mockery but I simply cannot help it. Today bollywood in its utmost glorified version has a mass appeal all over and I wonder what has happened to the world. Movies that kill me are the ones with huge numbers rolling by their side and the ones that I get impressed with turn out to be among the lowest of the lowest in the box office. Inspite of being a part of today’s Gen-X, I find appeal in watching the wonders of Nasseruddin Shah and Om Puri and off late Paresh Rawal. Why are filmmakers so hesitant to portray the messages that are important in the real world? And why do actors go on signing such blunt movies that makes you want to throw a brick at them? Movies like Parzania, A Wednesday, Road to Sangam make it to the limelight once in a blue moon and yet are over shadowed by the supercilious and glamour-obsessed film industry and its audiences.
