Bollywood:Slick, Sensible and Sensitive

A friend of mine asked why the Indian cinema of the 1990's was candyfloss, regressive, even retro-active. I don't think so. I think Indian cinema has always been soft-focus, melodramatic and feel-good. Every era has had its share of gloss. Was Dil Deke Dekho, made in 1959,not about young people having a rocking time? Was Waqt, made in 1965, not about fast cars and fast women?

The anti-establishment movies were cathartic for us, an outlet, an avenue of expressing our inner demons. What do we rebel against? We have nothing to complain about or battle against.

I don't think young people today are any different from what my father was when he was growing up. This is an impressionable age in every generation, and the big issues are always the same:you want to educate yourself, be in a good marriage, bring up your children well, get ahead in life. Whatever the era, the aspirations of the age are a constant Which is why you will always find some eternal values:good will always triumph over evil, hard work will win over obstacles, and youth will always bow down before age, but on its own terms.

What is remarkable about our generation, i think, is that we don't tolerate the vulgarity. I am sure these cheap music videos are consumed mostly by the under-15s with raging hormones or the over-40 leches with their underused libidos. The 18-35-year -olds are too busy making a life for themselves to stand and stare. And stare. You see it in those who define entertainment as well as those who consume it

What makes me tick now? Well, I think it's because our generation are neither idiots nor geniuses. I assume young people want to be entertained for three hours and at the end of it, want to think for 10 minutes. It could be about anything. Their families, their nation, their own lives.