The ‘Unsung Hero Brand’ of Hindi cinema

Indian Cinema has been entertaining billions across the globe for over a century. The content mix is unique with the dramatization, the songs around trees, the melodious music numbers, or the chocolate faced macho hero making mincemeat of all baddies. Nothing relatable, or believable in real life, but reel life still blooms and the makers prosper. Under 10% of the more than 1000 feature films made in a year make money, making it no less than a gamble. Still Bollywood films makes our passions and spirits rise, and makes us forget the daily troubles of life.

That’s the power of storytelling. So, what makes a great film? Is it the makers, i.e. the Banners or the Producers, is it the leading star cast, or the story or the script, or the melodious music? Or an optimal amalgam of these qualities?

No one knows the answers, and hence movie making is a bit of an enigma, a mystery. As they say filmmaking is a bag of many right answers, hence it is important for the Director to know the right time for the relevant audience. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was one such director. Hrishi da, made films that few could make, made films with the simplicity that few could make, made them with actors who were difficult and non-punctual, and made them as per schedule without much fanfare.

His movies Anand, Anupama, Bawarchi, Abhiman, Gol Maal, and many others were simple hard-hitting stories delivered in an effortless way for the viewers to deeply engage. Hrishi da like Bimal Roy would always say that the weakest character on any film is the lead star. It is the characters around him that make him popular. So its important to write powerful characters and get the most versatile actors to play those characters. The story, the screenplay and editing were important and each successful film would always have a message and this compelling message would do the promotions via word of mouth. This kind of promotion made it believable and also very potent. Now use this scan to dissect all films and you will realize how powerless the Hero or Heroine was.

Amol Palekar. The original aam aadmi created by Basu Chatterjee in Rajinigandha and Choti si Baat, and Hrishi da in Gol Maal. Another unsung great who could not sustain the star system despite being relatable, and talented.

Can you imagine “Padosan” without Kishore Kumar ? He with his team of Mukri, Raj Kishor and Keshto was the soul, the of the film in which Sunil Dutt was the hero. It took a great maker like Mehmood to act in the film and play second fiddle and loose in the song competition. Mehmood sahab was a genius in understanding the underdog.

Take out Om Prakash in the multi starrer “Chupke Chupke” and the film falls flat despite the mega stars in the film. That’s the power of a supporting actor and he is always the unsung hero that makes the film. Johny Walker had 2 scenes in the film “Anand”. His character ‘Jayantilal” is unforgettable. Particulrly, the last scene when he gets to know of the Hero’s illness and he screams “ Main Pardah nahi girne doonga dost”. These brief scenes make a film memorable and the character unforgettable for life.

The film with the maximum unforgettable unsung heroes of course is “Sholay”. We cannot even omit “Kalia” from the film. The Englishman Jailor, the dubious informer in Keshto Mukerjee, the father and son duo of AK Hangal and Sachin, we still remember the lines of all these characters and that what made “Sholay” the epic it became.
How can I forget the learned Kader Khan sahab. Few know of his all-round mastery as it was always masked. He loved being the low-profile silent achiever, as he had command over the content and the delivery. He was the screenplay writer of most of the Amitabh Bachan’s superhits in the eighties and nineties. Lawaris, Naseeb, Agneepath, Satta pe Satta, Taqdeerwaala , Coolie to name a few of his creations. People would know of him as supporting side kick to create a few laughs for the Hero, but in reality, he was the hero.

Farida jalal, Jeevan sahab, Rajendranath, Rehman, Iftikhar, Jagdish Raj were all silent achievers and need to be commended.
Then the duo of Shakti Kapoor and Aruna Irani did the magic for many Govinda hits but never got the kudos.

My last and greatest “Unsung Hero” of Hindi Cinema is “Anand Bakshi sahab” The lyricist who penned around 6000 songs in about 300 films. Few can match that. He was nominated around 14 times for the Filmfare awards and won 8 if I am right, but never won a national award. To win a national award you need to have a” Halo” around you which a Sahir sahab or a Gulzar sahab had or even a “Shailendra had….and that it is shade of arrogance or a trait to play tough to get. Bakshi sahab had none of those as he would deliver the song before his deadline and this was not a trait valued in the non logical, make believe film fraternity. Take out Bakshi sahab’s body of work, with RD (Pancham), Kishore da, Rajesh Khanna and you will erase the most well written melodious time in Bollywood history.
There are many more unsung heroes; but visualize the films without these select few mentioned above, and the films will be deaf, dumb and blind.

So next time you watch a Bollywood thriller on screen remember the characters around the leading ones and you will realise the power of the backroom boys, and raise a cheer for the unsung heroes.

The author of this piece is Gopinath Menon a Writer, Traveller & Seeker.