The history and the importance of character in Bollywood

While watching reruns of some cult Bollywood films, a thought occurred to me. That how interesting and well crafted characters, more than anything else in those films, have always fascinated the Indian audience and perhaps those characters were the single most important factor in ensuring success and their following even till now. If I think about many cult Hindi films starting from the 50’s, I see a common thread wherein an interesting and an identifiable character- reflecting the times- had always been at the center of those films’ success; when I say success, I mean either box office or critical, and many a times, it was both.

The newly independent India of the 50’s, a nation not only recovering from the bruises of partition & the long colonial rule but also facing many problems- economic and otherwise-, found echo with such characters as sensitive poet Vijay (played by Guru Dutt in the film Pyaasa) or with Devdas (played by Dilip Kumar in the film Devdas). Both characters are love-lorn, misunderstood and also doomed, but both were immensely loved by the audiences for the same reasons; the intensity of these characters and also for some sort of identification with such fatalistic characters. This brilliantly worded song by Sahir Ludhianvi, from the film Pyaasa, captures the ethos of one such character. Other notable examples of this period where the character dominated: The character of Nargis in Mother India and the affable and the Chaplinesque Raj Kapoor in many of his films.

Characters started changing in the 60’s. The yahoo times were there. Happy go lucky/debonair characters, played by the likes of Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor and later by Joy Mukherjee/Rajesh Khanna etc, had now also started finding their way into the cinegoers hearts. Again, success of these characters came from the changing times. India was more confident now and things were looking more positive, romantic and colorful; epitomized by the both confident and cheerful Shammi Kapoor in this song or by the darling of the masses, Rajesh Khanna, in this song.

The brooding angry young man character, created by the writer duo of Salim Javed and played perfectly to the tee by Amitabh Bachchan in many of his films, was definitely the main highlight of the 70’s. This time, the character was more of an answer to the problems of those times. The dreams of independence and the India of Gandhi and Nehru seemed to have gone haywire by now. Hence, this angry young man, taking on the system directly, found huge support and resonance from the audiences across India. Almost all the films given by this team, most notably Deewar, Zanjeer, Trishul, Kaala Pathar and Shakti, had one thing in common. An Intense, brooding and vindictive Bachchan’s character; angry with the demons both within & outside his world and taking on the system single-handedly. While I watch those famous AB movies, I realize that even though the stories were nothing exceptional and the plots of these films had many loopholes, the films still worked, both with the masses and the classes, primarily on the strength of the characters written and on the persona of Amitabh Bachchan who played these similar characters so well. The biggest cult film of Bollywood till date, Sholay, would not have even succeeded half without it’s extremely well written and realized characters of Jai, Veeru, Thakur, Basanti and the ultimate Gabbar Singh! Even when we talk of films of more realistic and less commercial directors of those times, such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, a strong and an interesting character was always the highlight of their more successful films and perhaps the main reason why the films worked so well. Most notable examples: The characters of Rajesh Khanna in Anand and in Bawarchi or the character of Amitabh Bachhan in Mili or even the character of Utpal Dutt in the best Hindi comedy film of all time, Golmaal.

I think that the 80’s were the lowest and even the most chaotic times in Hindi cinema; coinciding, again, with the turbulent- political and otherwise- situation in the country during that period. The mainstream films had become very hackneyed, nonsensical and the so-called Hindi parallel cinema movement ended before it really started. I personally believe that, apart from some other reasons, one major reason that the Hindi cinema mostly failed during the 80’s was because that decade was unable to give us Indian audience a lovable or an interesting character. Of course there were few exceptions such as the character of Mogambo played by Amrish Puri in one of the very few cult films of the 80’s, Mr India, but for the most part we had no real character to adore in that period.

The period from the mid-90’s till the present one, again, had mostly those films do really well which had an interesting character at the heart of the story; a character which also reflected the moods and aspirations of current generation. Perhaps the most successful film of Bollywood till date, DDLJ released in 1995, caught the imagination of millions through the character of Raj played very well by Shah Rukh Khan. Raj is a cool, naughty (even bit dishonest) and also a commitment phobic flirtatious urban youth; but, in the end, an immensely lovable character who instantly connected with the youth of India. Similar characters were the backbone of quite a few cult films after that; the character of Aamir Khan in another cult film DCH or the character of Saif Ali Khan in Hum Tum. These so-called confident & metrosexual characters once again coincided, or perhaps even collided, with the resurgent Indian economy, more stable social/political environment in the country and with the more optimistic and resourceful middle/upper middle class now. Quite a few other very successful films of present times also had a strong and an interesting character at the core of films’ strong appeal, even if that character was not your metrosexual Raj/Rahul. Most notable examples: Munnabhai character played by Sanjay Dutt or the character of Bhiku Matre, played by Manoj Bajpai, in the film Satya or even the character of Kabir Khan played by SRK in Chak de India.

Therefore, as I tried to analyze above, Bollywood audiences have always loved to see a character which they can relate to or/and idolize. They might ignore an average story or even some loopholes in the plot, but if you give them a well written strong character/s in the film, they will most likely lap up the film. I often wonder what’s the reason for this fascination with the character. Is it because they sort of identify themselves with these characters or it’s because they aspire to be those characters? Or, as I suspect, it’s the complex dynamics of interplay between both these forces and even more.

P.S. Even though I believe that character has ruled more than the story or the plot in Bollywood, my analysis above is of course an oversimplification. The complex and the ever changing world of film storytelling, and especially Bollywood, cannot be simply seen from the prism of character alone. I also agree that there are quite a few examples in Hindi cinema where the story or the treatment worked more than anything else.