Wanted: thrillers that thrill

Deepa Gahlot

The word 'genre' does not quite apply to Bollywood, since most films fall into two broad categories --- family drama and action. Often, the two are combined into one.

Elements from other genres --- romance, musical, thriller, crime, comedy all fit into these two categories.

Genres like sci-fi, horror, mystery, war, espionage simply do not exist in Bollywood. A good thriller once in a blue moon does not a 'genre' make.

If the hero is chasing terrorists, there must be a personal family-related motive to it.
If he is in love, the whole clan must have a say in the selection of the bride.
If he's out to seek revenge, it will be to redeem a wrong done to his family.

There's just no getting away from the established conventions.

Perhaps that's why Indian filmmakers do not risk the 'unconventional'. Ergo we haven't had too many nail-biting suspense flicks, or thrillers that, well, thrill.

In this respect, two recent releases, directly inspired from Hollywood, were somewhat offbeat. Since the Ramsay Brothers shut shop, we haven't seen an honest-to-goodness spine-chiller, which explains why Vikram Bhatt's Raaz turned out to be a hit.

True, the film is a big screen version of the serials like Aahat and Sssh... Koi Hai seen on Indian television, but as a film it offered novel value.

Raaz got down to business without wasting too much time on the hero and heroine falling in love, going through the rituals of wooing, family approval and all that jazz. The focus is kept mostly on two lead players and the vamp, with supporting characters also involved only in the crisis at hand. Once the story moves to Ooty where the evil spirit is playing havoc, it stays there.

No hysterical Mom, I-know-best-Dad, cute granny or interfering siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, clutter the frame.

Mani Shankar's 16 December, despite its major flaws, comes as close to a Hollywood-style thriller as we can get. Except for the clumsily tacked romance ---because there were two 'models' in the cast who were good-looking and well known enough to be paired --- the plot does not deviate from the main task of nabbing the villain before he nukes Delhi.

None of the characters have families (at least none that one can see). There is a precocious little computer hacker, presumably the kid brother of the Milind Soman character, but he serves a purpose and mercifully, does not get kidnapped. So the hero is not expected to drop everything and go haring off to rescue the brat.

There is a deep friendship and camaraderie between the characters played by Danny Denzongpa, Milind Soman, Dipannita Sharma and Sushant Singh. Except for one romantic number, you always see them at work, never at play.

The girl may serve a minor romantic-decorative purpose, but mostly, she is one of the guys. She is used as bait for the bad guys, but once the role-playing is done, she shoots, kicks, hits as hard and as often as the guys on the team. She is never seen making gooey eyes at kids and telling the hero that it is every woman's dream to set up home and raise kids. In fact it might actually be interesting to see a sequel to 16 December, just to find out if the smart commando marries her colleague and turns into a boring housewife.

The point is whether Indian audiences, at least in the metros, are willing to see genre films and not the something-for-everyone omnibus films that we generally make.

If someone wants to be terrified should that experience be diluted by dream sequence songs in Switzerland?
If someone wants to see a war film, must they also see a family side-show?
If it's a murder mystery they want, should they also have to with a pointless comedy track, and if they want to laugh, should they also contend with large doses of melodrama?

Should a filmmakers be forced to put songs into a taut thriller or crime drama because the audience won't accept it otherwise?

Audiences will have to make their choice some time, or keep getting the same stories told film after film, with just different stars doing the same thing. Is it time now for Bollywood to get out of the rut?

The success of Raaz will undoubtedly trigger off a spate of supernatural thrillers; the not-so-negative response to 16 December might let young, adventurous filmmakers try their hand at thrillers.

The main thing is that at least for the moment, it looks like the stranglehold of stars has been broken. If Salman Khan-Sushmita Sen can't an audience that Bipasha Basu-Dino Morea can, it means the audiences are getting picky.

It's a good sign. Hope the demand for 'different' in the real sense --- not the hatke [offbeat] that every filmmaker boasts of, when all he has done is moved the songs from Switzerland to New Zealand is met.

A good audience is worthy of better films.

Earlier column
E-mail Deepa Gahlot