BOLLYWOOD TRENDS IN 2017

BOLLYWOOD TRENDS IN 2017

This year Bollywood has released several movies on box office with a personal story. It is interesting to take a look at them and find out the latest trend going in Bollywood. The year 2017 is known for the year of Post Demonetization pangs, Confusion over GST and the sad demise of Om Puri, Shashi Kapoor and Reema Lagu. As we grow with experience and knowledge it is worth taking a holistic view at Bollywood films as it makes the fortunes of many.

This year Bollywood had given many films with new themes which were untapped so far. Lets take a look at film one by one.

Newton   - A government clerk on election duty in the conflict ridden jungle of Central India tries his best to conduct free and fair voting despite the apathy of security forces and the looming fear of guerrilla attacks by communist rebels. This film was a creative attempt by Director Amit Masurkar.  Main role is played by Rajkummar Rao leaves a lasting impression on audience. This film is a tale of a honest and hardworking government servant. We can call it a story of a common man.

According to ND TV , Newton Box Office Collection was Rs. 17.59 Crore, it was not a big hit on box office but it was a success. Newton is India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.   In an exclusive interview to Firstpost, Rajkummar Rao had said that his latest film, Amit V Masurkar's black comedy Newton is redolent of "apne desh ki mitti ki khushbu". What he was alluding to was that the film not only addresses the issues of the lower strata of society, it also demonstrates how crucial it is.

Hindi Medium - A couple from Chandni Chowk aspires to give their daughter the best education and thus be a part of and accepted by the elite of Delhi.  The veteran Director Saket Chaudhary has made this film which stars Irrfan Khan, Neha Dhupia, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal. It is worth noting the typical attitude of school towards students and the attempt of parents to supersede it.ROHIT BHATNAGAR from THE ASIAN AGE writes, Hindi Medium movie review: It is not a film, it's an experience! Hindi Medium movie review: Irrfan Khan delivers a fine performance in this film which puts the difference between Bharat and India in sharp focus. Pakistani actor Saba Qamar gets some moments too. Indian Express writes, “Hindi Medium’ box-office collection: Irrfan Khan's film inches towards 60-crore mark”

Sachin (2017 Documentary) - It is a bio-pic on Sachin, who is the most celebrated sportsperson in his country.  Director James Erskine made it with sports persons like Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mayur More, Mayuresh Pem. This film did not well on Box office. The Guardian gave a headline “Sachin: A Billion Dreams review – love letter to cricket's sultan of swing”. This docu-drama  released on 26 May, 2017 completes three weeks at the box office.

The Ghazi Attack (2017) - Director: Sankalp Reddy Who came up with a proved formula of a war film. A Pakistani submarine, Ghazi plans to secretly attack Vizag port. It’s a 116 minute drama film.Critics read it as a ,”underwater thriller is worth a watch for sure. It leaves you in awe of the soldiers, who lay their lives for their country.”  Times of India catagorially mentioned in their review, ‘ The Ghazi Attack has a riveting story and good performances from Rana Daggubati, Atul Kulkarni, Kay Kay Menon. It lacks perfection in terms of its visual appeal.’ This February release did performed average on box office.   

Secret Superstar (2017)  -A 14 year-old from Vadodara who dreams of being a singer one day. It is the dream project of Director Advait Chandan, film Stars: Zaira Wasim, Meher Vij, Raj Arjun, Tirth Sharma.   

Very interesting and different story of a young Muslim girl, aspires to become a singer but faces restrictions from her conservative father. She happens to cross paths with a musician, which unfolds into an exciting journey. It is a October release and had a 15cr budget film. It became the 10th-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2017

Trapped (2017)  A man gets stuck in an empty high rise without food, water or electricity. (105 mins.)Director: Vikramaditya Motwane Stars: Rajkummar Rao, Geetanjali Thapa, Shiladitya Sen, Rahul Patel. It is a daily life situation when one is trapped in his own apartment and fights for his survival. This films shows the loneliness of life. It truly portrays the empty landscape of city. It is a novel attempt by director.

Mom (2017)  A tale of how far a mother will go for the sake of her children. (146 mins.) Director: Ravi Udyawar Stars: Sridevi, Akshaye Khanna, Adnan Siddiqui, Sajal Ali. It is a thriller film directed by Ravi Udyawar.   Sridevi a biology teacher’s family life in Delhi is shattered when her daughter, Arya (Sajal Ali) is physically assaulted by Jagan (Abhimanyu Singh) and gang. It is a story of mother who fights for revenge.

Jolly LLB 2 (2017)  Jolly who is a clumsy lawyer who represents the most critical court case of his career. Director: Subhash Kapoor Stars: Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Saurabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor 'Jolly LLB 2' has witnessed a good run at the box-office . The film collected around Rs 8.25 crore in its third week taking the total to Rs 105 crore since its release on February 10 ahead of the Valentine's Day week, as reported by Boxofficeindia.com. This film portrays the judicial system in most unbiased way. This film offers a ray of hope to many.

Running Shaadi (2017) - Two friends, Ram Bharose and tech genius Cyberjeet, create a website that helps lovers to elope. The site is an instant hit; young couples line up for the opportunity to escape strict families and run away with the ones they love. Director: Amit Roy Stars: Arsh Bajwa, Tapsee Pannu, Richa Meena, Amit Sadh. This is yet another run of the mill film where the story and plot has nothing much to offer or entice us with screen.

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017)  In this remake of Kalyana Samayal Saadham, a couple fall in love but then the groom discovers that he suffers from erectile dysfunction. Director: R.S. Prasanna Stars: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Brijendra Kala, Seema Bhargava. RS Prasanna and his typical style where he refuses to give space to the side characters; the film has a valuable message against superstitions and old beliefs.  It  to tickles one's funny bone for a good 105 minutes.

Raees (2017)  A bootlegger sets out to improve his community as a promising leader but falls in a political trap. Director: Rahul Dholakia  Raees is not a biopic, but it is based generously on the life, rise and death of Abdul Lateef up to a point. You can read Shah Rukh Khan as the Indian Pablo Escobar. It is one of the most successful film which stars SRK Sunny Leoni iteam song and much more crime drama.

Kaabil (2017)  A blind man seeks revenge against a corrupt politician and his brother after his wife is raped and killed.  Director: Sanjay Gupta Stars: Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy, Rohit Roy It is one of the most interesting Bollywood thriller drama film. I find no reason why this film didn’t work.

Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016).  Film sets in the crowded by-lanes of small town India, Lipstick Under My Burkha chronicles the secret lives of four women in search of a little freedom. Director: Alankrita Shrivastava Stars: Aahana Kumra, Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Plabita Borthakur. Lipstick Under My Burkha Story narrates four ordinary women, inflicted by silly societal norms, have to steal, lie, cheat and hide in order to lead the lives that they rightfully deserve. ​It had no great future on box office but this film has certainly made a new beginning for Bollywood films on women. I am happy to see the change happening in Bollywood films.

Indu Sarkar (2017)  Indu Sarkar is set during the emergency period between 1975 to 1977 declared by Prime Minister Indra Gandhi.  Director: Madhur Bhandarkar Stars: Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Rashmi Jha It has a confused narrative and melodrama that dethrones the attempt to champion the cause of democracy. It would have been a great film if it could focus on more issues then people.

Naam Shabana (2017)  This Spin-off from Baby (2015) provides the back-story of intelligence agent Shabana, and chronicles how she becomes a spy. Director: Shivam Nair Stars: Tapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpayee, Taher Shabbir. Director acknowledges a woman’s ability to unmake a man. It is a woman-centric roles is definitely growing. Naam Shabana, a prequel to the 2015 film Baby of Neeraj Pandey this time joins hands with director Shivam Nair and breaks through the ordeal of sexism and prejudice that women often get subjected to. The Hindu - ‘Naam Shabana’ might be about a woman spy fighting her way past many villains but the film rests on and reflects a male world-view.

Haraamkhor (2017)  it is an old film releaed in 2017, An unlikely love triangle unfolds when married professor, Shyam, has an illicit affair with his student, Sandhya, who in turn is trying to be wooed by her classmate Kamal. Haraamkhor is a prohibited love story witnessed by two adolescents. Director: Shlok Sharma Stars: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shweta Tripathi, Trimala Adhikari, Irfan Khan

Simran (2017)  A socially criticized girl who is financially cornered, becomes an outlaw to dodge the situation. (124 mins.) Director: Hansal Mehta Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Sohum Shah, Esha Tewari, Jason Louder The role of Kangana is much similar to her roles offered in other films.

Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017)  Badrinath Bansal from Jhansi and Vaidehi Trivedi from Kota belong to small towns but have diametrically opposite opinions on everything. This leads to a clash of ideologies, despite both of them recognizing the goodness in each other.   Director: Shashank Khaitan Stars: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Sahil Vaid, Swanand Kirkire. The film portrayed the traditional north atmosphere, love and affection towards parents. The growth within a charcter of Badri  Varun Dhavan  has successfully portrayed the socio-psychological change in male chauvinistic to humanistic character in this film. The role scripted for Alia Bhatt has also given her a space to showcase her role as a daughter, girlfriend and most importantly the independent women in male basin. The chaste dialogues of the film and songs made this film a great hit. The success of this film showcases the changing trends in India.

Baadshaho (2017) An Indian queen asks her bodyguard to steal back gold taken from her by the Indian government during The Emergency period in 1975. Director: Milan Luthria Stars: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz, Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta. The veteran director of Bollywood had made this film. What we see is the period of post independence and emergency. The different characters showcase the post independence India and the uncertainty of faith, life and love.

Phillauri (2017) - A man must marry a tree to ward off threats to his love-life, but the tree turns out to have more spirit than the man bargained for. Director: Anshai Lal Stars: Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma, It is a good attempt to narrate a love story. It is did not do well on box office but it made a ground for experimental films.

Rangoon (2017) -  A love triangle forms against the backdrop of the Second World War. Director: Vishal Bhardwaj Stars: Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan, Richard McCabe. It is one of the big budget and successful film of the year. It showcases the Indian freedom struggle with Subhash Chandra Bose Mukti Sena.

Meri Pyaari Bindu (2017)  A successful writer Abhimanyu Roy, stuck with writers block, returns to his roots to write an old-fashioned love story. Director: Akshay Roy Stars: Ayushmann Khurrana, Parineeti Chopra, Prakash Belawadi, Kharaj Mukherjee. We can call it a period love story. It had a very bad box office fortune. The story and plot deals with the ordinary life situations, the audience has started apprecieating the real life characters and situations then the reel life much hyped stars.

Begum Jaan (2017) The story of eleven prostitutes who refuse to part ways with their brothel and each other during the partition between India and Pakistan. Director: Srijit Mukherji Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Pallavi Sharda. The film sets in the period of partition days. The common fate of 11 prostitutes and the lost glory of undivided India is portrayed in the film.

Commando 2 (2017)  - A man uses his combat skills to eradicate black money, which has been siphoned to banks abroad. Director: Deven Bhojani Stars: Vidyut Jammwal, Adah Sharma, Esha Gupta, Freddy Daruwala It is a typical action film of Bollywood with a Vidyut Jammwal. The no logic and no action film did do not well on box office.

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha movie is film talks about the bad hygine habbits of Indian villages. The bride leaves the groom for not having toilet in house. The groom not only builds a toilet but also promotes the good habit of building a toilet in side house.

Jab Harry Met Sejal stars: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Aru Krishansh Verma, Chandan Roy Sanyal Director:  Imtiaz Ali has brought the same old wine in new bottle, if we track his old films like Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met, Rockstar, Highway, Tamasha, it is a new film with an old story.  It is a time to fling and not love. Film liberally talks on love and emotions without any link or depth of reality.

Mubarakan -   Director: Anees Bazmee A senceless comedy of the era of 90s comedy films with a characters who wear colourful clothes and has no reason worry. They smile smile and smile for no reason. It is much rotten concept of 90s. It is been releated with a big budget and technology but it is failed on box office.

Jagga Jasoos  Director: Anurag Basu Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Sayani Gupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Sayani Gupta, Saurabh Shukla, Saravjeet Tewari. It is a funny and comedy film which is more like a musical but did not do well on boxoffice.It is a film which we can compare with Barfi which was more of a tourism film, which made to be a  psychological thriller but turned into comedy.

 G Kutta Se Director: Rahul Dahiya Cast: Rajveer Singh, Neha Chauhan, Nitin Pandit, Rashmi Somvanshi, Vibha Tyagi a Haryanvi film deals with the grass root isses affecting law and women.

Daddy movie review Arjun Rampal, it seems, had a creative itch to play a real-life don who is still living — an exciting and daunting task for the best of thespians. Director: Ashim Ahluwalia Cast: Arjun Gawli, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nishikant Kamat, Anand Ingale, Rajesh Shringarpure
Daddy is a real life Mumbai gangsar’s real life based film. It is a period drama.

Fukrey Returns  Director: Mrighdeep Singh Lamba  Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Richa Chaddha, Rajiv Gupta, Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Manjot Singh, Priya Anand, Vishakha Singh.It is a Delhi youth story of love crime and struggle of life.

Tumhari Sulu  Director: Suresh Triveni  Cast: Vidya Balan, Manav Kaul, Neha Dhupia, Vijay Maurya, Abhishek Sharma This film talks about the life of a middle class married women. The otherwise near life story decorated with songs and plot makes a stage for new Bollywood films and a challenge to scriptwriters.

Ajji  Director: Devanish Makhija Cast: Shushma Deshpande, Smita Tambe, Sharvani Suryavanshi, Sadiya Siddiqui, Abhishek Banerjee, Shreyas Pandit, Vikas Kumar. It is a fight of an old women against injustice, this film is adopted from a Marathi short film. This is a positive example for Bollywood which adopts the shortfilms to feature films.  

S Durga  film  shows a face of India that’s neither susheel, nor sundar, nor sanskari.

Director: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan  Cast: Rajshri Deshpande, Kannan Nayar, Sujeesh KS, Baiju Netto, Arun Sol, Vedh, Bilas Nair, Nistar Ahamed, Sujith Koyikkal, Vishnu Jith It is directors  third film, was shot in one night without a screenplay or a written story.  This film is honoured and celebrated at international festivals more than any other Indian film

Here’s a list of international awards S Durga has won till now:

1.       Hivos Tiger Award for best feature film at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Netherlands  

2.       Golden Apricot for best feature film in Yerevan, Armenia

3.       Best international feature in Guanajuato, Mexico

4.       Best feature film in the Geneva International Film Festival

5.       Asia Pacific Screen Awards nomination for best director

6.       Young jury award for best film in Pesaro International Film Festival, Italy

7.       Special jury award for music & direction in Cinemajove, Valencia, Spain

8.       Jury award for best cinematography, Zerkalo, Tarkovsky Film Festival, Russia

9.       Special jury mention at MAMI (Mumbai Film Festival)

Ittefaq Director: Abhay Chopra  Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha
It is a typical Whodunnits film. It will be a good example for me to explain the students of film scriptwriting but it is not sufficient for large screen.

Qarib Qarib Singlle  Director: Tanuja Chandra  Cast: Irrfan Khan, Parvathy . This film talks about love and relationships. Director and writer Tanuja Chandra takes on two 35-plus adults and walks them through the A, B, C of life, love, and love for life. This film makes think about life, choices we make, love and romance.

Tubelight Director: Kabir Khan Salman Khan  Cast: Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Om Puri, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Yashpal Sharma, Zhu Zhu, Matin Rey Tangu, Brijendra Kala. This is a film where Salman khan has played dense and dumb by wearing hand-knitted sweaters over shirts buttoned to the hilt. Audience somehow has not digested him in this film. This film deals with humanity and love.

Sarkar 3 Director: Ram Gopal Varma  Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Amit Sadh, Jackie Shroff, Manoj Bajpayee, Ronit Roy, Yami Gautam, Rohini Hattangari. The director takes audience on ride.  this 3rd film in triology which was earlier compared with Godfather trilogy is failed miserably on box-office.Director need to rethink on setting and changing times and climes. Godfather triology need to studied deeply to make the trilogy of Sarkar 3.

Baahubali 2  - Director: S.S. Rajamouli Cast:  Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar
 A typical south Indian film with big budget and amusement is much appreciated by children across India.

Dangal - Director: Nitesh Tiwari Cast: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar, Aparshakti Khurana, Ritwik Sahore Dangal, a feminist tale in a familial, patriarchal setting, sticks to the real story to the extent possible for an interesting screenplay. This film is based upon real life Indian player’s life. This film has made business in India and across globe. 

Moh Maya Money  Director: Munish Bhardwaj Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Neha Dhupia, Vidushi Mehra. It is a great film which deals with midlife crisis. It subtly deals with the egos and aspirations of individuals with they are married. It is most underrated film but it made mark on global canvas about the talent of Indian film makers.

Dear Zindagi  Director: Gauri Shinde Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Ali Zafar, Kunal Kapoor, Ira Dubey, Yashaswini Dayama, Rohit Saraf, Angad Bedi, Aditya Roy Kapoor. This film is deals with the real life of a character which has resemblance with the director of the film. The other wise funny film teaches us a lesson of life.

The various film which released in 2017 has made certain benchmarks for Bollywood films. The year 2017 was full of political, technological, financial and psychological upheavals. The year started with demonetization, then comes the GST and its regulation problems, cash crunch, Liquor Ban, Tax Reforms, Digital Economy and its aftereffects.

Bollywood showcased more films based on real life character. We can call these films as docu-drama but they had typical Bollywood tint. This year audience preferred the films based on reality, subject and the handling of characters. The Big budget films did not do well. The small budget films made their fortune. We can certainly call this year as a nostalgic year, as we have 3 films directly talks on partition and other 3 films talks on patriotism. This year we had films which focused more on every day character portrayed on screen than the typical Bollywood films which showcase filmy hero and filmy heroine. A thread of secularism I find in Bollywood 2017 film as compared to earlier.   I am sure you must have watched some of the films and will surely watch rest of them soon.