Wanted! New Storytellers!

Perhaps I am a late lateef (compared to D-Beta!). Off late, I seem to note new ways of story telling in Bollywood. Think RDB, Lagaan, Dor, Black Friday just as a sample. This past week, I saw life in a Metro, a story with five parallel stories. Not something earth shattering in film making…but if you have seen one too many desi phillums, you’ll know what I mean. It is as though the new generation of Indian filmmakers have discovered the usefulness of ensemble casts, meaningful music (not the ones with nasal voices singing to some techno-crap!). Or maybe the industry is waking up to the latent talent that existed…and is realizing the need to move beyond the usual run-around-the-trees-drench-in-the-rain-sick mother-abandoned son-dishoom-dishoom formula. The movie was refreshing (in a limited sort of way), and the songs were good (although I have heard that some tunes were topo-ed , not surprising!). The entire movie had a new and familiar way of presenting romance and having eye-candy (Shiny, Sharman, Irfan, Kay Kay Menon…) was a bonus. Still, it left something to be desired. I am baffled by the need to make love stories sappy and so predictable. How can a director who seems to take a risk to portray sexuality in older adults, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, rampant adultery not make a feminist statement? If happy endings are all that matter in love stories, how is that a married woman stuck in a love-less marriage only seems to have one choice in Indian cinema – go back to the controlling, emotional abusive husband? What explains this unwillingness to look our patriarchy in the eye? Family values? Wholesome entertainment?