A trip down Masala Lane
iView Author: Ratnakar Sadasyula (Bhubaneshwar, India)
Email: ratnakar.techie [at] gmail [dot] com
A trip down Masala Lane
I am one of those who grew up on a steady diet of 70’s, 80’s and 90’s masala movies. Even to date, i have no compunctions in sitting through a good old masala flick on TV. Yeah even some of the torture series ones, just for the campy fun. I was one of those movie goers, who thronged the single screen theaters, standing in the queue, jostling for tickets, watching movies in theaters, with no proper air conditioning or fans and gorging on the watery snacks. Even now, i prefer to watch a movie, in a theater, i just don’t get the same kind of experience in a multiplex. Anyway the masala movies of yore had certain elements, certain aspects, cliched and predictable, but great fun neverthless. With the multiplexization of Bollywood and globalization, many of those elements are a part of history. There have been some tributes to the old masala genre with movies like Main Hoon Na, Tashan, Om Shanti Om, but they never can capture the original essence and flavor. So this article is my tribute to some of the aspects of the good old fashioned Bollywood masala.
The Smuggler: Wearing a 3 piece suit, living in a huge mansion, surrounded by henchmen with names like Raabert, Abdul, he would be generally wearing a blonde or white wig. A scotch glass in one hand, a cigar in another hand, and dark googles. Always having a bevy of beauties around him, in some cases, phoren babes too. Sitting in a cushy armchair, and plotting his moves. Ah it was so much fun to be bad. But with gangsters and terrorists being the latest bad guys, this kinda villian is not to be seen much nowadays. The smuggler would always deal in Gold Biscuits, another item of our masala movies, that has totally disappeared.
The Villian’s Den : How much i really miss those villian’s Den, with all these Bond like gadgets and torture devices? Walls that would close in, revolving chairs that would dump their occupants, rotating wheels with spikes, tanks with sharks and crocodiles, cages with tigers, leopards and lions to which one of the yes men would be fed, snake pits, boy, really outlandish and out of the world. Nowadays with most of the baddies staying abroad, or on yatches, these kinda dens, seem to have gone out of vogue. Also with the Bond series, itself, now becomming more gritty and realistic, i dont think we would be seeing more of these kinda settings.
The Evil Thakur: A staple feature of most village movies. Big moustaches, a tight sherwani kurta, evil looking eyes residing in a huge haveli. A whip in his hand, gun located on the wall, most often taken out to shoot the hero, who dares to challenge him. And to make him more fearful, close up shots of a stuffed tiger, with bright colors flashing on it. Most of the time, he would either be whipping the poor villagers, or lusting after the Gaon Ki Gori. In many cases, the evil Thakur’s wicked wicked ways, would make the hero turn into a dacoit. In case there was a good noble hearted Thakur, you are sure that he would be bumped off in the first few reels by his evil brothers or relatives. Or maybe have his hands chopped off a la Sanjeev Kumar in Sholay. Interestingly either it was Evil Thakur, Good Daku or Good Thakur, Evil Daku. Very rarely did i witness Evil Thakur, Evil Daaku. And i think not even Sooraj Barjatya would attempt a Good Thakur, Good Daaku.
The Golden Hearted Tawaif: Rekha seemed to particularly specialize in this role, it was a kind of unwritten rule, if there was a tawaif character or a kotha scene, get in Rekha. And i guess this had to do with the success of her role in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Dancing in colorful dresses, staying with a paan chewing madam. She would usually have a dukh bhari kahani, which she would narrate to the hero. Usually with a heart of Gold, she would be the hero’s friend, philosopher and guide. The hero in a fit of depression, would drown his sorrows in shaarab, and then go to the kotha, where the tawaif, would dance and sing. She naturally would fall in love with hero, but because of “khaandan ki izzat” and all the associated funda, would always give up her love, hoping to be the hero’s love in “agale janam“. At times she could be very bad too, enticing the married hero, into a world of vice, like Dimple in Pati Parameshwar. if you put aside Madhuri Dixit’s Paro in Devdas, the last time i recall seeing this kind of character, was in Jeet(1996), where Tabu played the golden hearted tawaif.
Hindustan Ka Dushman: Before movies like Sarfarosh, Border which openly declared Pakistan as the enemy, it was always “Dushman us paar hai“. Movies never referred to Pakistan or China directly, it was always “Dushman”. And during the 80’s especially, we had a series of “Hindustan Ka Dushman“, whose only objective was to spread “Aatank” in “Hindustan“. With outlandish names like Mogambo, Dr. Dang, Dong, Bhujang, his dens always had white coated scientists, doing some work on funny looking consoles, with blinking lights, and some toy rockets ready to blast off to “phaile aatank”, before the hero would come just in time to save Hindoostan.
The Party Song: You would have the hero strumming on the piano singing a song for his love, or another standard scene, when the heroine’s dad would announce her engagement with some one else, and the rich hero, would pour out his “gham” in the party, all the while downing copious amounts of “sharaab“. Or either the hero and heroine, singing and dancing in party. The response around would be standard, a host of extras in suit and tie, clutching their glasses, watching blankly, the heroine’s dad scowling( if his daugther was romancing the hero) or grinning( when ever the hero is in gham), the heroine’s mangetar, looking on either with a frown or a non plussed expression. Priceless.
The Jungle Movie: These kind of movies were pretty much in vogue during the 70’s and 80’s. The hero, usually a honest forest officer, fighting the bad villians, who would be either smuggling animals or timber. In some cases like Maa(1977), the hero would usually be doing the bad things, but events like death of his mom, or heroine’s love would make him turn a new leaf. Shots of the jungle, friendly elephants, and fights with tigers and lions. Of late i can only recall Jungle and Kaal, shot in a totally jungle based backdrop. But i guess with the tigers being hunted down rapidly, and most of our forest cover depleting rapidly, these movies will be a part of the archives.
The Gaon Ki Gori: Usually introduced on screen, swimming in a lake or bathing under a waterfall. Well tough to say which part of India that was. Her costume would be like a Rajasthani dress mixed with a South Indian style, combined with a UP style, which is merged with , oh forget it. Basically its a costume, which emphasizes national integration. The Gaon Ki Gaori, would usually fall in love with the Shehri Babu, who has come from shehar or vilayat. In turn she would be lusted upon by the evil Thakur or the Thakur’s equally baad son. Having names like Bijlee, Kajiri, Basanti, she would usually be hot tempered and bold. Her Dad was one of those laachar baapus, a poor farmer, who was forever indebted to the evil Thakur. In case of a love triangle between the Gaon Ki Gori, the Shehri Babu and the Shehri Maalkin, she would be the one to get discarded.
Ramu Kaka- The eternally faithful servant who would bring chai, to the hero or heroine.
You Are Under Arrest- The cops comming in the climax, after the hero has finished bashing up all the baddies, and uttering the line.
Mukesh Mills- This used to be a staple in many 90’s movies climaxes. The hero comming on a bike, finishing off all the baddies, fighting every one. Dont see this much nowadays.
The lecherous Lala- Another staple of the village movies, he would always be holding the villagers belonging. And in cahoots with the Evil Thakur.
The Mill Ka Malik- Pretty much a staple of 70’s, 80’s and even some 90’s movies. Dressed in a suit and tie, always, exploiting the poor mazdoor. In some cases he was a good man, but would often be misled by the bad people around him.
The job Interview Scene- Quite often seen in 70’s and 80’s movies. The Unemployed hero, comes for an interview. He is usually a Gold Medallist. The interviewer, would see his documents, and just when he is about to offer the job, the telephone rings, and after some time he says “Humein afsoos hain, par yeh naukri aapko nahin de saktha“. And that would motivate the hero to launch into a tirade on the unjust society and zaalim zamana.
Maa, mein First Class mein Paas Ho Gaya- The 30 or 40 plus hero, would come clutching a box of sweets, and proudly announce, “Maa, mein paas ho gaya, first class mein“. And his Mama would be grateful and say “Kaash tumhari Pitaji aaj zinda hoti“. Wonder why it was always addressed to Mama, and also to date, never seen a hero proudly saying i passed in second class.
Well this is not an exhuastive list, by the way. Just some random recollections. Would love to hear from you on this too.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
one thing i would like to add is..
” Inhe dava ki nahi duaa ki zaroorat hai”..
Hahah..nice
Also the vamp who has a crush on the “hero”..but, he just keeps brushing her off…if she is shown with a softer side..she HAS to die at the end..protecting the hero or any other positive characters
The role of Maa….and behena……to get kidnapped by the villain in the end…..”arre bhai jab pata hai ki bete ki kisi se dushmani hai to do teen din ke liye underground ho jao”…..
Nice post Ratnakar…Was nostalgic….
Few which i could think of :-
1) Police Trademark dialogues:
-> “Police ne tumhe chaaron taraf se gher liye hain. Bhagne ki koshish mat karo. Apne aap ko kanoon ke hawale kar do…”
-> “Kanoon ke haath bade lambe hote hain.”
2) Court dialogues.
-> “Apko jo bhi kehna hain katgire main aake kahiye”
-> “Yeh aadalat ki touheen hain…”
-> “Order!Order!”
-> “Main is Geeta per haath rakhkar kasam khata/khaati hoon ki jo bhi kahoonga/kahoongi sach kahoonga/kahoongi, aur sach ke alaava kuch nahin kahoonga/kahoongi.”
-> And in the end when judge announces his decision:-
“Gawahon key bayanat aur saboton ko madde nazar rakhtey hue, yeh adalat is natije par pahuchi hain ki…”
3) Lovers/couples pet dialogue.
-> “Main tumhare bina zinda nahi reh sakti”
-> “Hindustani patni apne pati ka naam apne mooh se nahi leti”
And the classic:
“Maine tumhaare bacche ki maa banne wali hoon”
And the crappiest one-liners that I guess had to be included in every second film of those time and usually said by the hero (Dharmendra iconised the first one I think, for all the wrong reasons):
“…agar tumne apne maa ka dudh piya hai….” and so forth..
The mother: :…maine tujhe nau mahine apne kok me pala hai…”..and so on..
What the hell….Grosse absolutely..
(Apologize for any spellin mistakes of hindi words..)
I don’t know whether the followings will fit in a masala flick or C- Grade Flick!!
Nag and Nagins…
Pet Dogs, Elephant, Monkey….
Also Dakuranis( Lady Dacoit)…champabai, Munnibai,johrabai….
;-)
Ratnakar
That was really good.could also add
Mein tere liye Gajar ka halwa banayi hai….
Superb post Ratnakar..
Some more of my additions to the list. Pls forgive me if the hindi dialogue spellings are incorrect.
Rape Dialogues
Hero’s sister or lover is going to be raped by villain or his chamcha – Bachao, Bachao…. She might be double his size but will never fight him or attack.. Only ‘Bachao’ and then they show the girl crying where her sindhoor is smudged or her kajal lining is smudged and in most films, they are fully dressed after the ‘rape’ scene. I always wondered if they themselves dressed up after the rape, or the villain helped her out?
Drunkard scenes:
Mother to son(hero or anti hero) who comes in drunk: Beta…. Tumne Sharaab piya hai kya? (ideal answer would be, ‘Nahi Maa… Dhoodh’).
Crying Scenes:
Son to mother when she is crying – Ma, aap ro rahe hai kya?
Mother – Nahi beta yeh khushi ki aansoo hai.
Ha – I love it. This post really has made me laugh – oh the villans dens and when they would hold their victims in the age – all the dhisshuum disshum was so much fun.
The great mother & son dialogues, although the car chases have improved now so thats an improvement – nothing beats a good car race!
If hero has a brother or sister,they always end up dying,the brother dies a really gruesome death and the sister always gets raped and killed. The hero’s best friend also ends up dying most of the time
I now understand why they didn’t need casting directors in those times. Most actors played the same character in movie after movie. Acting must have been a piece of cake…oops… Halwa for them.
Ratnakar, remember the hero’s sidekick, he was always a comedian. Rajendernath played this part in sooooo many movies.
Very nice post.
To add few more..
Doctor by just holding hand of female and tells surrounding people : “Mubark ho aap ma/baap/dada/dadi banane wali/wale ho!”.
[Wow, doctors of 70's, 80's were so intelligent and smart that they don't need any test to declare someone pregnant.]
Most cases in next scene Ma to daughter after doctor left : “kaha pe muh kala karke aai” followed by two/three slaps.
Next scene pregnant character rushing to near by hill with anger and tears in eyes to suicide and there she saved by loving/caring hero or some gafoor/abdul/rahim chacha or father d’costa/brigenza or pujari ji…
or
father gets heart attack listening this news of course if his daughter is not married.
—-
Doctor : “Humne puri koshish ki hai, baaki sub uparwale ke haath mein hai”
Then scene or two later everyone rushing to temple/mosque/church.
or
Doctor : “Mujhe afsos hai ke hum (aapki biwi/maa/baap/bahen/…) ko bacha nahi paaye”
Good article. Brought back some nice memories
nice post…
just moved me remember all old movies i used rush to see in theaters or Video Cassettes as soon as they are released…
awesome mate…great innovation aided by a super sense of humour
Om: Yeah the vamp, or the bad girl, who would wear the revealing clothes and all. But this went out of style when the heroines themselves started to shed clothes by the dozen and fall all over the hero.
Vineet: Ha,ha yes. And the climax, with all of em, tied up, and villian threatening hero saying that if u bash me, i will kill em.
Nilohit: Oh how could i forget the icchadhari Nag, and pet Dog, Monkey, Elephant stories, they deserve a totally separate post.
Shyam: Related to Sharaab, i also recall the famous VAT 69 brand, which was a de facto whenever the hero would start boozing. Wonder where it is now?
Sangeeta: Oh yes, the sound of the disshumm- dishhumm, really rocks.
Arun Prakash: Yeah apart from Rajendranath, you could also add Paintal/Asrani/Sudhir to that list.
BD: My dad is a doctor himself, and many times he would really cringe at the way the medical profession was depicted in movies. Also i wonder how a hill used to appear out of nowhere for people to “sooosidee”
Anyone remembers the ubiquitous bottle labelled “Poison”?
It was very nostalgic reading this article. I too miss these elements now in movies. If these elements are used now a days, they are usually meant to be funny. We need new crop of masala movies. Recently a few days ago I watched the Telugu movie Pokiri. It was released in 2006, a pure masala movie and was a massive hit. Watching a Telugu movie with English subtitles just doesn’t give me the same pleasure as a Hindi movie. I need these movies in Bollywood as well. Certainly Bollywood movies have taken a different path which might be good for the industry but I’ll always wait for an Indian Tarantio who might one day make an Indian Pulp Fiction, a true homage to these classy genre of Bollywood.
@Jahanpanah: Well for me Johnny Gaddar was the best tribute so far to the 70’s masala thrillers.
RGV made a royal mess with his Sholay tribute, while i thought Farhan Akhtar’s Don was fairly well done, though not a big fan of SRK. Also most of the new age Masala directors like Farah Khan, dont concentrate on characterization, all the characters in her movies seem the same to me.
If you take Amar, Akbar, Anthony another masala favorite of mine, you can see the way, Manmohan Desai, incorporates the mannerisms and dressing into the 3 leads. In fact for me Antony and Akbar, looked pretty much like any other character you would find in the Mumbai chawls or bustess.
I caught this brilliant moment 2 days back while surfing through channels. Amitabh is a drunkard who doesn’t drink (supposedly) during Navratris. So, Nirupa Roy says, “Tu Durga Maa ki sunata hai aur nahi peeta. Mai bhi keh rahi hun. ki mat pee daru. Mera naam bhi Durga hai.”
Geez, Oxy i guess that movie was Suhaag, one of the masala classics of the 70’s.
But there was another Suhaag in the 90’s that was even funnier, you had Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan, bringing Dalip Tahil’s corpse to the court, and making him point out to the culprit. That was really geez.
Holy Crap, Sach me? I know of that Suhag.. The same one na which had anthem of that year Gore Gore Mukhade Pe Kaala Kaala Chasma Right? Haha, Corpse pointing out to the culprit..!! Shit, I missed this gem.. The one and only one Corpse scene which was brilliant was Satish Shah’s in JBDY.
Some genuine doubts:
How come thakur’s gun was fully loaded with bullet in chamber, all the time, even when displayed on a wall? Same for pistols of police officers/smugglers etc.
How did Doctors diagnose pregnancy just by listening to heroine’s heartbeats/pulse?
How come all women got pregnant in just one intercourse (forcible or otherwise)?
Why did the police never find the villain’s den (with all those torture gadgets) before climax?
Why is it that not one hero from 70s/80s believed in lodging a police complaint when villain kidnapped his girlfriend + mother + sister + uncle together, and instead made a dash for The Den right away, all alone? (BTW he always reached in time. No traffic jams en route ever)
How could the judges get away with one-line judgements even in murder or rape cases? (Tamaam Sabooto aur gawaho ko madde nazar… etc). How come the court rooms were so specious and airy? How did so many members of public find time to come and listen to the proceedings?
When and how did a 25 year old hero (belonging to a middle class family – less father) learn to play guitar + piano + sax + trumpet + every other instrument he manages to find at the party in rich heroine’s house?
Hi, we have grown up with those films.