Thursday 31 May 2012

The 90s pride

Have you noticed how proud 90s kids are, simply because they are 90s kids? I'm one too, and I'm one of those super proud ones. I was born in the year 1990...so I've pretty much seen the entire decade.
The 90s was a wonderful decade...amazing music (it gave us Nirvana, Boy Bands, The Spice Girls, Jennifer Lopez, Greenday et al), Technology (CERN started the World Wide Web project in 1991), Cartoons and anime (X men, spongebob square pants, Pokemon), TV Series (Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, Full House) and Video Games.
It also gave us some amazing movies. Titanic, Star Wars, Pretty Woman, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, The Lion King, Home Alone. Everyone has heard of these movies. What's common? All of them released in the 90s.
Back home, it was a wonderful decade. Financially, we had the New Industrial Policy of 1991, introduced by Dr. Manmohan Singh. It was one of those policies that gave India it's place in the international economic map. In sports, it gave us our God, Sachin Tendulkar. At the same time we had Rahul Dravid. We had our own epic cartoon series...the Jungle Book! And TV serials...Dekh Bhai Dekh...'nuff said! The Maruti 800, the most awesome car to have according to me was the Nano of the 90s. Sushmita Sen became Miss World in the 90s (Admit it...every girl reading this would have practiced her winning gasp...I did, and I still remember it).  And even the advertisements were memorable...remember the wonderful doodh campaign? It went...doodh, doodh, doodh, doodh, wonderful doodh!! And who can forget the brilliant Amul butter advertisements??? They are still the most intelligent advertisements!
And the movies...oh the movies! Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Luch Hota hai, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, sigh....
But today, when I was watching Pardes (in my defense, I have a cold, and I can't concentrate on my studies when I have a cold), I noticed some things that happened in every Bollywood movie of the 90s. Well, not all of them, but most of them. I feel the need to add that I love Bollywood movies nonetheless. This is just in good humor and most of you will agree with me when I say that a little sense of humor never hurt anyone. So here goes:

  1. The Hero: The 90s gave us the Khans! Shahrukh Khan (*drool*), Amir Khan, Salman Khan...they weren't enemies then, they came in movies together. Salman Khan wasn't the beefy body builder type...he actually looked cute! Amir Khan had this entire mawali thing going for him. Shahrukh Khan (*drool*) ruled hearts....but he still does that now, so that's besides the point! We also had funny man Govinda, the punch drunk Akshay Kumar, the beefy Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Bobby Deol. The 90s hero was compassionate, caring, romantic, could shake a leg with great gusto and could beat the bad guy and be miserably beaten up without so much as a flinch, but would wince if the heroine tried to clean up his wounds.
  2. The Heroine: The typical Indian woman. Clad in a wholesome salwar kameez or sari, sometimes even a gajra, ghastly makeup, devoted to her family and later on, the hero. We had Kajol, Sonali Bendre, Mahima Chaudhry, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Urmilla Matondkar, Karisma Kapoor (have I spelt it right?) et al. The Heroine was sassy, high pitched and ended up being the damsel in distress. And did I mention the ghastly makeup???
  3. The love triangle: Be it one girl and two guys or one guy and two girls. A love triangle was the flavor of the season. If it was one guy and two girls, the other girl (not the heroine) would be dressed in tight tops and short skirts, had equally ghastly makeup, and were meant to be depicted as trash. I think they just crossed all limits when in the movie Judaai, where in the beginning, Urmilla Matondkar was the other girl and would be dressed in skirts, and later the wife, Sridevi becomes the other girl and so she starts wearing skirts and Urmilla Matondkar graduates to saris. In the reverse scenario, where we had one girl and two guys, the other guy was creepy, had longish hair, and managed to make your hair stand at the ends.
  4. The Parents: The parents would never agree to the match. EVER! Quite a contradiction from the current times, where the parents are more than happy to let the child decide!
  5. The Slow Tear: There would be a point in the movie where the Hero or the Heroine would decide to forget the other for ever. At that point, they would promptly pull out a picture of both of them together, and tear the same in a slow, dramatic manner!
  6. The Music: The soundtrack of the movie would be invariably impeccable! Think about it. The decade gave us amazing singers like Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu! And remember buying the cassettes of these movie soundtracks? Remember reading the names of the songs on the back? Remember how along with the singers, even the chorus was credited?
  7. The Bad Guy: There always was a bad guy. The legendary actor, the late Mr. Amrish Puri pretty much had a monopoly over that part. And he was so brilliant at it, that if I were to meet him personally, I would have been scared! The bad guy held a grudge for no apparent reason and was eventually finished off. Or he would see his errors and mend his ways. This would end him up in jail! Although, many a times, the Hero wold also break the law, but he wouldn't go to jail for that, because what he did was for the greater good!
  8. The Catch Phrases: Each movie had some typical catch phrases, that made you wince even then. Some were cute, others were down right shady! I'm about to list some. Don't judge me based on the fact that I remember them! "Dad, it's bad" - Some dude in Pardes. "Bade Bade shehero main aisi choti choti baatien hoti rehti hai seƱorita" - Shahrukh Khan (*drool*) in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. And the worst one of all...I don't know whether I should put this in text, it was bad enough in the movie - "Kya cheez, cut piece," - Shakti Kapoor in Jaanam Samjha Karo! It gave me the creeps even then...and I was 9 when the movie released. I mean, what were the thinking???
So there you have it...the perfect mix of ingredients to make a Bollywood movie reminiscent of the 90s era. I would like to thank my friend, film encyclopedia Ali, to help me out with the singers of the 90s. I also asked him about the actresses, but he hasn't replied yet. So he doesn't get any credit for that!
Hope you enjoyed this...it's all in jest! Let me know what you think!