I’ve been writing for the Student Movement for two years now, and every year, I’ve wanted to do an article about Hindi films, but I hesitated due to the immense vulnerability it requires for me. Think of your favorite childhood movie. Maybe it’s a Disney princess movie or a Star Wars movie—the kind of film where the soundtracks and the opening credits immediately bring an immense wave of nostalgia over you. It doesn’t matter if the movie isn’t perfectly constructed or if the animation is old and outdated—you love it anyway. It’s like a well-cherished stuffed animal: that movie has been there all your life, and at this point, it's an integral part of who you are.
That is me with Hindi films. But I’ve always been scared to recommend the movies to my friends or my readers—to encourage you guys to watch them—because it opens the films to rejection. Perhaps you may find them too cheesy, or reading the subtitles is a pain. Your distaste wouldn’t just feel like a rejection of the film; it would feel like a rejection of me. Anyway, I’ve said all this to say that if you read this article, watch a movie I suggest, and hate it, please don’t tell me about it. I am absolutely unable to look at these films with a critical eye, since I can’t deny the warm and fuzzy feeling they give me after all these years.
Enter “The Romantics”, a celebration of everything I loved about watching these movies as a child. The show, with four hour-long episodes on streaming giant Netflix, is helmed by Smiti Mundra and features 35 different interviews from Hindi film industry giants. It tells the story of Yash Raj Chopra’s film studio: how it came to be, and how it achieved the immense success it holds today. Chopra is a household name in India, a producer responsible for one of the biggest hits of all time, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ). The film, directed by Yash’s son, Aditya Chopra, has been running in Indian theaters for 27 years, and still continues to sell out. It’s a marvelous, grandiose romance that spans time zones, taking viewers from the mountains of Switzerland to a village in India in a matter of minutes. It celebrates the culture of the NRI (non-resident Indians, those who don’t reside in India) and brings us back home. “The Romantics” gives viewers an in-depth look into the making of the movie, with commentary from Aditya and stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. It’s a real treat for anyone who loves behind-the-scenes content and a deep dive into how a movie is created.
What might come as a shock to the American viewer is how small-scale the production of these early films was. The entire directing team was comprised of Aditya and his two assistants, friend Karan Johar, and brother Uday Chopra. Films were often like a family project: kids would grow up on set around each other, and they didn’t have the unions and professionals Hollywood has. For years, the Hindi film industry has been accused of nepotism, a term for when people give job opportunities to family members instead of more qualified people. It’s a hot topic in Hollywood today, but it’s a conversation they’ve been having in India for much longer. However, “The Romantics” makes it clear that projects were small, often involved personal investments, and were staffed by family members who didn’t necessarily expect pay. Directors’ wives would handle the costumes and makeup, and directors would choreograph intricate dance scenes themselves. After watching the docuseries, I’m stunned by how high quality their production was, even with such small teams. Many of their films involve elaborate sets and dance sequences with hundreds of extras. However, directors often had far more control over the final product than they do today, considering their work was so deeply hands-on.
Critics of the docuseries have accused “The Romantics” of being a carefully placed public relations ploy aimed at sheltering Chopra films from the accusations of nepotism brought forth in today’s environment. For years, the Hindi film industry was famously well-known for its system of casting sons of already well-known actors and very rarely accepting newcomers. Even Aditya Chopra only got his chance to direct because he was Yash Chopra’s son. Whatever your belief about the ethics of nepotism, perhaps the world has missed out on so many Aditya Chopra’s just because they didn’t have the right last name.
Another topic the series touches on is the use of the term “Bollywood” and the—to put it frankly—inaccuracy of it. One of the most successful Hindi film actors, Amitabh Bachchan, says that he doesn’t like the term Bollywood at all. After all, it frames Indian cinema within the context of Hollywood, when there’s a completely different strategy to the filmmaking process. In fact, it can be argued that referring to the cinema as Bollywood takes away from the deeply original process used in film creation—Bollywood films are nothing like Hollywood’s. Furthermore, the term steals from the diversity of the Indian film industry, which includes far more than the classic “Bollywood” film. Bollywood cinema is simply Hindi film located in Mumbai. However, “Tollywood,” the shorthand used for films in the Telugu language, are filmed in Hyderabad and highlight a very different style of filmmaking. Tollywood films have recently received worldwide acclaim for hits like RRR, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Bachchan argues that the term “Hindi Film Industry” is much more appropriate, with Telugu Film Industry and Malayalam Film Industry used for their appropriate sectors. Each culture and language has its own distinct film style, and naming them under the monolith of “Bollywood” does not give each sector’s creativity its service.
Personally, the Hindi film industry is something I hold so close to my heart. Before I could read the subtitles on the screen, I would watch the songs, particularly “Maahi Ve” from “Kal Ho Naa Ho” and “Tere Liye” from “Veer-Zaara” and just have tears streaming down my face. Even though I had no clue what they were saying, the emotion of the songs spoke to my very young soul. I have always loved the grandiosity of the tales—their movies often span years of time and deal with big topics like love and family. However, even if romance isn’t what you’re looking for, Hindi films produce action-comedy classics like “Dhoom” and gripping thrillers like “Badla.” Just dip your toe into the immense library of Indian films on Netflix and Amazon Prime and if you enjoy, pretty soon you’ll be looking for your favorite actors and actresses all over.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.