Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
Bollywood

Romance, the '2 States' way!

Arpana Darpan, 01 May, 2014 01:19 PM
  • Romance, the '2 States' way!
It goes without saying that a well-made romantic film can make your day.
 
"2 States" made mine! The movie came as a respite!
 
Long, long ago, I remember my grandfather grumbling: "Today's movies are meaningless, they only show ‘dhishum dhishum'." A die-hard fan of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Pradeep Kumar's style of romance, he used to find the emerging film culture of the 1980s, led by the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha, distasteful.
 
His disparagement of those action thrillers, stemming from the then political unrest with several actors playing the victimised working-class hero fighting corruption were not good enough to impress an old hat like him who used to savour social dramas and serene love stories like "Andaaz", Tarana", "Madhumati", "Patita" and "Munimji" made me cringe.
 
He felt those films offered a rather myopic view of contemporary youth and would discourage us from watching them.
 
At that time I had somewhat different views on the movies, but I could relate to his views when I went to catch "2 States", the big screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name, a delightful depiction of how cultural differences pose a threat to a Punjabi boy and a Tamilian girl's love life and marriage plans and how skillfully and maturely the duo handle the situation.
 
Despite being familiar with the story, which I read when Bhagat's literary work hit the shelves in 2009, and enjoyed the book not for its romantic escapades, but for the way the problems were treated and meted in the book, I was pleased with its celluloid presentation too.
 
It's heartening!
 
 
Even though plots and sub-plots, characters and obstacles were the same, the slightly sluggish drama was thoroughly entertaining.
 
Refreshing content with a feel good factor was a much-needed break from the appalling love sagas that telly is serving day in and day out.
 
Not that I'm a big fan of the genre, but enjoyed the watch more so because romance has been criminlaised, brutalised, scandalised and demoralised on the tube, one's staple source of entertainment, so much so that it has lost its quintessence.
 
In the last few years, there has been a deluge of crime-based shows on the telly and the so-called outrageous real-life stories showing the revolting and repulsive side of romance, in which most often lovers are abused, murdered, tortured, or blackmailed for various reasons – be it to avenge hurt egos, cheating lovers or spouses etc, are being shoved down viewers' throat. And to my surprise, they are grabbing maximum eyeballs.
 
Not denying the existence of such crimes in real life, but too much of anything is bad.
 
Mind you, "2 States" is also a real life story of the author, but unlike the shows, here the lovers do not kill anyone for their union or have any hidden agenda behind falling in love or getting married.
 
In most of the crime shows, falling in love or getting intimate lead to MMS scandals or YouTube videos followed by heinous crime, thus making romance a forbidden thing.
 
 
In fact, similar plots recently dominated the celluloid with stories like "Love Sex Aur Dhokha" and "Ragini MMS" hitting the screens.
 
In the current scenario, technology is a boon and bane. Bane, because it is being misused, and abused!
 
Yes, international shows are there, but they are for the classes, not the masses.
 
In a quest for de-stressing light drama, viewers end up watching the shows.
 
In the 1980s and 1990s, telly treated viewers with shows like "Kashish", "Farmaan" and Lekh Tandon's "Phir Wohi Talaash", which had beautiful ghazals like "Mere humsafar mere saath tum", "Kabhi haadson ki dagar mile kabhi muskilon ka safar mile" and "Na jee bher ke dekha na kuch baat ki badi aarjo thi mulakat ki".
 
It's time television producers do the needful!

MORE Bollywood ARTICLES

It was great to be directed by Anurag Kashyap: KJo

It was great to be directed by Anurag Kashyap: KJo
Filmmaker Karan Johar, who will be seen acting in his first full-fledged role in "Bombay Velvet", says it was great to work under Anurag Kashyap's direction in the film.

It was great to be directed by Anurag Kashyap: KJo

Campaigning with mom Moon Moon humbling experience: Riya

Campaigning with mom Moon Moon humbling experience: Riya
For Bollywood actress Riya Sen, joining mother and Trinamool Congress candidate Moon Moon Sen on her roadshows in West Bengal's Bankura district has been a "humbling experience" with the "warmth of the people" sheltering them from the soaring mercury.

Campaigning with mom Moon Moon humbling experience: Riya

Foodie Rajeev Khandelwal sheds six kg for film

Foodie Rajeev Khandelwal sheds six kg for film
Actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who loves eating, managed to lose some weight while filming his forthcoming movie "Samrat & Co.".

Foodie Rajeev Khandelwal sheds six kg for film

'Jolly LLB' was good intention cinema, says overjoyed Boman

'Jolly LLB' was good intention cinema, says overjoyed Boman
Boman Irani, who played a corrupt lawyer in "Jolly LLB", is overjoyed at the film being named the Best Hindi Film at the 61st National Film Awards.

'Jolly LLB' was good intention cinema, says overjoyed Boman

YRF's 'Titli' to compete at Cannes film fest

YRF's 'Titli' to compete at Cannes film fest
Indian filmmaker Kanu Behl's "Titli" has been chosen for screening in Un Certain Regard section of the 67th Cannes International Film Festival, to be held May 14-25.

YRF's 'Titli' to compete at Cannes film fest

'Yellow' bags 3 National Awards, B-Town cheers for Riteish

'Yellow' bags 3 National Awards, B-Town cheers for Riteish
Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh’s second Marathi venture “Yellow” won the Special Jury and Special Mention awards at the 61st National Film Awards, and the Hindi film fraternity is proud of the “Grand Masti” star.

'Yellow' bags 3 National Awards, B-Town cheers for Riteish