Shaitan
The world of moving pixels is brimming with stories that the young relate to.
And that the entertainment world is trying to woo its young consumers is a universally accepted fact. But what makes 'young' a hot topic with many takers — be it B-Town movies or reality shows is a billion dollar question.
On celluloid, the young and hip characters ooze an effervescence that is fresh. Yet at the same time, they send out a message that they are irreverent and unapologetic about living life on their own terms, sometimes testing the moral fibre of society and feel it is cool to do so.
Keeping the young Indians in mind as the target audience, Bollywood filmmakers are churning out 35 mm stories about the young in their coolest avatars, speaking the bindaas bol, liberally dotted with cuss words and doing things that they think is cool. In films like F.A.L.T.U., Luv Ka The End, Pyar ka Punchnama, Shaitan and Delhi Belly et al the protagonists flaunt the devil may care attitude, reflecting what the young are up to these days.
What is universal is the assumption that if you are young you can get away with anything unparliamentarian — from flouting laws, using abusive language or treating sex as a rush of hormones — because life's all about listening to your instincts and following your hearts.
So is Bollywood's portrayal, for that matter how the young come across as in reality shows, a reflection of what the young actually are today? Actor Aaskha Goradia says the youth in Hindi films are "shown exactly the way they are in real life. It is up to the young audience to use their own discretion and move ahead in life without emulating them." Filmmaker Onir feels, "Suddenly it has become cool to use abuses. And since the young are seen using them quite a bit, filmmakers add these abuses in songs and dialogues to attract their target audience."
However, VJ Cyrus Sahukar feels the young are not as irreverent as they are portrayed in films. "The young are irreverent when they want to be at the same time they can be responsible when the situation demands. The young are also focused and very, very ambitious too. It would not be justified to simply label them as irreverent. In movies and TV shows only certain aspects are shown to make the storyline interesting. As far as abusive language is concerned, the young have always used abusive language. Our parents might have used those words too, when they were young. The only difference is that some expletives are now part of informal conversations."
Echoing the same sentiment, reality star Pravesh Rana says, "The young today believe in the concept of survival of the fittest which makes them flaunt what they think they possess. They want to be owners of their own life. They also know what they can do and what they can't."
There is another way to look at it, feels Aashka. "Hindi films are made only to entertain and should be treated as such."
For our desi dream merchants however, if irreverent young flicks can translate into big bucks then that's the trend that might rule the industry in the months to come!
And that the entertainment world is trying to woo its young consumers is a universally accepted fact. But what makes 'young' a hot topic with many takers — be it B-Town movies or reality shows is a billion dollar question.
On celluloid, the young and hip characters ooze an effervescence that is fresh. Yet at the same time, they send out a message that they are irreverent and unapologetic about living life on their own terms, sometimes testing the moral fibre of society and feel it is cool to do so.
Keeping the young Indians in mind as the target audience, Bollywood filmmakers are churning out 35 mm stories about the young in their coolest avatars, speaking the bindaas bol, liberally dotted with cuss words and doing things that they think is cool. In films like F.A.L.T.U., Luv Ka The End, Pyar ka Punchnama, Shaitan and Delhi Belly et al the protagonists flaunt the devil may care attitude, reflecting what the young are up to these days.
What is universal is the assumption that if you are young you can get away with anything unparliamentarian — from flouting laws, using abusive language or treating sex as a rush of hormones — because life's all about listening to your instincts and following your hearts.
So is Bollywood's portrayal, for that matter how the young come across as in reality shows, a reflection of what the young actually are today? Actor Aaskha Goradia says the youth in Hindi films are "shown exactly the way they are in real life. It is up to the young audience to use their own discretion and move ahead in life without emulating them." Filmmaker Onir feels, "Suddenly it has become cool to use abuses. And since the young are seen using them quite a bit, filmmakers add these abuses in songs and dialogues to attract their target audience."
However, VJ Cyrus Sahukar feels the young are not as irreverent as they are portrayed in films. "The young are irreverent when they want to be at the same time they can be responsible when the situation demands. The young are also focused and very, very ambitious too. It would not be justified to simply label them as irreverent. In movies and TV shows only certain aspects are shown to make the storyline interesting. As far as abusive language is concerned, the young have always used abusive language. Our parents might have used those words too, when they were young. The only difference is that some expletives are now part of informal conversations."
Echoing the same sentiment, reality star Pravesh Rana says, "The young today believe in the concept of survival of the fittest which makes them flaunt what they think they possess. They want to be owners of their own life. They also know what they can do and what they can't."
There is another way to look at it, feels Aashka. "Hindi films are made only to entertain and should be treated as such."
For our desi dream merchants however, if irreverent young flicks can translate into big bucks then that's the trend that might rule the industry in the months to come!
