For India, Bollywood is like an emotion that has the capability to make or break someone’s dream.
What is Bollywood?
Bollywood is the glamourous Indian film industry based in Mumbai (Bombay), which produces the most significant number of films per year.
Every Friday, we get introduced to Bollywood. When the Internet wasn’t available, we often asked, what movie is releasing this Friday? Or who are the actors in it?
Or perhaps there were illustrious posters with sharp red, yellow and blue colors pasted on the wall of shops or a huge banner hanging by trees in case of a blockbuster.
Bollywood’s early history begins with Raja Harishchandra. Dada Saheb Phalke directed the silent film. But after Alam Ara, changes in the industry started to take place.
The Golden Age of Bollywood themes were mainly social life, which included the work culture of both urban and village life.
Mother India was the first-ever film of Indian origin to nominate for an Academy Award. Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Meena Kumari were prominent figures of this period.
Though the musical romance genre dominated the Classic era of Bollywood, the inception of gritty violence, underground crimes, poverty, corruption, socio-economic, political-economic themes pushed the boundaries of the industry.
In this era, Bollywood witnessed films like Zanjeer, Deewar, Sholay. Another film nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film was Mira Nair’s, Salaam Bombay.
The New Bollywood era was mainly dominated by three Khans: Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Salman Khan.
The themes were family entertainment, solid melodies, and NRI-centric like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham; after the 2000s, Bollywood movies were finally getting the overseas attraction.
Where is Bollywood Going?
Bollywood has to change the way they are working to please their audience. One of the sole reasons is its audience. The availability of the Internet has made us go beyond the Friday movies.
We, as an audience, evolved after witnessing movies from all around the world. But Bollywood is still stuck to those tricks about item songs, crude non-veg jokes, physics-defying actions, logic-defying plots.
There was a time when the audience approved of masala films. But it is high time Bollywood listens to its audience.
Another reason for Bollywood to improve itself is the OTT platform. Every year a new OTT platform is being launched, and there are already numerous renowned OTTs such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar, Hulu, etc.
OTT platforms helped the audience choose from hundreds of options and helped natural talents flourish in the business of film-making.
I wanted to start this article with three protagonists: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Manoj Bajpai, and Pankaj Tripathi. But I had to outline what Bollywood is and why I am writing about these three persons.
Fame or Talent?
Fame or Talent? If I ask this question in a rapid-fire round, many will answer Fame. Because that’s what most of us lack. We strive for Fame. But there is a lesser number of people who will choose Talent. People like those three I mentioned above will surely choose Talent.
Although Nawazuddin was an alumnus of the National School of Drama, Delhi, it was hard for him to find a job. He started his career in 1999 with a small role in Aamir Khan starred Sarfarosh.
The period between 2002 and 2007 was the darkest for him. He could not pay rent, and he had to stay in a friend’s apartment in exchange for cooking. His breakthrough came after Peepli Live.
After that, Nawazuddin was unstoppable. He starred in many of the critically acclaimed films like Patang: The Kite and The Lunchbox. He earned recognition at a much higher level than most of the established actors of Bollywood.
Manoj Bajpai, born in a farmer’s family and hailing from a small village of Bihar, came to Delhi for higher studies.
He did theatre, and to follow his dream to become an actor, he applied for the National School of Drama, Delhi. But he was rejected three times. He even tried to commit suicide after the third attempt.
After much struggle after debuting in Drohkaal, the first breakthrough was Ram Gopal Verma’s Satya. His role in Gangs of Wasseypur is still talked about among moviegoers. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2019.
Pankaj Tripathi also graduated from NSD Delhi. Like Nawazuddin, success didn’t come instantly for him either. Perhaps the quality of resilience is another factor for him also. He starred in Gangs of Wasseypur alongside Nawazuddin and Manoj Bajpai.
His film Newton (2017) was critically acclaimed and was an official entry for Academy in the best foreign category.
These three persons have a significant series, each in OTT platform in their name. These OTT series have increased their fans exponentially. Nawazuddin starred in Sacred Games for Netflix, Manoj Bajpai has A family Man for Amazon Prime, and Pankaj also has a series with Amazon Prime named Mirzapur.
Conclusion
These persons proved that Fame is often misleading in a world full of Talent. Sometimes being a talented broke is much better than being famous but clumsy.
Before concluding, I just want to say another name whose story might give you a little more strength for what you are fighting for. Because he, too, was a fighter until his last breath. The name is Irrfan.
