By Shailesh Kapoor
Bollywood has discovered a new genre. An experiment that started with one-offs like The Dirty Picture, Paan Singh Tomar and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has now gathered some real steam. Films based on true stories (biopics and true events) are now thriving, finding audiences in plenty. After the Milkha Singh movie, we had Mary Kom in 2014. Last year saw smaller films like Talvar and Maanjhi, inspired from true events. But the real boost came early this year, with the resounding success of Airlift and Neerja.
Azhar, based on events in the life of the former Indian captain, releases today. Sarabjiti’ss lined up for release next week, and a Ramgopal Varma film on Veerappan the week after. The biopic on MS Dhoni releases later this year.
Several other scripts based on true stories are in various stages of pre-production and production. With the theatrical business stagnating over the last two years, this genre diversion could be that injection of growth Bollywood needs. This year will tell us its true potential.
India is not the easiest country to make biopics or films based on true events. Politics is a touch-me-not category anyway. Even outside the realm of politics, making such films is like treading on thin ice. You never know who will get offended by what, and when.
Bollywood has found a practical solution. If the person is alive, involve him or her in the film-making process, down to the last promotions. If the person is no more, involve the family. It may be the sanitised way of making films that depict reality, but at least it has put the genre out there for us to watch.
A true story will always find more traction than its fictional counterpart. Imagine watching Airlift as a fictional story. The idea of the story gets instantly diluted. It becomes more fantasy than inspirational. And that’s where the magic of real stories lies. They can create a sense of amazement and inspiration that fiction can struggle to match, unless it’s big budget fiction like superheroes and adventure fantasy, which Hollywood is using to great effect.
In mainstream Indian television, all the attempts to make true stories have been largely limited to the historical genre. Some of these shows (eg Jodha Akbar) have used a historical context to tell a largely fictionalised story, while others like Prithviraj Chauhan or Ashoka are somewhat closer to documented events.
But that’s been about it. There have been virtually no stories explored from the more recent past. A commonly stated concern is that real stories may suit a film, but they don’t have enough meat to keep a daily fiction show running for two years. Even historical shows tend to fizzle out after a year or so.
While that may be true, it is much less of a limitation today, with finite series and weekend fiction being considered more seriously than ever before. If that doesn’t initiate experimentation with the true story genre, it will be an opportunity lost.
The staple television diet for a mass Indian viewer is escapist in nature, providing relief from the drudgery of day-to-day life, or adding value to it by highlighting what it could have but doesn’t. Yet, the appetite for true stories is a universal phenomenon. And now, Bollywood has proven this appetite exists in India too.
The big plus of the true story genre is that it comes pre-sold in many ways. The marketing task becomes a lot more sharp and focused. In a scenario when new shows have stopped opening well, this could be that marketing distraction that the mainline GECs, especially Hindi, can look up to. But will they?