Bollywood lyricist Gulzar says Indian films keep repeating the same old clichés

New Delhi: Indian cinema has not rid itself of the pitfalls of the talkie era, with films continuing to repeat the “same old clichés” of excessive dialogue, songs, fights and chases, the poet and lyricist said on Wednesday Urdu Gulzar.

Speaking at the 'Samvatsar Lecture' at the 39th edition of Sahitya Akademi's Sahityotsav, award winner Jnanpith said that 'the sounds and words may have changed but the essence of the story remained the same'.

“Unfortunately, Indian cinema has still not gotten rid of the trappings of the early talkies. Like in Alam Ara or Hunterwali, we are still repeating the same old clichés of excessive dialogues, songs, fights, chases and so on. suite”, explain the “Maachis”. ” said the director.

According to Gulzar, visuals have advanced with the “rampant advancement of technology”, and special effects, green screen and sound effects are here to stay.

“Let's just hope that the new images of artificial intelligence do not lead to any semblance of deterioration,” Gulzar said.

The poet-lyricist was talking about writer Mohanlal Gopaldas Dave, who submitted a script every month to meet an “unprecedented demand for writers” in film companies in the early decades of Indian cinema.

Dave, a jeweler by profession, worked for the Kohinoor Film Company in the 1930s and 1940s.

“It seems that promotional material arrived for Hollywood films before their release in India. He had the gift of Indianizing the plot in a flamboyant style,” recalls the 89-year-old.

“To a large extent, aren’t we doing the same thing today? He asked.

The famous poet started his career as a songwriter in the 1960s in films such as 'Kabuliwala', 'Bandini', 'Aashirwad' and 'Khamoshi'. Gulzar has also written dialogues and film scripts in his career spanning seven decades.

Gulzar has also directed award-winning films including 'Koshish', 'Parichay', 'Aandhi', 'Angoor' and 'Hu Tu Tu'.

The Samvatsar conference focused on the theme “Cinema and Literature”.

The Padma Bhushan award winner spoke about the two creative streams, how they have influenced and interacted with each other since the advent of cinema.

Gulzar noted that since the beginning of Indian cinema, the industry has adapted literary works for cinema, including Dadasaheb Phalke's “Raja Harishchandra”, “Satyavan Savitri” and “Lanka Dahan”.

“Suffice it to say that considerable dramatic changes and improvisations were made to the original texts. This was intended to make them more attractive and more acceptable to the public. The authenticity of the text, even of the most holy scriptures, came to an end from that point on,” he said. underlines.

Citing the examples of Aparna Sen's '36 Chowringhee Lane', Neeraj Pandey's 'A Wednesday', Nandita Das' 'Firaaq' and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's 'Mere Pyaare Prime Minister', Gulzar noted the emergence of an “auteur cinema that is not adapted”. of any book and it is rather an extension of literature.

“Sometimes the new cinema writes about everyone's experience directly from life and thus creates its own literature in its own image language,” he said.

Gulzar, known for his literary works such as 'Raat Pashminey Ki', 'Raavi Paar' and 'Dhuan', also warned against the trend of making biopics and said it was “more than welcome but with a statutory warning: stories must not be distorted in the slightest.”

Gulzar concluded the lecture by quoting one of his favorite poets, Rabindranath Tagore.

“Around 1929, he (Tagore) had said: 'Cinema will not become an art until it depends on the use of words and language.' To this, may I add: “And produces its own literature in its own form of images, instead of relying on literature already said and written,” he said.

“The director must be the author of the film – what we can call auteur cinema.”

(This report was published as part of an auto-generated newswire. Other than the headline, no edits were made to the copy by ABP Live.)