By Dominick Rodrigues
Panaji, Jan 19: The 70s were a golden period for Hindi film industry with the influx of new ideas, new experiments and a new genre of action and unconventional films, and the growth still continues,” said acclaimed Bollywood film-maker Rahul Rawail in a walk down Bollywood’s memory lane at a +IFFI 51 In-Conversation+ Session of the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on Monday.
“In those days, there existed a healthy competition among the film stars where every actor was rising above each other– but there was no rivalry. The 1970s saw influx of new ideas, new experiments and a new genre of action films in Hindi cinema. Those were also the golden years for unconventional films and emergence of new techniques,” Rawail said while speaking online about
“Filmmaking in 50s, 60s and 70s” in which he virtually took the IFFI delegates through a journey of the evolution of Hindi film industry over the years.
Recalling his cinematic journey, the film-maker said, “I started working in this industry from the late 60s as an assistant to the legendary Raj Kapoor. Stalwarts like K. Asif and Mehmood made films with magnificent sets in the 60s, after which Baburam Ishara’s ‘Chetna’ in the 70s ‘ushered a revolution” with shootings done on location over 25-30 days –something which was unusual in those days”. “
“Vijay Anand’s film –Dev-Anand starrer ‘Johnny Mera Naam’ — also gave rise to a new form of action-oriented, big plot films in that period. The golden 70s also witnessed fast business growth in the Hindi film-industry through films like ‘Zanjeer’, which saw an ‘unconventional hero’ played by Amitabh Bachchan and gave birth to the image of ‘angry young man’ — a newly-established brand back then. Nasir Hussain’s ‘Yaadon Ki Baaraat’ (1973) which saw the coming of Salim-Javed had a great script.”
“Raj Kapoor’s ‘Bobby’ which introduced Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia also started a new trend. These films were bringing in a change and adding to the whole palate of film-making”, Rawail said, adding “Rishi Kapoor was considered an underrated actor. Another star, Jeetendra also came in with a new appeal and new style in the world of Hindi cinema. ‘Deewar’ – a brilliantly-toned film– took Yash Chopra to great heights in that period where he went on further to make more memorable films like Trishul.”
“In those days, there existed a healthy competition among the film stars. Every actor was rising above the other, but there was no rivalry,” he said while recalling how three Bollywood stalwarts – Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar– came across each other in a restaurant and started chatting like intimate friends about the old days and each other’s films.
Rawail also narrated about an interesting incident where the noted Sachin Dev Burman politely declined doing music for ‘Laila Majnu’ “as not for him” and recommended Madan Mohan for it. The music directors, great singers and lyricists would sit together with directors and get to know the story and also the actor who would lip-sync, all for adding perfection to the film, he said.
Highlighting memories about another popular film — L V Prasad’s ‘Ek Dujhe Ke Liye’ which was a love story about “a hero who did not speak Hindi but only Tamil and an actress who spoke only Hindi and not Tamil,“ he said the film industry was going through a process of inventing and doing different kinds of works.
“The audience was also experiencing new kinds of movies that carried on into the 80s when more new people came in, although the old-guards were still there. The 80s saw the coming of stalwarts like Subhash Ghai and Shatrughna Sinha, among others,” Rawail said while pointing out that when he made the film “Arjun” in that period, it again started a new trend of having no story, but only character.
“Javed Akhtar wrote the script for ‘Arjun’ at a stretch in 8 hours and Amjad Khan — who was popular for playing villains – did a comic role,” Rawail recalled while observing that though many people were sceptical about this decision, he remembered his guru Raj Kapoor’s advice that ‘a great script would always work’ and went on with it.
