Films, stories from three decades ago reappear on screen
Bollywood just took a 30-year leap backwards. Films on the marquee in recent times and in the forthcoming days seem to suggest that we are in the eighties for the time being for sure.
The songs and dances from the 80s’ are back. The action from the eighties is also back in vogue. The crimes in the 80s’ are being re-created on screen and yes, the comedy from that era is back as well.
Films like ‘Himmatwala’, ‘Special 26’, ‘Shootout At Wadala’, ‘Gunday’ and ‘Chashme Baddoor’ seem to suggest that we want all that back from the eighties.
One look at the Farah Khan choreographed and Sajid Khan directed song from ‘Himmatwala’ and as Ajay Devgn and Tamannah Bhatia go ‘Tathaiyya Tathaiyya Ho’, it brings back memories of Jeetendra and Sridevi or yore. The groovy number was added to make the look right.
2013 also saw one of the biggest robberies ever in the history of Mumbai when a bunch of people pretended to be CBI officers and robbed a lot of tax offenders. Since the robbery took place in the eighties, the styling and dressing in this film was from the decade. And there’s more crime from the eighties. And this is inspired by the real life underworld that existed. The Sanjay Gupta directed film ‘Shootout At Wadala’ will see the then Bombay and the 80s’ with its dose of gangsters. John Abraham will be gangster Manya Surve. ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Again’ will also give us a glimpse of the gangsters from that era in Mumbai. Dawood Ibrahim’s character will be played in the film by Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha will be his lady love.
‘Gunday’ from Yashraj will also have the styling and feel of the 70s’ as well as the 80s’. The film is based on the coal mafia and goon culture of Kolkata and the film stars Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. And then the memorable comedy from the 80s’, the Sai Paranjpe directed film ‘Chashme Baddoor’ will also be up for grabs as David Dhawan remakes the movie with Ali Zafar, Siddharth and Tapsee Pannu. The soft humour of the eighties too will be back now along with the emotion,
drama and the action. Now, don’t we call that regression.
