An insightful read about Bhojpuri Cinema.
How many times you have traveled to states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and expected that the moment you will step out of the railways station or airport, you will see all the girls wearing undersized chaniya choli on their over sized boobs and every man approaching you will sing "Lagawelu jab lipistic , hila arra district" and pinch your butt and run away mischievously. I am sure many and you are not at fault because this is the picture painted by these poor, cheap and creepy film distributors of beautiful and culturally rich Bhojpuri cinema.
After Bihar and UP, Mumbai is the third biggest consumer of Bhojpuri films.
Due to low production cost and zero support from the government, filmmakers are not able to promote their work outside the region. Hence people have no idea about the cinema they are making. You have to give some discount on costume, make up, props and overall production value of the film but nowhere Bhojpuri cinema is crass. It tells as normal stories as you see in Bollywood or other regional films.
Most people have formed their opinion about these states either through Anurag Kashyap's "Gangs of Wasseypur" and Prakash Jha's "Gangajal" or posters like "Sil Tut Jaaye", "Niruaha Rickshaw wala, I love you" (the actual film is just Niruaha Rickshaw wala), "Raat bhar Hilaya hai fir Bulaya hai" and "Har**&%i Kela". Just to make it clear films with these titles don't even exist in Bhojpuri cinema. They are just bad photo shopped posters created to tickle yourself. Some of them are songs but then we have songs in Bollywood too where A grade actressës are swooning in their skimpiest outfits on "Main to tandoori murgi hu yaar, gatka le mujhe alcohol se" or "chikni chameli pauaa chada ke aai" and we have made them superhit.
Bhollywood or popularly known as Bhojiwood represents two major states of India, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and Madhesh in Nepal. It has been contributing some wonderful, culturally enriched films to the cinema for ages. I got exposed to wonderful bhojpuri films after I got married. The family I got married into broke my myths about this cinema. Surprisingly they did not know any name of Bhojpuri film I told them and vice versa.
Manoj Tewari, a leading Bhojpuri actor, now a BJP MLA, says that Bhojpuri cinema is growing, but the growth is very slow. He said, as Bhojpuri is not listed in the Eight Schedule of Constituion, so Bhojpuri films can neither be bought by Doordarshan to show as regional cinema nor eligible for National Awards.
"Nadiya ke Paar", a major hit in 1982, which was remade with the name "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun" in 1994, depicts the culture of this belt very beautifully. Though it partially belongs to the Bhojpuri cinema because of the language and the background used in the film.
In recent times, Bollywood is making ripples in the industry with plots based in these states and bringing forth the culture and language spoken in this region. But Bhojpuri industry, a distant cousin of Bollywood, is also trying its best to bring the good stories with better artists to the theaters. Some of the good entertainers of the Bhojpuri cinema that you can watch are:
Ganga is a beautiful story of a father and son and what kind of changes it goes through when father gets to see the real personality of his son. It also passes the message that, khoon ke risthey se bada ek aur rishta bhi hota hai, woh hai pyaar aur izzat ka. I mean typical drama with no "chichor harkat" which is highly expected from Bhojpuri cinema.
Sasura Bada Paisa Wala (My rich Father-in-Law) is an entertainer that tells a tale of a rich father-in-law who tries to lure his son-in-law to stay at his home after marriage by giving him lots of money. At the end obviously he loses it to him but the whole fight is entertaining.
Ranbhoomi is a power packed action film that narrates how a common man is forced to be a naxalite due to noncooperation of police officials and then he wears the "maut ka saudagar" gamcha around his neck and takes revenge. Trust me this film was really good. And don't miss the dialogue of a 4 year old at end- "Saale hamare babu ke marle, hum tumko zinda na chodyein" (You idiot, you killed my father. I will not leave you).
Bahubali: This Prakash Jha directorial was made when Nokia phones were in fashion and Kingfisher Airlines was running profitably. I can say this because both of them have been used in this film. A film which has some amazing actors like Akhilendra Mishra (Kroor Singh of Chandrakanta), Mukesh Tiwari (Vasuli Bhai of Golmal), Pankaj Tripathi (Sultan Quershi of Gangs of Wasseypur) , Daya Shankar Pandey (Melaram from Swades, the guy who wanted to go to US with Shahrukh Khan) will definitely give you goosebumps. It is about a gang fights where lot of politicians are also involved.
Border: No it has nothing to do with nation and your love for your national flag. It is like a typical bollywood potboiler with lot of jhatkas and matkas, comedy, action, songs, and little bit of overacting. This is a story of a guy who actually takes revenge from his father for selling his dukiyari maa on a kotha and marrying a rich girl from a city to become a goon.
Gharwali Baharwali: As the name says, this film is about guy marrying two females one from the city and other from his village and eventually falling in his own trap. I would say both the actresses Rani Chaterjee and Monalisa have done pretty good job.
Among the old ones the list is endless but for that you have to type in your Youtube search old Bhojpuri classics in place of Bhojpuri hot films.
Lot of big Bhojpuri actors enjoy massive fan following on social media. To name a few Monalisa, Amrapali Dubey, Pakhi Hegde, Reshmi Desai, Ravi Kishen, Dinesh Lal Yadav, Kesari Yadav, and Manoj Tewari. And you will be happy to see so many character artists which actually bring life to any bollywood flick in many Bhojpuri films. Together they all are trying to make a great cinema for the audience. Only the audience needs to break the stereotype and accept them and their work now.
Happy Reading!