Budhana – a small
town in UP, was just like any other insignificant, unimportant place in our map,
till Faisal Khan made a dramatic entry into the scene.
No, this character is neither a Robin Hood nor a
politician coming before elections with false promises…. He is that
unforgettable character portrayed by Nawazzuddin Siddiqui in Gangs of Wasseypur.
This meaty actor hails from Budhana. And after his recognition, even his birth
place started being recognized. Today even a cinema hall has come up here, in a
makeshift screen. And as Nawazzuddin smilingly said in an interview, “C-grade movies play in
that hall now.”
By now, you must have thought that this article is
about Siddiqui’s epic rise or about small town people making it big in
Bollywood or even may be about changing face of India – None are correct. It’s
about the kind of films that is being shown in Siddiqui’s home town, Budhana’s
first ever cinema hall!!! The C-GRADE movies!!
We are in the 100th year of Indian cinema,
proudly celebrating the journey, grandeur, excellence, reach and success, which
our cinema has experienced over 10 decades. But these C or D graded, not so
talked about movies also form a part of this 100 year’s history. From adding
revenue to creating employment, from reaching out to places where regular
commercial movies are still yards away to creating a separate genre – they have
successfully built their own universe.
1980’s to 2000 - this marks the significant timeline
for B and C grade films in our country. In fact last year, Ashim Ahluwalia captured
this time frame of C-grade movies in his film Miss Lovely starring Nawazzuddin himself and Niharika Singh. The
film also competed in the Un Certain
Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Be it the overall tackiness or over-the top sexual
statements, the horror quotient or the sleazy dialogues – these films have always
been successful in impressing their audience. And it would be an utter
understatement to say that these films appeal only to the backward areas. Close
in our cities, they have got enough viewers – from intrigued teenagers to
college goers, from people suffering from mid life crisis to those going just
for fun. Destination is one. Remember Imitiaz Ali’s Rockstar? How Ranbir and
Nargis had their freaky Jungli Jawaani
day out… Well many of us, may not be vocal about watching them, but do enjoy
these films to the utmost.
Back in 1970’s and 80’s the Ramsay Brothers started
making low budget horror films. They were a team of seven brothers who used to
write, direct, edit and produce these films. Films like Veerana, Purana Mandir, Bandh Darwaza, Shaitani Ilaka and many
others made them masters of their genre. In an interview director Sajid Khan
insisted on the fact, that they should not be considered as C-grade filmmakers.
“The Ramsays were main stream and had built a reputation as good filmmakers in
the genre they were operating in.” Not only Sajid Khan, directors like Anurag
Kashyap, Shimit Amin, Farhan Akhtar, Farha Khan also loves to call themselves
C-movie fans.
Not only the Ramsay brothers, there were few others
who also chose to walk this unconventional and rather controversial path. Most
noted among them is Kanti Shah. Most of his films had Sapna Tanveer, his wife,
as the female lead. Kanti Shah has given blockbusters like Gunda and most noted of all, Kanti
Shah Ke Angoor. Apart from the Ramsays and Shah, there were many other
names who proudly declared themselves as C and D grade filmmakers. Like
Gyanendra Choudhary, Mohan Bhakri, Vinod Talwar, NA Ansari, K Bapaiya, Harinam
Singh, Raj Kumar Kohli, Joginder, and many others. Well, these films do not
lack God Fathers either. Harinam Singh, director-producer of Khooni Dracula is considered as the God
of D-Grade films. Suresh Jain is the ultimate man for producing erotica. Films
like Doodhwali, Machhiwali, Kelewali
and many others with such double meaning names have come out of his den.
It is considered that the trend of such films
prominently started with 1987 film Raat
Ke Andhere Mein. Directed by Vinod Talwar, the film’s casting comprised
Javed Khan, Dipika, Mazhar Khan and others. It has been noticed that during
80’s, these films predominantly portrayed violence and horror. Sex and erotica
has not yet arrived in the scene though 1984 release Pyasa Saitan was an exception. Discussed so much, what is really
different between B, C and D rated films? Well as the “experts” comment C grade
films invest lesser money than B-rated movies, have bad actors and are inclined
mostly towards erotic contents. And D rated films sometimes even feature spot
boys due to lack of fund!!!
Though outcasted by the main stream society and
regular movie market, yet this genre of films have garnered popularity and
success for commercial Hindi film superstars like Dharmendra and Mithun
Chakrabarty. The reason of their popularity in small towns is mainly because of
the B and C-grade films they have worked in. In fact there was a time when
Dharmendra became only a B-grade star and was seen featuring in numerous such
films among which, many turned out to be blockbusters. On the other hand Mithun
Chakrabarty teamed up with director TLV Prasad to work in almost 30 such films.
In fact TLV is a holder of Limca Book of Records being a single director to
work on so many films with one hero. Films like Jallaad, Aag Hi Aag, Sher-e-hindustan, Sultan, Shera and many others
made Mithun Chakrabarty a mass idol. Even Rajesh Khanna, in last few years of
his acting career, worked in a B-grade movie Wafa: A Deadly Love story.
Generally made with budget as low as something in
between Rs. 3 – 5 lakh, these films are able to pull in double the amount
invested. No doubt, for producers investing in these films is a complete
win-win game. Mainly the genres of erotica, violence and horror are explored here.
On the viewer’s part, there is something or the other intriguing and
interesting about these movies which make them the ardent viewers. Cheesy
dialogues (not to forget, also meaningless most of the time), lack of
continuity, sinful technical errors, plastic demons to supra voluptuous sex
sirens – these films have something to offer for everyone.
As Vidya Balan in Dirty Picture boldly stated that “Filmein sirf teen cheezon ki wajah se
chalti hain... Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment...” and these
films personify entertainment. There is a myth that Bollywood sells in the name
of Bachchans, Khans and Kumars…well no Kumars, Khans, Bachchans or any other demy
gods, they sell at their own name…at their own worth.
