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Published : 24 Jun 2025, 10:31 PM
The local filmdom has seen a notable shift in the last three years with the format of filmmaking seeing some marked changes along with the presentation of the protagonist.
Film fundamentals, as we have always known, dictated that the hero should always be the epitome of virtue, faltering at times in the face of romantic mishaps or other tragedies.
Rewind to the images of the dejected/spurned hero with a bottle of Carew!
In Bangladeshi movies, the norm was to show the hero drinking alcohol not out of pleasure or to unwind but to wash away some grief.
That a relaxing drink after a tough day’s work hardly made someone vile did not exist, either in reality or in celluloid.
In traditional Bangla movies, we always see the ideal father sipping tea with the family on a holiday but never a chilled beer while barbequing chicken.
This was because society in general looked at alcohol consumption as a major sin.
No problem if one hoodwinks one’s brothers and sisters to take control of the family property but if one is found to be drinking, he is summarily deemed ‘kharap’ or wicked.
For about three decades, the line: “Tumi Modh Kheyecho!!!???” (Are you drunk!!!???) was the standard line of rebuke and denunciation in our films!
Honestly speaking “Modh”, the literal translation of wine still carries a negative connotation.
MORALLY AMBIGUOUS HERO
Thankfully, with globalised ideas seeping in, the rigid attitude towards drinking has softened with the transformation in outlook reflected in movies.
That is why the current-day hero is the person with a bag filled with vices and a few virtues.
Agathokakological, if I were to use Shashi Tharoor vocab.
The world loves the baddie who also has a decent side!
This blend of vice and virtue creates a new kind of hero: the ultra-masculine protagonist with attributes that once defined the villain.
In Bangladesh, the biggest movie releases are strategically released during the two Eids and the Durga Puja holidays.
Since Christmas sees a lot of people travel outside the country, year-end film releases are few.
Looking at the last few films released during religious holidays, it’s safe to say that movie success now relies a lot on the savage look of the main character.
The hero carrying a machete or a deadly weapon, giving a searing look from the poster says it all -– it’s the time for blood, gore, death and destruction.
Enough of lipstick-wearing, cloying heroes with corny lines: tomaake chara ami bachbo naa! (I won’t be able to live without you!)
In the newly defined template, we have the Shakib Khan starred, Taandob, where bodies fall left and right but wait, it’s not just action and bullets, but devastation and mayhem layered with mind-blowing twists.
No one goes to the halls anymore to see a film, which is solely about bravado, guns and the item number.
Rather, this is the new genre of action movies where the plot is just as important.
For the mega-hits of the last few years, Toofan, Borbaad and Taandob (meaning Tempest, Ruined, and Destruction, respectively), a new template of the anti-hero has firmly established its dominance of the celluloid world.
Consequently, a bevy of other movies has presented their heroes with the same look!
What we now see is the resurrection of the 1970s Amitabh Bachchan created the “Angry Young Man” persona but with 10 times more violence.
Apt to call it the rise of the “Enraged Young Man”.
All the heroes have some sort of grievance and to vent that feeling of indignation, they unleash hell on screen.
Add to the mixture, military-grade weapons, which create mayhem and piles of bodies.
I am waiting to see who becomes the first to use either a helicopter gunship, an anti-tank missile or a piece of Howitzer.
Coming back to the plot, if this had been only death and killing, the movies would have flopped.
Interestingly, the current-day film stories have not one but several twists, which make the endings explosive.
Take, for example, the Eid-ul-Azha superhit Taandob.
This movie, for a certain period, was moving at a very predictable pace with an excess of yawn-inducing corny dialogue.
But just when you thought there was nothing to it, came the jolts and boy, did they leave us thrilled!
In the end, the hall exploded in a frenzy of delight!
A mega-budget film with opulent sets, extravagant item numbers, over-the-top machismo, and a compelling plot and certainly, Shakib Khan will be the money churner for a few more years.
As long as the plot delivers the sting, the audience will go in for the kill!
GOOD OLD SOCIAL DRAMA NOT OUTDATED (YET)
Before the Eid movies hit the halls, very few predicted, Utshob, a film based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, would garner so much interest.
Two weeks later, Utshob, a movie featuring prominent TV actors, is just behind the Shakib-starred Borbaad in ticket sales -– a testament to the fact that guns, mayhem and item songs do not monopolise the film demand.
Again, the plot is important here and the story of A Christmas Carol with some Bengali additions, makes an unforgettable treat for a whole family experience.
Amidst the bling fest of high-budget action flicks, this is a feel-good movie that looks more like a telefilm.
But the audience is hooked because it features renowned and much-adored stars from the TV who evoke plenty of memories of the 90s when TV drama was a key ingredient of our late-evening entertainment.
The message of A Christmas Carol is simple -– let’s be less mercenary and acquisitive and be more human and humane!
About two centuries later, that key exhortation hasn’t lost any appeal at all.
Instead, it has become even more significant.
The success of Utshob will inspire other moviemakers to take a break from the usual commercial film formula to present light-hearted fun-filled family movies with profound messaging.
As the urban educated middle class is celebrating Utshob and its refreshing celluloid treat, we should not forget that half of the credit goes to Charles Dickens, without whom such a brilliant plot would not have enriched world fiction.
It’s natural that all eyes will be on the successes but several films which were released could not make the right ripples or failed to attract, reportedly due to a weak script or a flat storyline.
Of the six or seven productions, only two can be termed totally, while a third one, is partially successful.
The common feeling: there should be a lifeline for movies that fail on the big screen.
The TV channels and OTT platforms can get into an arrangement so these films are shown so the audience can comment as to what needs to be different.
Of course, we all know that some films are never made to make a profit or to create a market buzz.
Will write in detail on the shenanigans of that sort of filmmaking some other time!
Actually, no producer becomes bankrupt by financing movies.
Showing inadequate return from a project aimed at ‘enriching culture’, one can always get a special tax waiver during yearly income tax returns.
A business tycoon of the 80s and 90s is believed to have channelled funds from dubious origins into cinema as part of an effort to legalise the dough.
Right, to come back on track, the trend of making top-notch commercial films and family drama should inspire producers and filmmakers to be more innovative and explore ignored genres like science fiction, espionage and detective drama.
For Eid-ul-Fitr, Chokkor, the state-financed crime drama, made ripples, while for Eid-ul-Azha, it was a social flick, Utshob.
Along with the big spending ones, let there also be a space for new ideas.
[Towheed Feroze is a former journalist!]
