once upon a time in the seventies

So, the upcoming film Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai is inviting us to forget the chocolate boys, the starlets, the flings and sweet one-liners....and return to an era of real men, divas, romance, and punch lines.

In short:  they are proposing a rewind to the 70s, the golden age of Hindi cinema, the era that gets most of us well and truly hooked on Indian films.  And even if it's not where your entry point was, those films will find you and grab you eventually.  It is inevitable.

I love the theatrical trailer for the film. It is so delicious it makes my toes curl.  And happily, it looks like the film is going to end up in a cinema in Toronto:

(Did anyone else think Emraan was going to kiss Prachi there for a minute? Hee!)

A while back, Ajay Devgn set up some contest for the film, something about writing a paragraph about the 70s era and its style in everything, I guess to get people pumped and thinking about it.  I don't have to write about 70s style, because I lived it:

 

(yes, me, circa 1977)

And although for a long time, I really wanted to forget that era with its excesses in *everything*, the last few years have made me realize that I really am a child of the 70s, and I now revel in everything, from the fabulous shirts to the wide lapels, to the music, and to the glittery disco balls. 

So sign me up for Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai.  I am so on board that train.

 

 

Comments

[Ness]

100% on board for this film. Bilkool.

Emraan Hashmi exerts this weird pull over me too. I don't know what it is. But I don't like it, after seeing him DEVOUR poor heroine's faces one too many times.

And also: OMG HOW CUTE ARE YOU!

[katherine]

Well, Prachi did say in an interview that it wasn't fair that everyone only focussed on the kissing, so I'm assuming that this film is different, which might be a nice change.

Abhay Deol does some serious devouring in a couple of films. Dude.

And how cute *was* I. Long time ago. And I'm thinking now it must really be '79, cos I think that may have been my last year of high school.

And I totally haven't had another perm since then. Oy.

[Beth Watkins]

I'll say publicly that I am completely baffled by Bollywood fans who don't even want to TRY 70s Hindi films...you know the kind, the kind who think there were no films before SRK or that everything pre-2000 is hopelessly out of date and lame. I mean, if you try three, and they do nothing for you, fine. But as evidenced by many, many posts on my site, as well as the fact that I instigated 70s week, I'm convinced that almost all roads lead to that decade (and its antecedents and spillovers, as well as its modern interpretations).

And films aside, I was born in '74 so didn't experience the 70s the way you did, but I have such a fond place in my heart for what homes and grownups looked like when I was little.

[katherine]

Beth, let me play devil's advocate here just a little.

I'd agree that if you're undertaking some serious study into Bollywood, with an eye to becoming an expert (however you want to define that word), then you're remiss in not looking at films from ALL eras, 70s included....and right through the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

But how many of us are on that route?

One of the things that fascinated me as a librarian was the concept of bibliotherapy, how, on some basic level, we choose books that serve certain needs we need fulfilled. I certainly see that in my own reading -- and I see it in my film watching as well. For me, that translates into a willingness and a DESIRE to see a wide range of films, from many cultures, and also why I can watch a film like Partner over, and over, and over again, simply because it makes me feel good.

But for others? What they need is SRK, and only SRK. Or they need only contemporary cinema, and reject anything earlier.

That's fine with me, as long as they're not telling me I can't possibly enjoy the earlier films. But if they don't, they don't.

You can perfectly enjoy a film like Farhan Akhtar's Don without having seen the original. Personally, I get more of a kick out of it because I *have* seen the original, but my husband hasn't, and he enjoyed the remake just fine.

As for the 70s: it took me a long time to get over my initial rejection of everything from that era -- but I think for some of us we go through a rejection of our formative period as adults before we come back and realize what it gave us. I'm sure those who were young adults in the 80s and 90s feel the same way, and I wonder how they'll feel in 10 or 20 years.

All that said, though, and setting aside my advocate's robes -- I'd participate in another 70s week in a heartbeat.

:-)