Actors aren’t running around trees anymore, Bhumi Pednekar said in a recent interview. That’s true. Why did Hindi films’ screen lovers do that, though? I never questioned it while watching films as a child, or even later, as an adult. It was in every film, so it was accepted by everyone as normal. So it seemed normal.
Bhaag bae bhaag
As a child, I remember seeing couples in gardens, chatting, laughing and spending quality time together. There was zero running involved. That was strictly a children-only activity. But even back then, I’d wonder, “The leading lady likes/loves the hero. She has come to meet him. So, why is she spending all the time running away from him?” Yesteryear heroines took playing hard to the level where the poor hero must’ve felt like a rapist every time he tried to get close to his bae. Forget kissing, if he so much as looked in her direction, she’d take flight like a startled bird. And the poor sod had no option but to run after her.
Real parks
As children, my mum would take my siblings and me to the park every evening. I recall many couples hanging at the garden (no shady business going on behind trees or thorny bushes). Films reflect what goes on in society. In films from the ’60s — even up to the ’80s — the garden was the chosen venue for a date. The hero and heroine would meet in parks because that’s what couple back then did. So that was where most of the songs and romantic scenes were shot. Now, our songs are shot on foreign locales, colleges, in nightclubs (the new gardens) and beaches (also mandatory). That’s normal for this generation. That’s where they romance. So we don’t question it.
Aise kaise?
But like we scoff at dancing or running around trees, the next generation will laugh at the films we are making and watching. They will question how a couple in some other part of the world is suddenly teleported to Egypt and begins to sing Teri Ore or Sooraj Hua Madham. (The justification is that, ‘It is a dream sequence’). Or why so many of our leading ladies don a white bridal gown for a dream sequence. (It’s like Jennifer Lawrence dreaming of wearing lehenga and sindoor in a Hollywood film).
Let’s go!
Several films are shot abroad now. And it isn’t just aspirational, it’s also because many countries offer rebates to filmmakers. It’s all about economics and promoting tourism. Watching Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara will make you want to go to Spain. And Befikre will make you want to go to Paris.
What if I just want to go to the garden, though? There is always Hyde Park in London.
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