It’s not Independence Day that’s set the record for the longest-running movie in Durban. It’s Raja Hindustani – one of a crop of Bollywood hits. SUZYBELL bought a ticket
I CAN see the lure – it’s pure disco. Okay I can’t understand a word of Hindi, and the acting is quite appalling, but there’s a wonderful surrealism about the hit film Raja Hindustani, that I’m sure even Salvador Dali would have found highly amusing. It slips into the absurd – a kinda soap-operatic formula that does a psychedelic foxtrot with reality.
There is a man in white gloves and a crumpled wedding hat; a butch lesbian with pink lipstick and pink heels; and a woman in slut-red dress using Americanisms like “Wow!” who falls for a taxi driver who wears the same smeggy blanket shirt, beanie and jeans throughout the film.
They find themselves in a misty field where suddenly lighting strikes. She gets a fright, jumps into his arms and then – the first passionate kiss.
Perhaps this is the childlike charm that makes it work for so many. It is spectacular creative chaos that is as flamboyant as it is obscene.
The Indian film industry is the largest in the world and this film is just one of more than 28 364 films India has produced since 1913. In 1995 India’s studios churned out 794 films in 22 languages. And going to the movies in India is a massive family affair so it’s not surprising India has 13 312 cinemas that screen three shows daily.
Raj Lutchman, manager of the Good Hope Cinema in Market Street, Johannesburg, where Raja Hindustani ran for four months, said the film will return to his screen because: “It is such an evergreen movie. We even screened a special show this week on the public holiday [June 16], because it’s so popular.”
Local distributor Robbie Lutchman, owner of Johannesburg’s Good Hope cinema, who supplies Durban via Bombay said: “South African Indians like the love stories. Raja Hindustani is so popular because it’s a simple tale, a light-hearted love story with beautiful songs.”
Lutchman says that when the film’s soundtrack is aired on Radio Lotus the movie becomes a hit. But he admits the distributors sometimes “shake in their pants” as they never really know what will become an instant success. “Take Mrityudaarta, which features veteran superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who has not been seen in Indian cinema for five years. We were worried that the audiences would reject the star who has been out of circulation, but they have actually missed him. It’s a brilliant film because it has two very popular bhangra and chutney songs,” says Lutchman.
Radio Lotus’s “Bollywood” film reviewer, Fareed “Docky” Dockrat said Raja Hindustani has been so popular because it goes back to traditional Indian values. “In the movie the whole idea of marriage is revered as sacred. It’s the director, Dharmesh Darshan’s, second film, and it’s an absolute blockbuster.”
Gitanjali Pather, strategic planning manager of education and development at The Playhouse theatre in Durban, grew up on a diet of Indian cinema. “The ones with bad mothers-in-law, repentant husbands and lots of violence and rape.
“These movies are part of an entirely separate culture. But they’re for the masses. Those who want to see half clad girls and the best man win. It contributes to a great deal of negative stereotyping. But it’s the whole idea of a brighter world. It’s sheer escapism. Expect come- hither, enticing looks, focus on navels, wet bodies and trembling lower lips. If you want some kind of aesthetic experience – forget it!”
Raja Hindustani moved on to Pietermaritzburg where it enjoyed a run for six weeks, after a five-month run in Durban and a four-month run in Johannesburg. Mrityudaarta is on in Durban at the Nu Metro cinema in West Street and at the Shah-Raj in Prince Edward Street. Koyla opens at the Nu Metro Cascades, Pietermaritzburg, this Friday, June 20, and Border opens at the Good Hope cinema, Market Street, Johannesburg