Is the reality bug biting Bollywood?

Sometime ago, there was a small but a thought-provoking film titled JAAGO, which was based on a real-life rape incident in a local train. The film was well made but could not garner a box-office triumph. Movies based on real-life happenings are a rare treat for Bollywood audience. Seldom a filmmaker wants to take up a slice of reality and feed that on to celluloid. Even though in the last decade or so a few films tried to incorporate factual pieces, be it events or real-life personalities. Shekhar Kapur's BANDIT QUEEN was based on the life of Phoolan Devi, Mani Ratnam's BOMBAY tried to depict the Mumbai riots, Ram Gopal Varma's AB TAK CHAPPAN was a take on the life of an encounter cop and the recently released APAHARAN tried to document the kidnappings in Bihar and the movie got a lot of appreciation.

Director Mohit Suri is aspiring to make a film on the life of his mentor Mahesh Bhatt. The talented director Manish Jha's (of MATRUBHOOMI fame) next film GUDIYA is also an account of a real-life person. Vikram Bhatt is also hopeful to make a film based on the recent rape of a South African model that had made headlines a few days ago. And now the buzz is that London based producer J Murli Manohar wishes to make a film on the life of Sonia Gandhi and is trying to rope in Aishwarya Rai to play the title role. Aishwarya incidentally is also playing two real-life characters on celluloid those are of 'Gayatri Devi' and 'Umrao Jaan'. Jagmohan Mundra will direct the film on Sonia Gandhi.

So is the reality bug biting Bollywood? In a way it's a positive development. The incidents that make headlines when put on to celluloid will give a stark picture and the people will connect with it instantly. Hence it'll lead to some thin awakening and therefore filmmakers must increasingly try to better the development in the future. Secondly, it might give way to the dawning of an era that will see the emergence of meaningful cinema! One hopes to see the resurgence in the future