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- 'Kahaani' movie poster.
It is difficult to connect an entire year in the movies to a single theme. Last year, after all, veered from the darkness of "Shanghai" to the vibrancy of "Barfi." But if we had to choose, then 2012 was the year of vengeance.
Bollywood has explored the theme of vendetta over the years – from "Zanjeer" (1973) and "Sholay" (1975), to Baazigar (1993) and Dushman (1998), to Bhool Bhulaiya (2007) and Ghajini (2008) – but 2012 showed that the narrative style has evolved, along with techniques.
The villain is always, of course, central to tales of revenge. One of the most memorable characters of 2012 was Kaancha Cheena, played by Sanjay Dutt, in Karan Johar's "Agneepath." Mr. Dutt's portrayal of a menacing drug lord who dominates the village of Mandwa has put him right among the contenders in the upcoming awards season.
In February, cinemagoers were treated to Sujoy Ghosh's "Kahaani," another revenge-drama that unspools like a classic whodunit. With a pregnant woman, played with understated panache by Vidya Balan, as its central character, the film focused on loss and the protagonist's efforts to achieve closure, hoodwinking a number of innocent and unwitting participants in the process.
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- Hrithik Roshan at a promotional event for 'Agneepath' in Mumbai, Jan. 16, 2012.
Unlike the graphically detailed bloodshed of "Agneepath" – a common tendency in films soaked in vendetta – "Kahaani" charmed with its minimalist treatment. The director also captured an intimate view of Kolkata. This film moved beyond the angry young man, encapsulated by Amitabh Bachchan, to an angry young woman taking on the system.
Then there was Anurag Kashyap's 320-minute long "Gangs of Wasseypur," which got a standing ovation at the Cannes film festival in May. The story was set in the gritty lands of Dhanbad, the coal heartland of India, in the state of Jharkhand. "Gangs" was a cleverly packaged material of gruesome violence tuned to a flavorful soundtrack, an indie film that blurred the lines between the art-house and the mainstream.
S.S. Rajamouli's Telugu film "Eega" was released in October. Dubbed in Hindi as "Makkhi," this movie placed the idea of revenge in an altogether different zone, as it transcended the barrier of time and space, continuing in a second life, where the lead is reincarnated as a house-fly who haunts the villain. The premise sounds laughable, but "Eega" was interesting in that it spoke about the longevity of retribution as a thought-process, and its destructive capacity. It covered themes of jealousy and vengeance, of losing out due to indecisiveness, as well as survival and bad karma.
The last week of November saw the release of "Talaash," starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherji. This, a haunting drama about coming to terms with loss, can be counted as a great Bollywood noir-thriller. The complexity of the movie makes it one of the most memorable of recent times, and it also shows that vengeance doesn't always need an extravagant display of gore to be effective.
The vengeful wave was a consistent theme in five of the best films of the year. These movies didn't just rely on mere aggression or brutality; they were loaded with emotions that justified the act of vengeance in the first place.
As a form of artistic expression, revenge is a powerful dramatic premise with intriguing plot-points that puts the protagonist in a complex moral conflict. But what paved the way for vengeance in Bollywood this year? Perhaps audiences and the movie-makers had become saturated by candy-floss romances and over-hyped melodramas. It was time to move on from the superficiality.
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