The mantle of Bollywood’s showman par excellence belongs to Subhash Ghai. He has practically rewritten the rules of the blockbuster, making an ostentatious point of not working with the superstars of the age but instead cashing on the thespian appeal of a star like Dilip Kumar to promote Karma. Ghai has made an art and craft of creating new stars – the campaign to launch Jackie Shroff in Hero (1983) is a textbook lesson in creating a star persona suited to carry off the director’s brand of showmanship. After his early films with Shatrughan Sinha, Ghai hit the big time with Karz where the reincarnation revenge drama in the land of karmic rebirth had to come through a Hollywood hit, The Revenge of Peter Proud. Thanks to Rishi Kapoor’s dancing ability and potent charm, Karz became a hit – and Farah Khan reprised images and moments from the film to power Om Shanti Om, her own tribute to the '70s. Actually Karz and Hero are exceptions to the subsequent Ghai narrative. In Karma, Ram Lakhan, Saudagar and Khalnayak, Ghai trusts the dynamics of two dissimilar heroes, brothers in spirit if not blood, played by favourites Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor, to propel the drama that is artfully spiced with spectacular dances, humour, well-executed action and the all important emotional punch for the climax.
The music of his films are chartbusters and some set piece dances go on to be controversial talking points – Madhuri Dixit’s ‘Choli ke peeche kya hai…’ being the prime example. Ghai is unfazed by criticism from feminist groups because this particular song emphasizes the voyeuristic male gaze, drawing attention to Sanjay Dutt’s eye patch as he enjoys the performance.
When the NRI audience became a vital part of the global audience to which Bollywood caters so assiduously, Ghai gave up the old themes to make Pardes and Taal where the foreign-born hero’s return to Indian roots is the culmination of the narrative. The rooted Indian woman is the agent who brings about this cultural and emotional change.
The failure of the ambitiously scaled Kisna, a period piece set against the 1857 uprising against the British, did not dishearten Ghai. Instead, Mukta Arts that Ghai heads, produced an outstanding small film with an unusual theme and Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal has won many accolades. Ghai has now set up Whistling Woods, a state of the art film school in Bombay that is expected to train filmmakers, writers, cinematographers, editors and actors.
