Meet dwells on power of cinema in the 70s

Neha Saini

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Amritsar, July 15

How often have you heard the word ‘retro’ being in trend? What is it about cinema that brings us all together? Why is the 1970s considered the most happening, influential time in Hindi cinema? Why are the 1970s swinging? Majha House and Om Books International presented an insightful discussion to answer some of these questions while talking about ‘The Swinging 70s— Stars, Style and Substance in Hindi Cinema’ a book of essays edited by Nirupama Kotru and Shantanu Ray Chaudhary.

The speakers — Shantanu Ray Chaudhary, Nirupama Kotru, author Mira Hashmi, Balaji Vittal, a national and MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) award winning author and Bollywood commentator, SMM Ausaja, a film historian, author and archivist, talked about why the 1970s were indeed a swinging era, the most memorable one in Hindi cinema.

Shantanu Ray Chaudhary, editor and critic, who loves poetry, films, books and music, said, “The ’70s were swinging because the spectrum of cinema swung from one side to the other. We had Manmohan Desai and Satyajeet Ray. We had stars like Zeenat Aman, Shabana Azmi, Raakhi and Rekha, giving us the best of characters and performances. We had music composers like Balraj Bhatia and RD Burman. So, in terms of commercial cinema, art house cinema and middle path, ’70s was a game-changing era. Look at 1975’s biggest films – Sholay, Deewar, Aandhi and Jai Santoshi Maa. In terms of music, there is no other generation that has so many classic songs or the stars that stood out, whether it was Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah or Anil Dhawan,” he said.

Calling the films in 1970s a ‘phenomenon’, SMM Ausaja, said, “When ‘Mard’ opened in Kanpur, there were long queues outside theatres and the film went housefull for an entire week. The madness that went into watching cinema, the blockbusters of 1970s opened with hysteria, so much so that police was stationed outside the cinema halls. The whole frenzy was different as cinema had no alternative at that time. Success of varied cinema at the time was due to the fact that people were ready to accept the genres. Great filmmakers were at their peak including Hrishikesh Mukerjee, Prakash Mehra and Shakti Samanta.”

Meera Hashmi shared how cinema has always been a shared experience and that there is something powerful about this. She also stressed how music of the 1970s films drew people back to the era. Balaji Vittal agreed: “Cinema was an event at that time and you just had to be a part of it. 1970s was the age of youth. The way the whole decade kicked off with ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna, new heroes and RD Burman’s music, everything clicked. Also, action was back in Bombay as movies showed the city into the motif or background.”

Majha House founder Preeti Gill, executive members Gurpratap Singh Khairah and Indu Aurora also participated in the discussion around how the films and music of the 1970s paved the way for several social movements.