Changing screen: Renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar believes Indian films have always reflected the mood of society
Veteran writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday said Indian films have been faithfully reflecting the sentiments of the society. “Indian films have always depicted and reflected what is happening in our society. Cinema comes from the society. It is the same with dreams. What is there in the conscious and subconscious mind will get reflected in dreams as well,” Akhtar said at the launch of his book, Talking Life: Javed Akhtar in Conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir.
Akhtar said in the 1930-1940s, when K.L Saigal essayed Devdas’s role, the khansi (cough) had become a virtue and fashion. “Self-destruction had become a virtue because of Saigal. However, as the society grew, this self-destructive virtue also vanished,” he said.
“When the Nehruvian era came, everyone thought that soon things would be fine,” Akhtar continued. “But as people felt that not much was changing, cinema gave society the ‘rebel star’ in the form of Shammi Kapoor. Who was this ‘rebel star’ fighting? He was fighting against his parents and society. In most of the cases this ‘rebel star’ was fighting Lalita Pawar. So, here the virtue was the negation of the feudal system.” He said in the films of this generation the villain invariably used to be the mill owner or landlord.
“In the pre-Emergency days — in the 1970s — the vigilante became the hero and we saw the emergence of the ‘angry young man’ in the form of Amitabh Bachchan. He took the law in his own hands. He would not wait for the law or the police to take their course, but would decide himself and on the spot,” he said. He said as the society evolved, the virtue and essence of the ‘villain’ died with it. “In this capitalist market, it is very difficult to find ‘villains’. The rich are khandani (from a good family), so how can they be ‘villains’?” Akhtar noted.
