From Salim to Salman

Evolution of Narrative in Hindi Masala Films 1973 - 2013

Student ID: 4195389

Year 3 Single Honours Film and Television Studies

School of Culture, Film and Media

From Salim to Salman
Evolution of Narrative in Hindi Masala Films 1973 - 2013

Student ID: 4195389

Year 3 Single Honours Film and Television Studies

School of Culture, Film and Media

The University of Nottingham

     
 
 Acknowledgements

First and foremost I’d like to thank my supervisor Mark Gallagher for providing me
with constructive direction over the past three years and positively enhancing the
way in which I look at cinema as a medium that transcends national boundaries in
being restrained by them.

I am extremely grateful to my supervisor preceding Mark - Dr Ian Brookes’

dedication to cinema, astoundingly vast knowledge of it and eagerness to witness my
thesis take shape motivated me immensely and convinced me of my topic choice.

Julian Stringer’s appreciation of blockbuster cinema and more particularly,

fascination with Sholay brought out a sense of pride in me that played a crucial role
in my decision of selecting Hindi masala cinema as a subject worthy of analysis.

Lastly, I’d like to thank every figure in the Hindi film industry that has contributed to
the masala genre from Amitabh Bachchan, Yash Chopra and Salim Khan to Akshay
Kumar, Rohit Shetty and Salman Khan. These films have not only entertained me
but have cultivated my lifelong desire to contribute to the industry, an industry that
has taken India to the world and I hope that the quality of this study has not been
marred by my lack of objectivity in dealing with a subject that I am so passionate
about.

     
 
 Abstract

The purpose of this project is to investigate the narrative of Hindi masala films and
deduce the occurring changes. These changes are analysed to surmise whether the
films are representative of India as a nation, and if so, to what extent. The research
includes qualitative and quantitative data from ten masala films produced between
1973 and 2013 along with a range of secondary sources. Particular factors that have
been examined within these films include their portrayal of archetype characters,
recurring motifs in the plot, and the importance of song and dance sequences. The
study identifies extensive intra-cultural influence on the masala films of the 1970s
and 1980s, followed by an adaptation to foreign cultural conventions in the 1990s
and 2000s. The contemporary masala films of the 2010s are a hybrid of intra-cultural
and inter-cultural influences. The adaptation of foreign conventions and retention of
local influences in the current decade represent the Hindi film industry’s ability to
compete with other national cinemas at a global scale, and hence demonstrate India’s
cultural and economical importance on an international stage.

Word Count: 10,805

     
 
Contents Page

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Researching Masala 8

1.1. The Cinema of Interruptions: Quantitative Data 9

1.2. State, Love and Kinship: Qualitative Data 11

Chapter 2: Intra-cultural Influences on Masala Films 15

An examination of the Indian cultural and social influences on
the masala films of the 1970s and 1980s

Chapter 3: Inter-cultural Influences on Masala Films 20

A study of the impact of foreign cultures on masala films
in the 1990s and 2000s

Chapter 4: Contemporary Masala Films 25

An investigation of masala films of the 2010s as a product
of inter-cultural and intra-cultural influences

Conclusion 30

Bibliography 32

Films 36

Internet Sources 37

     
 
   Om  Sai  Ram   1  

Introduction

The voluminous terrain of film studies for a long time since its inception neglected
the significance of Indian cinema both as an art form and chiefly as a social
commentary on and of a nation. Although in due course, films such as Pather
Panchali ([Song of the Little Road], Satyajit Ray, 1955, In) did score appreciation
(Willis 2003), they belonged to a category often referred to as the ‘parallel’ cinema
of India, which is parallel to the popular. Popular Indian cinema, however, remained
overlooked by intellectuals and critics alike (Chakravarty 1993) until the 1980s who
deemed it to be ‘kitsch, devoid of any aesthetic value, fully divorced from reality’
and only appreciated by people of ‘inferior intellectual capabilities’ (Kazmi
1998:134).

Although Barnouw and Krishnaswamy’s publication of ‘Indian Film’ in 1963

provided a far-flung observation of Indian cinema based on pervasive archival
research, it was not until the early 1980s when a marginal interest for popular Indian,
more specifically Hindi, cinema arose in the western world. This increase in
awareness was a result of both the widespread Indian diaspora for whom cinema
serves as the prime cultural link to their homeland, who account for approximately
thirty million people worldwide as of 2012 (Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs,
2012), and more importantly the prediction of India’s economic development in the
21st century initiated by a series of reforms put in place by Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi in the 1980s (DeLong 2001).

It is of utmost effect to recognise the difference between Indian cinema and Hindi
cinema. India being a multilingual state has film industries corresponding to most
major languages often situated geographically in parts of the nation where the
language is most spoken. Examples include the Telugu film industry situated in
Hyderabad, the Tamil film industry in Chennai and the Kannada film industry in
Bengaluru. The most prolific of all industries and perhaps the one best representative
of Indian cinema to the outside world is the Hindi film industry of Mumbai (named
Bombay until 1995). Ironically, this is the one Indian film industry that has no state
to belong to seeing as Mumbai is located in the state of Maharashtra where the

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   2  

regional language is Marathi, a language that has its own film industry. As such, in
its lack of affiliation with any particular region of the nation, Hindi cinema is
perceived as a cinema that belongs to the nation. The Hindi film industry is
informally referred to as ‘Bollywood’ – a portmanteau of the words ‘Bombay’ and
‘Hollywood’ – but over time the term Bollywood has come to be not only a reference
to the film industry but also a specific style of filmmaking that is associated with that
industry. Within the bounds of the contemporary Hindi cinema exist a diverse range
of film genres, much like in Hollywood, the amalgam of which constitutes a ‘masala’
film. The word ‘masala’ itself is of culinary origin meaning a blend of spices. In the
way that a masala is a blend of spices, a masala film is a blend of a range of genres,
usually including but not limited to musical, romance, action, comedy and drama,
modelled to appeal to a wide audience (Ganti 2004). To this end, the term masala has
often been used to refer to popular Hindi cinema as a whole given that one of the
prerequisites of popularity per se is to appeal to a broad range of people. As a
response, the film industry has established certain elements in the narrative, the
incorporation of which confirms a film as a masala film.

This dissertation has two goals. First, it uses textual analysis to deduce changes in
narrative changes in masala films over the course of fifty years, drawing on the
repercussions of socio-political aspects, the nations existent cultural art forms and
also the influence of cultural art forms of other nations. Second, it traces the
development of the masala genre and proposes causes for generic transformation
over time.

As a basis for its investigation I have conducted research into a selection of ten films,
two from each decade since 1970, which best represent the genre of masala film in
their respective time periods. Insofar as the film being ‘popular’ is concerned, each
case is one of the highest-grossing Indian films in its year of release and in some
cases even the highest grossing Indian films of all time. However it is important to
note that masala itself is not a genre recognised by film intellectuals therefore the
choice of films that best respond to the criteria of masala is subjective. The primary
criterion put forward in the selection of these films is their incorporation of a variety
of genres. Secondary to that is discourse of these texts that identifies them as masala
films, be it from production personnel such as the directors, actors and producers of

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   3  

the film or receivers such as film critics and general audiences. The focus of the case
study remains on the film texts, but material has been drawn from a protracted range
of popular Hindi films to allow for better comprehension. For example, a study of
EK Tha Tiger ([There was once a Tiger], Kabir Khan, 2012, In), one of the texts
being investigated, compels familiarity with the film Ghajini (A.R.Murugaddos,
2008, In) in order to accurately portray the resurgence of the ‘Angry Young Man’,
someone who by this point had not been seen on the silver screen since the late
1980s.

Almost all readings of any given national cinema have encouraged awareness of the
nation in question’s political, social and cultural movements (Gopalan 1996).
However, as this study’s core method is narrative analysis of a narrow range of texts
in the mammoth field of Indian cinema, I address India’s socio-political aspects only
when they have explicit relevance to a film’s plot. There are numerous factors at play
that allow Indian cinema to offer social commentary on the nation but most
importantly the fact that it is the largest democracy in the world (Tudor 2013).
Private radios and televisions are a luxury for the Indian population, a third of which
lived below the poverty line, and cinema is thus the most economical and efficacious
form of mass communication (Kazmi 1998).

Chapter 1 of the dissertation outlines its methodology, a textual analysis of ten films.
The analysis takes both a quantitative and qualitative form, more substantially the
latter. Quantitative research has been implemented by discerning the amount of
screen time that is allocated to the firstly, presence of a leading female character and
secondly, song and dance sequences with the premier intention of ascertaining the
significance of the two elements to the diegesis. I use the term ‘song and dance’
loosely, given that not all such sequences involve some form of dance. The
qualitative research, substantially more informative in comparison to the
quantitative, deals with identifying recurrent themes and elements in the narratives of
the readings. In conjunction with the diagnosis of said motifs and components, I will
also canvass the diverse approaches taken by the texts in the way that they are
represented.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   4  

Chapters 2, 3 and 4 comprise an augmented scrutiny of the masala narrative by

looking at what I have identified as its three essential components namely plot,
characters and song sequences. Chapter 2 considers the indigenous cultural forms
and the political state of affairs as a major influence on the masala films of the 1970s
and 1980s. In chapter 3, I put forward the claim that foreign cultural forms, most
significantly American, play a crucial role in forming the narrative in masala films of
the 1990s and 2000s. Chapter 4 contemplates the claim that the masala film of the
2010s is a product of both intercultural and intra-cultural influence. The texts studied
in the first chapter continue to form the nucleus of the study but for the sake of a
more comprehensive examination, a variety of other texts have been drawn from.
These texts consist of films - masala and non-masala, Indian and foreign – in
addition to primary materials about these films in question. Also present is an
extensive regard to secondary resources by noted scholars in the field of Indian
cinema and cinema in general which functions as a literature review. Results of the
research conducted on the ten films will be used in conjunction with the three
essential components of a masala narrative in order to judge the changes that have
taken place over time. In addition to deducing the changes, I will also identify the
reasons that have caused them. In doing so, sources that emerge as prominent in
constructing the masala narrative include, but are not limited to classical Indian
theatre, the more contemporary Parsi theatre of the 19th century, musical television
and perhaps most importantly, Hollywood and the two major Sanskrit epics of
ancient India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana (Gokulsing and Dissanayake
1998).

I emphasise that the influence of each of these sources if heavily concentrated on

specific periods of the study. For example, the influence of the Sanskrit epics is more
prominent in the films of the 1970s and 1980s whereas Hollywood had a much
greater impact on the films of the two following decades. Classical Indian theatre and
Parsi theatre of the 19th century however are two art forms that have informed not
only masala cinema but Indian cinema as a whole. The emphasis laid on spectacle in
Classical Indian theatre, which resulted in the combining of song and dance to create
a distinct theatrical experience, in conjunction with the motivation of the Parsi
dramatists to appeal to the lowest common resulting in plays that were a mixture of
realism, fantasy, music, dialogue, narrative and spectacle (Gokulsing and

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   5  

Dissanayake 1998) is visible since the very first Indian film to have synchronised
sound Alam Ara ([The Ornament of the World], Ardeshir Irani, 1931, In), which had
over seven songs (Barnouw and Krishnaswamy 1963).

In the genre’s existence as an amalgam of various other genres, its seamless

integration of them is its most notable facet. Indian cinema as a whole has since its
commencement had the afflatus of the styles and aesthetics employed by assortment
of cultural forms that have constantly supervened each other over centuries (Desai
and Dudrah 2008). The expansive plot of the masala film has numerous digressions
introduced into the primary plot of the narrative, often for comic effect, which
seldom expedites the progress of it (Nayar 2003). The vital common characteristic of
the masala narrative is a ‘sharp delineation of good and evil, excessive use of co-
incidence and emotion, and the privileging of moral conflicts over psychological’
(Ganti 2004:137). However, as subjective as the term ‘morally correct’ is, I have
paid a substantial amount of attention to the evolution of morality itself in masala
films. For instance, out of the ten texts being analysed two of them depict a moral
conflict between brothers, Deewar ([The Wall], Yash Chopra, 1975, In) and Race
(Abbas-Mustan, 2008, In). Whilst in the former there is an indisputable difference
between the moral and immoral character, the latter depicts two immoral characters,
one simply more than the other. In additional to popular Indian cinema’s obsession
with family values and kinship which is conveniently comparable to the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana, Bollywood’s masala film resembles its American
counterpart’s flagship product: the blockbuster. In the same way that a masala film is
a hybrid of a variety of genres designed to appeal to the lowest common
denominator, so too is the Hollywood blockbuster (Schatz 1993). This comparison
nonetheless often regularly bedims the potential influence that other national cinemas
might have on the masala genre; Srinavas notes that the influence of Italian Westerns
and Hong Kong martial art films have a far more evident influence on Hindi films
than Hollywood (2003).

Amitabh Bachchan, perhaps the symbolic figure of Hindi masala cinema, remarks
that the ‘heroes’ of Hindi cinema are modern manifestations of the mythical
characters from the two Sanskrit epics (Kabir 2001). It is apropos to suggest that
Bachchan is the most well known figure of not only the masala genre, but Hindi

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   6  

cinema as whole. As Chakravarty claims, he ‘came to prominence as the “angry

young man” of the Indian screen, the lower-middle class or working class hero out to
fight a corrupt and unjust system’ (2003:200) and in doing so allowing the spectator
to recognise his or her own social world within the world of the film through the
character’s dress, accent and gestures. The ‘angry young man’ was thus established
as the forerunner of any masala film and inferably casting a lead male star is usually
the first step in putting one together (Ganti 2004). The male protagonist’s quest for
justice often stems from a conflict between people and the modern state, whereupon
the former is almost always represented by the character’s mother (Vitali 2008). The
mother, although in most cases the more influential female character in the narrative,
is not always considered the female protagonist. The female protagonist’s primary
function is to pose as the romantic interest of her male correlate and it is for this
reason she bears attributes resembling Sita, the wife of Ram, the male protagonist of
the Ramayana. In contrast to this female character that represents purity is the
‘vamp’, an immoral and Westernised woman (Gokulsing and Dissanayake 1998: 77).
An incontestable change in the female mainstay of the masala genre is her gradual
development of vamp-like qualities to the extent that it is not too far-fetched a claim
to suggest that the female protagonist of the contemporary masala is a present-day
materialisation of the vamp of the 70s and 80s. In the conflict between people and
state, the antagonist of the film represents the state. Kazmi notes that the actions of
the protagonist, or ‘hero’ as he is more commonly referred to by audiences, are not
‘directed against the nature and structure of institutions fulfilling specific roles
according to the demands of a larger social system, but actually against the character
disorders of the personnel manning these institutions who actually themselves are
victims of the system’ (1998:141). In this context, it is worth paying consideration to
the villain-like qualities of the hero, and feasibly even the villains development of
heroic qualities.

The last of the three components is the song-and-dance sequence, an element

perceived to be quintessential to the commercial Hindi film (Ganti 2004). Song
sequences serve two primary purposes in a masala film: intrinsic to the narrative they
are the immediate means through which a romantic relationship between the male
and female protagonists is developed. Unlike in Hollywood films, overt depiction of
sexuality is prohibited in Indian films therefore song sequences play a crucial role in

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   7  

evoking erotic, sexual tension between characters (Gokulsing and Dissanayake

1998). The ability of these sequences to allow characters to express their feelings in a
way that the narrative itself might not have allowed renders them an integral part of
it (Gopalan 2002). Like almost all elements of Hindi cinema, these sequences also
have their roots in ancient Sanskrit drama, which placed great emphasis on spectacle
mixed with music and dance (Byrski 1980). Additionally, these sequences function
as the ‘spectacle’ that draws the audiences to the cinemas. Whilst in the early years
of our period of study this spectacle consisted of song sequences depicting scenic
foreign locales that the audiences had not been exposed to, they have in the latter
years relied on overly erotic images of the female body in what is referred to as ‘item
songs’. With the Indian censor board taking a less draconian stance concerning
depictions of sexuality in recent times, one of the two primary purposes of song
sequences, the one that made them relevant to the narrative, is no longer necessary.
Even in this context however, actions of the characters within these sequences are
revealing about their nature, which is in turn still very much relevant to the plot.

The analysis of the narrative of masala film is beneficial in that to a great extent it is
the backbone of Indian cinema as a whole: it is the most popular genre of the most
popular film industry of India, the nation with the largest film output per annum.
There is a predication to this individual genre that constitutes Dhoom:3 as
economically rewarding to its distributors as Zanjeer (Shackles, 1973) by
committing to an indistinguishable code. The indicator to this success is conceivably
the way in which the code has been acclimatised to the cultures and audiences of a
certain era. My primary question of concern is has the narrative of a masala film
changed? I believe it has constantly changed to adapt to its times and ironically, its
current state is very similar to what it was in the 1970s. Through the course of this
dissertation I aspire to convey how it has adapted to its times and why it has, quite
literally, come a full circle. The answer to this question is of significance due to two
main reasons: development the masala genre, undeniably the most popular genre of
Hindi cinema, is strongly tied to ongoing political and cultural developments. More
importantly, it gives an insight into Indian cinema’s place in the world.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   8  

Chapter 1:
Researching Masala

This chapter reflects exclusively on ten specifically chosen texts as beacons of

transition in the narrative of masala films. I recognise the fact that ten texts are far
too narrow a research field to surmise the changes in the vast category of masala
films. Having considered that, certain measures have been taken to maintain
diversity as much as possible. Each of the films looked at are one of the ten highest
grossing films at the Indian box office in their respective years of release. Zanjeer
([The Wall] Prakash Mehra, 1973, In) has been chosen because it is often said to be
the first masala film (Nochimson 2010). From this point on, a film has been chosen
from the third year of each decade except for Khakee ([The Uniform], Rajkumar
Santoshi, 2004, In) given that none of the ten highest grossing films in the year 2003
constituted enough genres within them to be considered masala films. In terms of
actors, perhaps the only two there was not enough room to accommodate were
Mithun Chakraborty who gained prominence as a male protagonist in the late 1980s,
and Shah Rukh Khan. Although Khan has been said by some to be the ‘biggest star
in the world’ (Zeitchik 2011), his significance in masala cinema is somewhat defined
compared to that of his contemporaries Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Ajay
Devgan. Similarly Rohit Shetty, a name synonymous with contemporary masala film
in recent years, does not make an appearance due to one main reason: all of his films
until 2013 starred the actor Ajay Devgan as a protagonist who has already made an
appearance in Khakee therefore the Salman Khan film Ek Tha Tiger has been chosen
to provide a range of actors. Dhoom:3 was chosen over Shetty’s film Chennai
Express (Rohit Shetty, 2013, In), which starred Shah Rukh Khan, utterly on the basis
that it was more successful commercially (Bollywood Hungama 2013).

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   9  

1.1. The Cinema of Interruptions: Quantitative Analysis

The two prospects of masala films that have been explored from a qualitative
standpoint are the importance of musical sequences and female protagonists in the
narrative by determining the percentage of the total running time of the film they
form a part of. I identify musical sequences as songs that appear on the sound track
of the film available as a separate product, not including any song sequences that
play along the end credits. The female protagonist is in all cases the character that
plays the romantic interest of the male protagonist(s). They are often present in a
majority of the song sequences and the actresses portraying them are billed second to
the male lead(s). Admittedly, neither of these calculations amount to much on their
own but when studied in conjunction with the qualitative data, this method of
research is beneficial to this study as screen-time is a simple yet revealing factor
regarding the significance of female characters and song sequences in masala films.

      Song   Song   Female   Female  

Film  Name   Year   Duration   Sequences   Sequences   Presence   Presence    
(Mins)   (Mins)   (%  of   (Mins)   (%  of  
Duration)   Duration)  
Zanjeer   1973   146   21:47   15%   45:19   31%  
Deewar   1975   171   11:56   7%   34:59   20%  
Coolie   1983   166   35:14   21%   52:06   31%  
Tezaab   1988   164   25:43   16%   64:12   40%  
Khalnayak   1993   179   47:29   26%   71:08   40%  
Gupt   1997   165   32:19   20%   88:26   54%  
Khakee   2004   180   10:26   6%   81:44   46%  
Race   2008   155   14:48   10%   108:38   70%  
Ek  Tha  Tiger   2012   132   08:56   7%   80:54   62%  
Dhoom:3   2013   172   19:25   11%   32:36   19%  

Table 1.1

The data provided in this study yields certain palpable trends. The duration of the
film in all cases exceeds the 128-minute average running time of Hollywood feature

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   10  

films (Sciretta 2009). The curtailed running time of Zanjeer is conceivably an

outcome of the raw film stock shortage that took place in 1972 due to the
government imposing a 250% tax on the import of raw film stock (Ganti 2004).
Other visible trends include a) the steady increase and decline of song sequences as a
formidable segment of the total running time and b) the steady increase and abrupt
decline of female protagonists as a part of the total running time. The one anomaly in
both cases is Deewar where the presence of song sequences and female protagonists
is deficient in comparison to Zanjeer and Coolie ([Porter], Manmohan Desai, 1983,
In). Nonetheless, another female character integral to the narrative in Deewar, albeit
not a protagonist, is the mother of the two male leads. Her presence perhaps atones
the absence of female protagonists. It is worth noting that in Dhoom: 3, the female
protagonist forms part of all three song sequences in the film therefore her presence
in the narrative excluding song sequences only accounts for 8% of the total running
time. A closer look at the data indicates a correlation between the presence of song
sequences and female protagonists, albeit less so in the 1990s and 2000s, and
noticeably more so in the 2010s.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   11  

1.2. State, Love and Kinship: Qualitative Analysis

The qualitative research comprised of identifying recurring narrative themes in the

texts studied. The masala genre being a compound of multitudinal genres, it is of no
surprise that the narratives repeatedly deal with a capacious range of thematic
principles. These elements are best encapsulated in state, love and kinship. Whilst
this may seem to, to an enormous measure, limit the comprehensiveness of the
narrative, it is worth nothing that these three themes in themselves encompass many
others. The notion of state for example deals with approaches to morality, nation,
law, and most importantly, peoples. Likewise, the notion of love often tackles issues
of morality but within the framework of a conflict between love and duty. Kinship,
perhaps the overarching principle of not only Hindi cinema but also all Indian
cultural art form, is what provides guidance to the driver of the narrative, the male
protagonist. Each of these elements directly correlate to one of the three major
generic classifications embodied in a masala film: matters of the law afford action,
love results in romance and kinship in melodrama.

State
The state is depicted in all ten readings, and almost always exclusively in a bad light.
Its shortcomings lay either its corruption or inefficiency to help the people as a result
of which the male protagonist(s) is/are forced to operate independent to the
frameworks of the law in a vigilante manner (Ganti 2004). With India at this point
being a young democracy, the idea that the state might no be representative of the
people comes as a shock rather than a by-product of democracy (Vitali 2008). In the
earlier films, the flaws of the state are attributed to the character disorders of a single
person, the villain, therefore a fight against the villain is a fight against the state
itself, the eradication of the villain is the eradication of the flaws in the state (Kazmi
1998). The film Khakee accurately portrays the flaws of the state given the
protagonists and antagonists both represent it. The hierarchy of the system is
question here, which presents a solution as to how the character disorders of an
individual can pose a threat to the entire establishment. At the bottom of the
hierarchy are the protagonists of the film, policemen, acting upon orders of a
politician who is at the top of the hierarchy. Upon realisation of the politician’s

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   12  

disorders, they abandon the system and only do their duty as they understand it. The
solution offered by the film is that if representatives at the bottom of the hierarchy
stand up to their superiors, the flaws would not be allowed to develop and thus have
an adverse effect on the people of the nation. In the two films of the 2010s however,
the state is not restricted to a single individual to as great an extent as it was in the
20th century, perhaps because the particular flaws of establishment being dealt with
are far too broad to be embodied by a single entity. The ‘villain’ of Ek Tha Tiger is
best identified as the enmity between Pakistan and India, and in Dhoom: 3 as banks.

Love
All the films studied contained a romantic sub-plot between the male and female
protagonists. The process of falling in love is primarily established through the songs
(Ganti 2004). The qualitative data demonstrates a direct correlation between the
amount of screen-time dedicated to songs and female characters: in films where it is
of great significance, the amount of screen-time taken by song sequences is
marginally less than those where it is less significant seeing as the narrative too
contributes to establishment of the said romance, without the use of song sequences.
In the films of the 1970s and 1980s the romantic track of love functioned merely as
one of the many digressions in the plot that are characteristic of the masala narrative,
most notably in Coolie where each of the two female protagonists lead their own
sub-plot intrinsically linked to the primary plot in an improbable coincidence. The
eradication of the female protagonists in these films would not diminish their
narrative progression and would only serve for it to gain momentum. In Khalnayak
([Villain], Subhash Ghai, 1993, In) however the female protagonist, Ganga, is for the
first time shown to have a profession, a policewoman. Resultantly she forms an
integral part of the narrative. The films of the 1990s and 2000s notably depict love as
a weakness that causes a hindrance in the female or male protagonists achieving their
objectives. In Khalnayak, the main characters love for the female protagonist results
in his capture by the state, in Gupt ([Secret], Rajiv Rai, 1997, In) the female
protagonists quest for requited love leads her on a murderous rampage which
culminates in her own death, in Khakee the male protagonist Shekher Varma’s love
for the female protagonist Mahalaxmi results in his death at the hands of the
antagonist. Race is the best example of love functioning as a weakness in which the

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   13  

protagonists and antagonists constantly use it as a manipulative tool to aid in

achieving their objectives. In all cases there is hint of a conflict between love and
duty that the characters fail to recognise. The conflict is illustrated more clearly in
the two films from the 2010s. In Ek Tha Tiger, a spy from India falls in love with a
spy from the ‘enemy’ nation, Pakistan. The rest of the narrative follows the two star-
crossed lovers as they abandon their national duties and fight against their own
countrymen for the sake of their love. Similarly, in Dhoom:3 one of the two
protagonists love causes him to falter in accomplishing his primary objective.

Kinship
Family values and kinship play an undeniably important role in Hindi masala
cinema, more so in the films of the 1970s and 1980s. In earlier films, family serves
as the prime driver of the plot (Vasudevan 1995). The most depicted familial bond is
the mother and son relationship, with the mother often being a more integral
character than the romantic interest of the male protagonist, a trope that is evident in
the Mahabharata. The masculine potential of the son if often actualised by the
mother, by her ill treatment at the hands of society, a trope evident in Zanjeer,
Deewar, Coolie, and more recently, Khakee. The latter is proof of how integral the
mother figure is to the masala narrative even when the films started to get ridden by
influences from western film. In Khakee, the protagonists’ mission is not important
because it is their duty, but because they promised a mother that they will complete
the mission (Rangan 2013). The mother is depicted as a religious woman, and is
often seen in places of worship or performing prayers. In Coolie, the protagonist’s
mother embodies all that is expected of a woman according to the Manusmriti 1: she
is subject to her father until marriage, subject to her husband after marriage and
subject to her child post the death of her husband. When brotherly bonds are
portrayed, the two brothers are often pitted against each other on either side of the
law, reinforcing the conflict between love and duty for the mother. This is most
evident in Deewar, where the protagonist is a criminal and his brother an honest
police officer, the former signifying love and the latter duty. Brothers in masala films
also represent the potential in all humans of good and evil, one of the key themes of
the Ramayana (Gokulsing and Dissanayake 1998). In Dhoom: 3 initially only see a
                                                                                                               
1  The  Manusmriti    is  the  most  important  and  earliest  metrical  work  of  the  textual  tradition  in  
Hinduism  (Olivelle  2005)  

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   14  

vengeful side to the protagonist Sahir until his identical twin brother is revealed, who
represents innocence. The father is more or less always seen as failing (Vitali 2008):
be it in Zanjeer or in Dhoom: 3, it is his actions that lead to the dismemberment of
the family.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   15  

Chapter 2:
Intra-cultural Influences on Masala Films

In this chapter I put forward the claim that the masala films of the 1970s and 1980s
were extensively influenced by Indian cultures. The main reason for the films
resorting to the narrative ideologies of these cultures is the deterioration of the Indian
political state in this period. The events of the 1970s transformed the popular Hindi
film from the melodramatic song and dance pageant of the previous decade into the
violent, action-packed masala film (Arnold 1991). Films of the 1970s and 1980s,
according to Iyer, “were India, only more so” (1988). The harmony derived from a
centrist government that adapted an ideology of secularism that gained distinction in
the twenty years following Indian independence from British Rule in 1947 started to
disappear in the 1970s (Kohli 1990), which culminated in Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi declaring a State of Emergency in 1975 (Vanaik 1990). The deterioration of
the Indian state is intricately linked to the Sanskrit epics of Hinduism to form the
basis of the narrative of masala films in the 1970s and 1980s, a link best described by
Geetha Kapur: “The primary function of myth is to define and sustain the specific
identity of a community, its investigation occurs at points of historical crisis when
this identity is embattled” (1987:79). It is in this way that the political crisis of India
at the time lead to the investigation and subsequent incorporation the mythological
epics’ narratives in masala films.

As a result, the turmoil of society denoted by communal riots and oppression of the
lower classes permeated the narrative of the popular masala film (Das 1992). The
narratives of this era briefly depict a morally upright universe, which is then
disrupted thus the rest of it follows the ‘hero’ as he tries to restore order (Vasudevan
1989). This disruption is in most cases characterised by dismemberment of the
protagonist’s family very early on in the film as evident in all four films studied from
this period. In Zanjeer and Deewar, this dismemberment is the result of a failing
father who succumbs to the demands of the villain, who is representative of the state.
A moral universe is thus disrupted by a dictatorial figure, much like the ruling
government of the time in India did to society. The primary narrative gives birth to

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   16  

numerous sub-plots, which are all linked by co-incidence, the most notable of which
is a romantic one.

These digressions however, as Gopalan notes, are crucial to the narrative structure
and viewing pleasure associated with masala cinema leading her to name Hindi
cinema as the ‘cinema of interruptions’ (2002). The importance of co-incidence and
digression in the masala films of this period cannot be undermined. The intricately
layered narrative of Coolie, formed by a series of concurrent subplots serves as an
apt example. The protagonist Iqbal, separated from his family in childhood when the
villain Zafar Khan kidnaps his mother. Zafar is in love with Iqbal’s mother and
adopts a child with her, hoping to raise it as their own. Iqbal’s father Aslam is
presumed dead, and Iqbal is raised by his uncle Maruti to be a porter. In adulthood,
he represents the porters who are oppressed by a wealthy businessman. He also ends
up falling in love with the same woman who the said businessman would like to
marry, Julie. Julie’s mission however is to avenge her own fathers death, who she
believes was killed by a man named Aslam. Alongside all of this, Iqbal grows
friendly with a reporter named Sunny. By the end of the film, it is revealed that
Iqbal’s father Aslam is alive, and was the same man who Julie believed killed her
father. Aslam proves his innocence, telling Julie that it was in fact Zafar Khan who
killed her father, the same Zafar Khan who is responsible for the dismemberment of
Iqbal’s family. During all of this, Sunny and Iqbal realise that they are stepbrothers,
for Sunny is the adopted child of Zafar and Iqbal’s mother. And finally, Sunny’s real
father is revealed to be Iqbal’s uncle Maruti, who lost him in childhood.
Furthermore, throughout this entire process, Sunny falls in love with a girl called
Deepa who is later revealed to be a friend he was separated from in childhood. As
evident in this intricate narrative web, there are digressions aplenty in the masala
narrative. This style of storytelling is reminiscent of the narrative style in the two
Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana, which both consisted of repetitive
detours and digressions. Derivativeness from the two epics is not limited only to
form, but also characters, and consequently the plot itself. The pet eagle that assists
the protagonist in Coolie bears similarities to Jayatu, the bird that saves Sita from
Ravana in the Ramayana (Chakravarty 1993). The same bird is also seen as a
representation of Islamic poet Allama Iqbal’s pet bird Shaheen (Haham 2006).

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   17  

The hero, in these films represents the voice of the people. He is a much “wronged
and exploited” person who, along with his family members, has suffered physically,
emotionally and psychologically (Kazmi 1998: 140). In the way that Rama, the hero
of the Ramayana was the symbol of a golden age that was once lost but may be
regained (Mishra 2002), so too is the hero of the masala narrative. In a state of
political crisis, the people needed a figure to rest their hopes on, and this came in the
form of the ‘angry young man’ (Gokulsing and Dissanayake 1998) who functions as
a modern day Rama. The dismemberment of his family results in his desire to rebel
against the state. In Tezaab, Munna wants to help the nation and enlists in the army,
but due to the unjust done to him by the judicial system, he abandons all hope and
resorts to a life of crime.

Whilst the hero Rama represents democracy, the villain Raavana personifies
dictatorship (Mishra 2002). In the context of these films, the villain of the narrative is
the defective state but given the ambiguity of the concept, it is represented by
identifiable enemies, by-products of the corrupt state (Kazmi 1998). These come in
the form of corrupt policemen and rich smugglers, the villains of society at the time.
The villain’s abduction of the protagonist’s mother in Coolie and his partner in
Tezaab is a direct reference to the Ramayana where Raavana kidnaps Rama’s wife
Sita. It is then with the help of an aide mnemonic of Hanuman, the monkey God who
helps Rama in the Ramayana, that the hero is able to defeat the villain and save the
abducted female. In Tezaab, the character of Baban acts as Hanuman and in Coolie,
the character of Sunny. The climax often presents the taunting and humiliation of the
villain, in a way reinforcing the weakness of the officials who were running the state
and their inferiority to the majority. It also reinforces the image of the aggressive
activist individual (Kazmi 1998).

The 1970s saw a growing disregard for women a part of Indian society2 (Das Gupta
1991). Consequently, the role of the woman in these films is reduced to one who is
“ill-treated by society, raped and widowed in violent action”, usually to amplify the
masculinity of the hero who avenges her (Rao 1989). The role of the female
protagonists is always that of a ‘damsel in distress’, be it emotional distress or
                                                                                                               
2  Das  Gupta  notes  growing  molestation,  rape  and  burning  of  women  for  dowry  with  great  levels  
of  impunity,  a  result  of  the  inefficient  government.    

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   18  

physical. As the quantitative data suggests, female presence is directly proportionate

to the presence of song sequences in a film in terms of duration. The romantic sub-
plot between the female and male protagonists is often developed primarily through
the use of song sequences.

The song and dance sequences, although seemingly digressive from the outset, serve
an integral part of the narrative, as they are the prime means through which the
romantic sub-plot is developed. They allow characters to express their emotions
without relying explicitly on the use of dialogue (Gopal & Sen 2008). A song often
punctuates stages in the process of ‘love’, from initial attraction to confession and
requital. In Tezaab, the requital is depicted in the song ‘Keh Do Ke Tum’ – prior to
the sequence it is merely hinted that the two protagonists might be attracted to each
other and by the end, they are discussing marriage. In addition to developing the
romantic relationship, the songs often act to depict the process of love making itself.
Given the strictness of the film certification board and the conservative nature of the
nation with regards to sexuality, the songs comprise of erotic imagery (Kasbekar
2001) and operate as a substitute for kissing and sexual intercourse. In the sequences’
abstaining from depicting sexuality, they adhere to what Gokulsing and Dissanayake
refer to as the ‘sanctified Radha-Krishna’ model of love, the pure romantic
relationships as presented by the supreme goddess of Hinduism Radha and her lover,
the supreme God Krishna (1998: 76).

The sequences in this era are seldom set in the same diegetic setting as the narrative,
and in fact occur in scenic, utopian locations far removed from the dystopian world
the characters are a part of in the narrative. The phrase ‘running around trees’ has
become common in describing the song and dance sequences of this era, given the
repetitive setting of these songs in lush meadows and green fields, a factor which
Ganti attributes to cinema of the early synchronised sound era where settings such as
trees and bushes made it easier to hide microphones within the scene (2004).
Moreover, the use of scenic backgrounds and locations as appropriate settings for
romantic encounters can be traced back to ancient Sanskrit love poetry, where the
description of the landscape in which the encounter occurs adds great depth to the
emotion conveyed (Dwyer & Patel 2002).

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   19  

The 1970s and 1980s were undoubtedly the years of the angry young man and anti-
establishmentism. In this period, for a film to earn more than ten million rupees
from any single distribution territory in India was considered an impressive feat. Of
the twelve films that achieved this between 1973 and 1987, rebellion against the state
was a recurring theme in at least ten of them (Kazmi 1998). The nation, and hence its
filmmakers, were at this point not greatly exposed to foreign cinema and cultures
which explains the influence of India’s traditional cultural forms, namely ancient
Indian and Parsi theatre. As examined, the 1970s and 1980s were a time of political
turmoil for India and to reiterate Kapur’s point, this crisis of identity resulted in the
examination of myth. In this case, the mythological Ramayana and to a lesser extent,
the Mahabharata portrayed an ideal society, one that the people longed for. In
depictions of immoral states being restored to morality by a God-like hero, the
masala films of this period used indigenous cultures to create a cinema heavily
reliant on escapism for its troubled people.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   20  

Chapter 3:
Inter-Cultural Influences on Masala Films

This chapter will argue that masala films of the 1990s and 2000s were influenced by
Western cultures, most notably American, in their narratives. By the end of the 20th
century, audiences outside India accounted for 65% of Indian films’ total earnings
(Banker 2001:8). It therefore comes as no surprise that the films of this era
endeavoured to make the most of this new-found market by bringing the world to
India or taking India to the world, in some cases both. A spate of ‘blockbuster’ films
released in the 1990s gained prominence for their global appeal, achieved by
exploiting the “nostalgic feelings” of the Indian diasporic audience (Willis 2003:
256) by incorporating stories of their migration into these films (Gopalan 2002). The
most notable of these films include Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ([The Brave-
hearted shall win the Bride], Aditya Chopra, 1995, In) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
([Something Happens], Karan Johar, 1997, In). Although commercially successful,
and undeniably the most representative of Hindi cinema of their respective decade,
these films have not been considered in my study for one prime reason: their
classification as ‘masala’ films is disputable given the lack of a variety of genres in
them. Their main focus is often a romantic relationship between the protagonists
where “the only worry there seems to be in their lives is whom to fall in love with”
(Willis 2003: 265). The masala films of this era, on the other hand, incorporated the
quest for love along with other well-defined narrative objectives for the protagonists.

It is too broad a claim to suggest that the films of this period are a complete
departure from the masala films of the era preceding it, given that 1990s and 2000s
films still feature many of the same clichés, most particularly the melodrama
provided by a mother figure, present in all films except Race, and recurring
depictions of a corrupt state. However, as noted critic Baradwaj Rangan states in a
review of Khakee written ten years after its release, the clichés are depicted in a
rather ‘Hollywood-ised’ manner (2014). Whilst spectacular and emotional excess
was privileged over linear narrative development in the films of the preceding era
(Thomas 1985), the former takes a backseat, allowing the latter to become more
prominent in the films of this period.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   21  

The element of surprise plays a pivotal role in the narrative of masala films in this
era. In the masala films of the 1990s and 2000s narrative originality takes priority
over spectacle and presentation results in the element of surprise plays a pivotal role
in the narrative of masala films in this era. The plot twist is an integral narrative
device in Gupt, Khakee and Race. The plot of these films is no longer a dispute
between individual and state, but is more concentrated on disputes between two
individuals, thus paying more attention to the human psychology. Furthermore, the
depiction of wealthy individuals in a positive light, unlike in the 1970s and 1980s,
could be a marker of economic growth in India as a nation. In Race, the dispute
between individuals revolves around greed for the hefty sum of $200 Million. In the
characters’ repetitive mentioning of that amount, the world ‘dollar’ attracts attention.
The use of American dollars instead of Indian rupees resonates with India’s place in
the global economy. By depicting Indian characters capable of earning and dealing
with such a large sum in dollars, the film speaks about Hindi cinema’s ability to do
the same in the field of global cinema. Race was released theatrically in the year
2008, the same year of the Great Recession, and India was one of the few nations
who did not go into recession.

The characters of masala films in this era developed a psychological side that wasn’t
seen in the previous period. Heroes, heroines and villains now displayed the ability
to ‘contain within themselves more than one – if not many – stereotypic selves’
(Doriaswamy 1994: 4). Willis notes a much greater focus on female characters in
the films of the 1990s (2003), valid even in the 2000s for the purposes of this study.
The female protagonist of Khakee, Mahalaxmi (Aishwariya Rai) aptly characterises
the transformation of female characters in masala cinema from the 1970s and 1980s
to the 21st century: she at first functions as a character primarily dedicated to sub-
plots, but the revelation of her being the villain’s partner dramatically increases her
importance. In the masala films of the 1970s and 1980s the villain’s love interest,
who Gokulsing and Dissanayake (1998) call the ‘vamp’ often epitomised the
villain’s vices, in this case lust. This is evident with the character of Mona in
Zanjeer. However, in the films of the 1990s and 2000s, the vamp takes a central
stage displacing the traditional female protagonist who was restricted to the domestic
domain. To this end, the name ‘Mahalaxmi’ itself is symbolic in that Mahalaxmi is

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   22  

the Hindu goddess of beauty and the character’s metamorphosis from heroine to
villain is symbolic of the displacement
of the traditional Indian female protagonist of the 1970s and 1980s and the vamp’s
taking centre stage. In her depiction as “villainous, morally ambiguous and mystic”
the female protagonist resembles the femme fatale character of Hollywood film noir
as described by Mary Ann Doane (1991). This augmentation of female characters’
importance signifies a more liberal attitude being developed in India towards women.
As I stated in the previous chapter, women of the previous era were largely
mistreated by society and were widely considered inferior to men. The female
characters, although villainous, through their actions not only portray a woman’s
ability to display the characteristics of male characters but also their superiority over
men. This superiority is depicted in their manipulation of the male gaze. Laura
Mulvey (1975) suggests, in relation to American cinema, that the overt sexualisation
of female characters in films is representative of a patriarchal society dominated by
men yet in the character’s manipulation of a man’s sexual desires in order to achieve
her own objectives, she asserts her superiority. The films of this era clearly
demonstrate a growing importance of female characters as a result of foreign
cinematic conventions.

The introduction of satellite television in India, and consequently of television

content from across the globe, drastically changed the use of song and dance
sequences in masala films. The impact of not only western music but also foreign
music more broadly is significant in the four films studied from the 1990s and 2000s.
This impact can be analysed both aurally and visually. The aural impact is
extensively evident in Race where the music director of the film, Pritam
Chakraborty, resorts to plagiarism in a bid to incorporate foreign elements into the
soundtrack: the number ‘Zara Zara Touch Me’ is so strikingly resembling of
Taiwanese singer Lee-Hom Wang’s song ‘Chu Lin Shen Chu’ (2004) that it lead to
the proprietor Song BMG Music Entertainment Ltd. filing for damages against
Chakraborty (Sembhi 2008). Visually, diegetic location of the songs too seems to
have been influenced by western culture: they are situated in more urban locations,
most notably nightclubs as with ‘Khalnayak Hoon Main’ in Khalnayak and ‘Aisa
Jadoo’ in Khakee. The situating of sequences in a single location also adds a sense of
realism to these films, especially given the lack of costume changes made by a

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   23  

character within a single song sequence, unlike in the 1970s and 1980s when a
character could be seen in up to four different combinations of attire during the
course of a single song sequence.
This project’s quantitative research indicates that the larger the difference between a
female character’s presence on screen and the amount of time occupied by song
sequences, the more important the female character is. Seeing as the primary use of
song sequences is to expedite the development of a romantic relationship, the need
for such sequences is drastically reduced when the female character is not only a
digression, but is integral to the primary narrative. Consequently, as the research
suggests, the songs do not serve as imperative a narrative purpose as they did in the
1970s and 1980s. As such, the function of the songs is reduced to two purposes:
spectacle and promotion.

The Central Board of Film Certification’s relaxed take on public displays of affection
in the 21st century has allowed filmmakers to exploit song sequences in their
depictions of sexually explicit material. In comparing the dance sequences of the
films in the 1990s to those in the 1970s, Doriaswamy claims that the female
protagonist “outdoes any cavorting that the Helens and Bindus indulged in earlier in
the explicitness of the sexually suggestive moves that are simulated” (1994: 4). The
overt sexuality of songs is further verified in the banning of the song ‘Choli Ke
Peeche’ from Khalnayak being banned from national television and radio on grounds
of obscenity (Dhingra 2011). Sexually explicit songs that feature a scantily clad
woman dancing in front of an audience have come to be known as ‘item numbers’.
They are almost always external to the narrative and mainly lend support to the
marketability of a film (Barrett 2006). These songs are transmitted on radio and
television channels, in the same way that music videos play on television channels
such as MTV, independent of the film. They consequently achieve ‘spectacle’ status
that warrants viewers back to cinemas for repeat viewings, in the same way that one
might seek spectacle at a music concert. Arguably, the practice of exploiting sexually
explicit imagery to attract audiences can be traced back to past American and
European exploitation films. Exploitations films too, which as the name suggests
exploited lurid matter, came about as a result of the relaxation of censorship and
cinematic inhibitions in America and Europe in the 1960s and 1970s (Lewis 2000).

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   24  

Hindi films of the 1990s and 2000s attempted to find audiences abroad by
developing old and incorporating new elements that that made the films equally
appealing to audiences abroad (Willis 2003), narrative details which placed the
films’ viewers in a global cinematic economy (Gopalan 2002). This change occurred
in two ways. Firstly, the romantic films of Karan Johar and Adtiya Chopra tried to
compete with other national cinemas through differentiation by excessively
displaying a mythical India. Second, the masala films that we have studied try to do
the same by imitation of other national art forms, perhaps as a response to
Hollywood’s global hegemony in the film industry (Smith 1993). The two major
changes in the masala films of this period are the adaptation of a more coherent
narrative, devoid of digressions, and a decreasing importance of song sequences as a
part of the narrative. The increased realism of the narrative made Bollywood more
similar to its globally appealing American counterpart; a fact that is demonstrated by
the constant rise is overseas box office earnings of Hindi films in the 21st century.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   25  

Chapter 4:
Contemporary Masala Films

The aim of this chapter is to look at contemporary masala film in the 2010s as an
amalgam of both inter-cultural and intra-cultural influences. Although the focus of
the study is on narrative, it is worth noting the production contexts of Ek Tha Tiger
and Dhoom: 3. Aditya Chopra, who from his directorial debut itself has displayed an
interest in the globalisation of Hindi cinema, produces them. Chopra, in his
directorial films Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Mohabattein ([Love Stories],
2000, In) appeals to a global (diasporic) audience by taking India to them (Willis
2003), but in Ek Tha Tiger and Dhoom: 3 takes India to the world, by imitation of
Hollywood narrative tropes. Chopra, through his production house Yash Raj Films,
has constantly sought to exercise the global potential of the Hindi film industry.
Some of the reasons Ravi Vasudevan attributes to the dismissal of popular Hindi
cinema in the 20th century are “its derivativeness from American cinema, the
melodramatic externality and stereotyping of its characters and especially its failure
to focus on the psychology of human interaction” (2000:134) and ironically, it is the
combination of the first two factors and a modification of the second two, which is
more visible in contemporary masala cinema, that has allowed it to appeal to a global
audience through a mixture of both differentiations from and imitation of other
national cinemas, most notably American.

There is an evident influence of Hollywood films on the narrative of Dhoom:3, so

much so that some have received the film as a ‘Bollywood treatment’ of director
Christopher Nolan’s film The Prestige (2006, US/UK) (Varma 2013). A key moment
in the plot of both films is the revelation of a second male protagonist who is an
identical twin of the first one. In both films, the two protagonists are magicians who
use their identical physical appearance to their advantage. On the other hand,
similarities between Dhoom: 3 and masala films of the Bachchan era are present
from the outset. Family dismemberment3 occurs prior to the title sequence as in

                                                                                                               
3  Vitali  regards  the  prominence  of  this  trope  in  the  films  of  the  1970s  to  as  a  reluctance  to  let  go  
of  the  dominant  genre  in  Hindi  cinema  of  the  1960s:  the  family  feudal  romance.  

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   26  

Zanjeer, Deewar and Coolie and the narrative follows a son’s quest to avenge the
death of his father, again as in the three aforementioned films albeit this time with
less digressions.

Ek Tha Tiger can be aptly summarised as a modern day take of Shakespeare’s Romeo
& Juliet; a tale of lovers who born into conflicting establishments. In this context, the
Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence to which Zoya belongs represents the House of
Capulet and the House of Montague represented by the Indian Research and Analysis
Wing who Tiger works for. At the same time, the separation of lovers caused by a
rift between India and Pakistan can be traced back to the partition of the two nations
in the 20th century which left numerous families separated form each other on either
side of the political border. In an unfavourable review of the film, critic Jahanvi
Samant claims that it is “unable to decide whether it is a spy action film or a soppy
love saga” (2012). This statement embodies the return of the 1970s masala film: it is
neither of the two genres. In setting a romantic story against the backdrop of
international espionage, the film incorporates two genres to create a hybrid genre, the
masala film. It is also worth noting that the individual words “love”, “saga”, “spy”
and “action” each on their own lend a varied narrative ground, thus again proving
that the film is trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

A blurring line between hero and villain visible in Dhoom: 3 is reminiscent of

Hollywood action film narratives. The character positions of the first two films of the
Dhoom series help put this argument into context: Jai Dixit, a policeman portrayed
by Abhishek Bachchan, was the protagonist of Dhoom ([Blast], Sanjay Gadhvi,
2004, In) and achieves his objective by the end of the film. In Dhoom: 2 ([Blast: 2],
Sanjay Gadhvi, 2006, In) the lines started to blur between Jai Dixit and thief Aryan
(Hrithik Roshan) regarding who the protagonist of the film was, more so seeing as
they both achieve their desired objectives by the end of the film. In Dhoom: 3
however, the lines have blurred to a point where it seems as though Jai is in fact the
antagonist posing as the main obstacle to the main characters, thieves Sahir and
Samar. In Dhoom: 3, Jai determination to apprehend the thieves leads to him
operating outside the frameworks of the law but perhaps his most ‘villain-like’
quality is his manipulation of the disabled character Samar, exploiting his innocence
in disguise with the objective of apprehending him and his brother Sahir. The

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   27  

glorification of criminals and villainizing of official forces that are merely doing
their duty represents the narrative of a sub-genre of the Hollywood crime film, the
heist film. A specific reference point of comparison is the film Fast Five (Justin Lin,
2011, US). Fast Five is an apt comparison because the Dhoom franchise has been
widely received as Bollywood’s version of the Fast and Furious franchise4. In Fast
Five, protagonist Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) objective to commit a robbery is
hindered by Diplomatic Service Security agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson).
Having said that there are indigenous influences on the characters of Dhoom: 3 too.
The characters of Sahir and Samar are an embodiment of the characteristics that
Kabir identifies as those of the heroes of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata (2001):
whilst Samar is emotionally vulnerable like Arjuna, the protagonist of the epic, his
brother Sahir displays the physical strength of Bhima, Arjuna’s older brother.

The male protagonists of Ek Tha Tiger and Dhoom: 3 are best described as
“antiheroes whose actions are dictated by notions of honour rather than legality”
(Willis 2003: 260). Ironically, that is the phrase Willis uses to describe the male
protagonists of the film Sholay ([Embers], Ramesh Sippy, 1975, In), thought by
some to be the first ever masala film (Hayward 2006). On the other hand, the
blurring lines between good and bad are markers of Bollywood’s increasing focus on
psychological rather than moral instincts. The characters’ failure to help the ‘people’
and their choice to achieve personal objectives, perhaps rendering them less worth of
the title ‘hero’, is akin to the realistic depictions of human psychology in the
characters of Hollywood cinema. A notable example is the 2010 film Raavan,(Mani
Ratnam, 2010, In) also an adaptation of the Ramayana, but one that depicts a
romantic relationship between Rama’s wife Sita and her evil abductor. In taking an
ancient Indian text and incorporating the Stockholm Syndrome into it, Ratnam
acknowledges the tendencies of human psychology and how they might play out in a
realistic manner.

The protagonists’ stance against the state in these films is similar to the one taken
by Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘angry young man’ characters established in the 1970s and
1980s. The resurgence of the character can be attributed to the 2008 film Ghajini
                                                                                                               
4  Ethan  Alter’s  review  of  Dhoom:  2  is  one  of  many  reviews  that  comapares  the  Dhoom  and  Fast  
and  Furious  series  (2006).  

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   28  

(A.R.Murugadoss, In) which became the first Indian film to gross $15 Million at the
domestic box office (Box Office India) thus indicating a shift in audience
preferences. It is worth noting that Ghajini is an official remake of the directors own
south Indian film of the same name (A.R.Murgadoss, 2005, In), which was in turn
heavily inspired by the 2000 Christopher Nolan film Memento (US). A blend of
Bollywood formula’s executed in a Hollywood style is responsible for Ghajini’s
mammoth success.

Dhoom: 3 restores song sequences to what they were in the 1970. They serve to
develop a romantic sub-plot that is barely relevant to the primary narrative of the
film. The first song serves as an abridged introduction to the female protagonist,
Aaliya. As the quantitative data in Chapter 1 reveals, her presence in the narrative is
predominantly in the form of song sequences, which are thus exploited as much as
possible to depict a romantic relationship between her and the male protagonist(s)
Samar/Sahir5. The aesthetic value of the number ‘Malang’ is most revealing about
contemporary masala in Dhoom: 3. Shot at a lavish scale, the five minute song is
said to be Bollywood’s most expensive song ever made (Pachecho 2013) yet does
very little to contribute to the narrative of the film apart from enhancing an
incompatible romantic sub-plot. Its primary use is spectacle that can be used to sell
the film across radio and television channels. With Ek Tha Tiger on the other hand,
the romantic relationship is integral to the plot but it is developed largely through
dialogue. There is only one ‘song-and-dance’ in the film per se: ‘Banjaara’ serves the
purpose of disclosing the male protagonists emotions to the audience thus functions
as a dream sequence. The other two songs are ‘extrinsic’ in the sense that they are
not acknowledged by the characters, they play in the background whilst depicting the
characters going about their day-to-day lives conveying a certain mood, much like a
song might be used in Hollywood films.

Ek Tha Tiger and Dhoom: 3 are proof that a formula, in this case the masala formula,
can change over time whilst retaining the narrative structures that audiences are
familiar with and covet (Willis 2003). In essence, the two films in question here have

                                                                                                               
5  The  existence  of  the  character  Samar  is  only  revealed  after  the  first  two  songs.  As  a  result  the  
only  song  sequence  in  which  we  can  be  sure  of  the  male  protagonist’s  identity  is  the  third  one  by  
which  point  it  is  clear  that  it  is  Samar  who  is  falling  in  love  with  Aaliya.    

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   29  

reverted back to the narrative tropes of the 1970s and 1980s. Critic Vinay
Chakravorty describes the differences between ‘old masala’ and ‘new masala’ as
merely cosmetic. He further claims ‘old formula can be made to look new when but
it an unusual wrap’ (2013). He compares Dhoom: 3 to other films such as
Himmatwala ([Brave Man], Sajid Khan, 2013, In) and attributes the former’s success
to its Hollywood styled packaging, and the latter’s failure to incorporate such
elements. Himmatwala is a remake of the 1983 film of the same name, which was
commercially successful. Dhoom: 3 and Ek Tha Tiger are examples of an age-old
formula, the formula of the 1970s and 1980s that was a product of inter-cultural
influence, infused with the intra-cultural influences that the masala films of the
1990s and 2000s incorporate. The result is a hybrid film that is a product of both
Indian and foreign cultures.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   30  

Conclusion

This study has looked at the progression of masala film narratives since the genre’s
inception in the 1970s until 2013. As we have seen, masala films in the first two
decades of this period were influenced largely by the deteriorating political condition
of India at the time, and they drew influences from the nation’s cultural history as a
source of inspiration. In the following two decades, the Hindi film industry as a
whole identified an overseas market for its films. In a bid to appeal to this global
audience, the masala films of the 1990s and 2000s incorporated elements of foreign
cultures into the masala formula. Contemporary masala in the 2010s is a hybrid
product of the four decades preceding it, incorporating elements of the nation’s own
cultural history as well as foreign cultures. The genre has evolved greatly, but has
come a full circle in doing so. The indigenous elements present in the films of the
1970s and 1980s remain present in the films of the 2010s, alongside the
characteristics of global culture that the masala films of the 1990s and 2000s
adopted.

The variation of sources of influence and their amalgamations over the past fifty
years is evidence of the constantly evolving nature of masala cinema, and of India
cinema as a whole. In an industry that is very much geared towards commercial
success, the cinema too has had to constantly adapt to its audiences’ interests,
making appeals to the lowest common denominator. As a result, masala films are
representative of its audiences and hence the nation. The fusion of foreign and local
generic conventions thus represents India’s growing importance as an influential
nation in the world. The unprecedented commercial success of Dhoom: 3 is
testament to this fact. Dhoom: 3’s worldwide box office success in 2013 set new
benchmarks in Indian cinema in terms of overseas success. It was not long however
before PK (Rajkumar Hirani, 2014), also with Aamir Khan in the lead role, broke the
previously set records and became the first Indian film to gross $100 million at the
global box office (Rajghatta 2015).

PK dealt with national issues regarding India’s secularity from an extraterrestrial

being’s point of view, thus incorporating the sci-fi genre into the masala. The sci-fi

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   31  

genre is one of the few genres that have seldom been incorporated in masala films as
it is considered a risk by producers due to the lack of technological resources
available to Indian filmmakers. Hollywood on the other hand has made extensive use
of the genre, with the highest grossing film ever Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
being a sci-fi film (Cieply 2010). The incorporation of this genre in PK demonstrates
the Hindi film industry’s willingness to continue to adopt foreign conventions in
order to further strengthen its own global standing. In terms of narrative, PK
functions as an analogy for the growing global interest in India by allowing foreign
audiences to see the nation from an outsider’s perspective, the same way that the
titular protagonist does.

This study has considered masala films as a representation of India’s increasingly

significant global position. The narratives of the films looked at show a deviation
from indigenous conventions followed by a return to those conventions, resulting in
extensive global attention. The films studied demonstrate India’s cultural and
economic importance at a worldwide scale, in terms of national film industries.

     
   Om  Sai  Ram   32  

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   Om  Sai  Ram   37  

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