[Deewan] anil pandey ki posting

[Ravikant]

anil pandey's post. angrezi mein hai. 

cheers
ravikant 

Hi friends! I’m Anil Pandey and my subject for the research is “Deshi Filmon 
Ka karobar” (Trade of Desi Films) in western Uttar Pradesh. This presentation 
is my one-month research in those areas and interaction with key peoples. Due 
to inaccessibility to Hindi Mangal font, I’m posting it in English language. 
My sincere apology for that. I will try to put my posting in its original 
“Hindi” Language soon.

During my frequent visit to Meerut, I came across a really interesting 
finding. I got to see lot of bollywood titles in its local form. Super hit 
“Sholay” as a “Desi Sholay” and capturing young audience with “Dhoom” as a 
“Desi Dhoom”. It was indeed a moving fact for me. I tried to get deep into it 
and realized a new emergence of art and entertainment medium far from 
bollywood. Later on with some more facts and conversations with the people I 
decided to do a complete research on this topic. To clearly define “Desi 
Film” we need to understand that these films are meant for the home viewing, 
they are not meant for the theatrical release.

For a very long time Bollywood was synonymous of entertainment for public. 
Even the bollywood was getting categorized in the late 90’s as the urban and 
rural. Peoples across the country had a different taste for it. Most of these 
films were reflection of any particular area, language and lifestyle. But 
they failed to capture the essence of locality.

To keep the Desi flavor at it best, local films was the new revolution for 
Indian cinema horizon. Taking inspiration from the original Bollywood flick 
and moulding the structure in their own format.

With the beginning of 21st century, Indian folk art in the rural areas started 
evaporating and not only lost the audience but the content too. For the 
people who love to spend the night watching Bhagvat Leela, local folk and 
other similar nautanki form, these Desi films were a readymade alternate with 
a modern touch on the screen.

Putting its characters into a local form gave it a pure local touch, with 
which audience can identify easily. These films borrow inspiration from 
bollywood hits but they have their own content and mood. Even their 
characters are weaved keeping the originality of that particular area in 
mind.

 Meerut is the main center of these Desi films being made in the western U.P. 
it is popular as the “Desi Bollywood” of U.P. with its close proximity to 
delhi, meerut has been the hot spot for all the local producers, directors 
and upcoming actors. 

There are four categories of films being produced in western U.P. Comedy with 
its local flavor, remake comedy of bollywood hits, films having the original 
lifestyle with a social message and films focusing on the divine soul which 
fall into the “Dharmik films” Category. According to the experts, around 200 
films have been made on these subjects. 

For a very long time Meerut and its surrounding areas were known as the center 
for folk art. With the local song, dance and drama, people of these areas 
were entertaining themselves. Emergence of new technology has provided 
helping hand in shooting, editing and easy accessibility to the equipments, 
the young talents started trying a new a more captivating medium “Cinema”. It 
gave them freedom and a new area to explore.

Meerut and its surrounding areas in western Uttar Pradesh are known for the 
rich agricultural land. Farmers are flourishing and money are pouring in. for 
them spending money even for the production and buying these films in the 
packaged CD is not a problem. The production of these films is a kind of 
cooperative work for the farmers.

Now with the easy availability of CD systems in their homes, these films have 
found their place and positioned it strongly in their perceptual mapping. 
These films are not merely a remake of Bollywood hits but they have an 
original idea too, which makes them more entertaining.

The surrounding villages once thriving with the local folk art form now 
adopted a completely new glamorous face of cinema and keeping the originality 
intact it indeed has a bright future.

I would like to welcome your suggestion on this topic. My observation says 
that lots of things might get changed in the process. This research is 
journey deep into western U.P. films and I hope to capture every nuance of 
it.