Masala Shakespeare
Masala movies are my favorite stress-busting genre of movies. Hollywood and in general, the movies from West, has a strong genre. At least, in my experience. They are either a thriller or musical or horror or rom-com. Very rarely I come across movies that mixes genres. Like “Get Out”.
Indian movies are evolved from the musical theatre. We used to have movies that had close to 60 songs and they were superhit. It slowly transformed to dance and musical. A lot of Indian movies also follow this strict genre.
Masala is a genre mixing trend. You have thrilling opening sequence, some comedy track, suddenly we are transported to a foreign land where the hero and heroine dance with a group of White people, there are some stunt sequences, some emotional dialogues or court room drama and a climax with a punch.
Some directors are genius in weaving these masala elements into a screenplay. Some of the very well made Masala movies are super-duper hit in India. Baahubali, Saamy and Omkara are just a small examples of very well made masala movies. I don’t find such a genre in Hollywood.
The reason for existence of Masala movies, in my opinion, is: India is a huge and diverse nation. An entertainment in the form of a Masala movie caters to every segment of audience. People who do the daily labour work as well as rich people who want to enjoy some time out. A housewife toiling in daily work, as well as, a woman working to climb a corporate ladder. Everyone gets entertained by masala movies.
I came across a Shakespeare scholar, Jonathan Gil Harris. He is from New Zealand, got married to an Indian and settled down in Delhi. He teaches English Literature in a university at Delhi. He has written book titled Masala Shakespeare. He argues that Shakespeare’s play in his days were meant to reach all strata of the society. So his plays were deliberately provocative, subtle, grandiose and complex. His challenge was to attract the Barons and Lords as well as the peasants and workers.
Jonathan himself is a quirky person. He speaks a decent Hindi for a Kiwi. He is obsessed with the single screen theaters and masala movies of India. He argues that it is a tradition or a genre that is unique to India that has a root in Shakespeare.
I have always been mesmerised by the adaptation of his play into Hindi movies. A brilliant Hindi director, Vishal Bhardwaj, has a trilogy movie based on Bard’s work. Maqbool is based on Macbeth. Omkara is based on Othello. Haider is based on Hamlet. You don’t have to be a lit nut or a Shakespeare nerd to enjoy these movies.
All three of these movies are a standalone masterpiece of Hindi cinema. The characters are fully Indianised and locale and setting is completely in rural India or underworld of Mumbai or the troubled state of Kashmir. These movies have songs, stunts and thrilling sequences like just another masala movies. But the script is nuanced and poignant, characters are complex but very relatable.
I still cannot believe that a playwright’s work which is 400 years old can be so fresh, relatable and enjoyed in its modern retelling.