At the turn of the 21rst century, plenty of Bollywood movies from the past are being revisited by the younger generations are being scrutinized for glorification of sexism, misogynism, homophobia, cat-calling – among several other things.
The sensibilities of moviegoers or people in general, have changed so much over the years – that the kind of things that were ‘normalized’ back in the day, would be considered ‘questionable’ in today’s time.
Take for example, Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – how it showed that a girl who likes to play sport, keeps short hair and doesn’t wear make-up or dresses, would not be considered attractive – and would eventually have to change herself completely to become more ‘girly’ in order to get the attention of men.
The exaggerated way in which this was depicted in the film, and how Kajol’s character was written-off as the ugly-duckling during the first half, is not acceptable to movie-goers of today – and Karan, finally admits, they’re right.
The filmmaker was only in his early 20’s when he wrote and directed the film, which was his first-ever directorial project and was lauded by the generation of that time – but he feels the movie hasn’t aged well, even to himself.
During an international event, the producer went on to disclose how actress Shabana Azmi once even called him after viewing the film at a theater in the UK, upon its release, blasting him for the blatant display of non-sensical misogyny.
“She told me, ‘what have you shown? That a girl has short hair, so she’s not attractive, and now her hair is long and she’s pretty? What do you have to say to this?’ I said I’m sorry. She said, what? That’s all you have to say?’ I said yes because I know you’re right.”
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Karan admits, that he had a different thought process as a 23-something year old then, and he wouldn’t be able to write or direct that kind of a movie now.
“I was 24 when I wrote that film… But I can’t write the same film now. When I see Kuch Kuch Hota Hai today or Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, I myself wonder, ‘Why did I write this, how did I write this, from where did these thoughts come to my mind?”, he was quoted as saying by PTI.
So are these movies now off-the-charts from being ‘Bollywood classics of the 90’s’?
Some artworks, just don’t age that well, and these two films from KJo are the prime example of the same.