BOLLYWOOD’S TRYST WITH FILM NOIR
Film Noir, a French term meaning “Black
Film”, is a movie which is either shot in Black & White and/or thematically
shows the dark and morally corrupt side of human nature. It’s an amalgamation
of German & American style of film-making of the 1940’s. Film-Noir is not a
genre but the mood, style and tone of a film marked visually by ominous
shadows, skewed camera angles, circling cigarette smoke & low-key lighting
(Eg.Psycho,Taxi Driver,Blade Runner,Batman Begins,The Departed etc.)
Even Bollywood had unconsciously made
some path-breaking Noir-Films. Here is my list of top 5 Bollywood-Film-Noir
films:
(1)
CID (Director-Raj
Khosla,Year-1956): This dark and atmospheric Dev Anand starrer is probably the
1st Indian Noir film. It follows a police inspector investigating a
murder case who himself becomes a suspect. It still remains one of the best
films in any category.
(2)
Who Kaun Thi (Director-Raj
Khosla,Year-1964): The film’s distinct cinematographic style and its overall
tone makes it a classic Mystery-Thriller-Noir where a doctor(played by Manoj
Kumar) offers a ride to a ghostly woman. He later discovers his would-be bride
is identical to the ghost. Weird yet brilliant.
(3)
Parinda (Director-Vidhu
Vinod Chopra, Year-1989): This almost forgotten film portrays the relationship
between two brothers (masterfully played by Jackie Shroff & Anil Kapoor)
who are caught on different sides of a gang-war. It’s unique treatment which is
devoid of any clichés makes it’s an underrated gem of the decade. Gripping and
powerful.
(4)
Satya (Director-Ram Gopal
Verma,Year-1999): RGV redefined the word “hard-hitting” when he made this film
on the brutally-violent Mumbai underworld. Its dark,gritty &unsentimental
treatment gave a new meaning & dimension to Bollywood gangster-films of
that era.
(5)
Johnny Gaddar
(Director-Sriram Raghavan,Year-2007): Shot in a pre-dominant reddish tone which
signals danger,suspence & thrill, the film is Noir in its full glory. It’s
a film that delves deep into the heart of darkness & has everything it
takes to become a cult-classic. Neil Nitin Mukesh effortlessly plays the part
of the suave antagonist in his debut film.
Some other Noir films worth mentioning
are- No Smoking(Anurag Kashyap),Being Cyrus(Homi Adjania),Manorama Six Feet
Under(Navdeep Singh),Mithya(Rajat Kapoor)
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