Flashback Friday: In the 1980s, there was a period of different types of films in Bollywood. This was the same time when both art cinema and mass cinema were spreading their wings. Films like Arth, Aakrosh, Ardhsatya, Chameli Ki Shaadi, Chashmebaddoor, Arth, Sadma Umrao Jaan were released in this period. Grapes, innocent, touch and let it go, friends. Neither you nor any cinema lover can dare to say that a particular film was a bad film.
Exactly 42 years ago, in the same period, another film was made, whose language was closer to Bhojpuri instead of Hindi like a normal Bollywood film. The village shown in the film can remind you of your village even today. It would not be wrong if it was called ‘amazing’ instead of a film. The film, made with a budget of a few lakhs, had earned crores. And when the remake of this film was made exactly 12 years later, it made the record of being Bollywood’s first Rs 100 crore film. Today we will not talk about the story and actors of this special film. We will talk about the film and why it is special.
Which film is this and in what ways was it different?
The name of this film is ‘Nadiya Ke Paar’ and if you are even a little fond of films, then you must have remembered it. All the films we mentioned above were great films. Still, that was the era of the angry young man. The love of the audience was showered in abundance on action films. In such a situation, a film comes telling a simple story. In which there was not a single thing called glamour. Based on the story of two villages, this film did not show the kind of love that seemed attractive on the surface. The film showed the love that was seen in people’s homes and surroundings. And the benefit of this was that the audience started connecting with the film. Every audience, young and old, was able to connect with this film. In the film, there was a mother-like sister-in-law and a Laxman-like brother-in-law (Sachin Pilgaonkar). There were no real looking villages in the film, but the villages that were there were real.
Real village and dress, colloquialism
The shooting of the film was done in the villages named Vijaypur and Rajepur of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. Every character was seen wearing the same clothes as people in the villages used to wear before globalization came. The characters wearing simple kurta-pajama, khadi and cotton clothes felt like themselves to the audience. There was nothing artificial in the film. There was no villain in the film, there were just circumstances which, like in real life, were beyond anyone’s control. Based on Keshav Prasad Mishra’s novel ‘Kohbar Ki Sharat’, this film was made on the first two volumes of his novel. Whereas this novel was published in 4 volumes.
Why is the film a milestone?
- This film of the film’s director Govind Moonis was so successful that apart from this film, there is no talk of other films made under his direction. According to Indian Express, the budget of the film was only 18 lakhs and the film remained in theaters for 136 weeks. That means this film ran for 2 years and 7 months. According to Bollywood Hungama, this film did a business of Rs 2.7 crore.
- The director of this film kept its language similar to Bhojpuri, as if he knew how to bring the village audiences of the Hindi belt to the theatres. Before this, he had also directed a Bhojpuri film Mitwa. That’s why perhaps they knew that keeping the film in this language would do well at the box office.
- The songs of the film were written in such a way that they felt like folk songs. The song ‘Kaun Disha Mein Leke Chala Re’ can be said to be a good example of this. If you were born in the 80s or 90s and you were associated with a village, then you would be able to feel this connection.
Not only did the film earn money, the remake of the film also created history.
This film was again released on the screen after 12 years under Rajshree Production as per the ‘new era’ of that era. The remake of this film was inspired by the dialogue of Gunja, a character of this film. In the film, Sadhna Singh’s character says ‘Hum Tumhare Hain Koun’ to the film’s lead actor Sachin Pilgaonkar’s character. ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ was released with this name in 1992. The plot, story and characters of this film were a completely new version of Nadiya Ke Paar.
Made for Rs. 6 crores, this film earned Rs. 100 crores and thus became the first Rs. 100 crore film of Bollywood. After this, many such better films came under the production of Sooraj Barjatya and Rajshree whose treatment was almost the same as Nadiya Ke Paar. Films like Vivah, Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi and Hum Saath Saath Hain were films made on this line which not only became hits but were also liked by the people.
read this also: Flashback Friday: How old is South Cinema? In which language was the first South Indian film made – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam?
