Ra.One and the changing nature of Bollywood cinema

Shah Rukh Khan has been tirelessly promoting his upcoming superhero blockbuster Ra.One. In countless interviews he has spoken of the need for more Indian superhero films and high-budget blockbusters in general. These films, according to Khan, are integral to the progress and success of Indian cinema.


"This film is one of its kind and I am saying this from my 20 years of experience in Indian cinema," Khan told reporters at a press conference in September. "We...in the entertainment industry...look at it as something that will take Indian films forward."


Despite having a large stake in the film, Khan's production company Red Chillies Entertainment co-produced Ra.One, it is interesting to note why the actor thinks this film is so important. Let's face facts, Ra.One is not the first Bollywood superhero film (see The good, the bad and the ugly: a short list of Bollywood superheroes below) but the way Khan is talking about it, it can be viewed as the first Bollywood tent pole film or even franchise. This is most obvious in the scrutiny surrounding its release. Khan has stated that Ra.One should be shown at a larger number of cinemas, its current scheduled run includes 3,200 screens - India's largest ever opening for a film. However, for Khan, this simply isn't enough.


"There are about 14,000 theatres in the cities, 8,000 in southern India and 7,000 in the north," Khan said to The Economic Times. "Every day we hear that more theatres are being added, however, the population is also increasing . Once the retail of cinema gets more organized, people will come to the theatres."


Comparing the boom in Indian cinema to that of China, Khan claimed that the growth in population has resulted in many filmgoers not being catered to. To this extent he is correct, although it has more to do with a growing middle-class in India who have more disposable income to spend. And yes, India should aim to target this audience if it wants to generate more revenue. 

However, the actor's statements about the merits of Ra.One do not ring true. The film's storyline concerning a video game developer who is bestowed with super powers by his own virtual creation is wholly unoriginal. Additionally, the film has the same gimmicky songs - i.e. 'Chamak challo' - as any other mainstream Bollywood film. The only factor which involves a radical departure from the classic Indian cinema template is Ra.One's marketing strategy.


Ra.One is a franchise film in the Hollywood sense, in that it includes various official merchandising spin-offs such as toys, video games and even stationery. Like most contemporary Hollywood blockbusters, it will also be available in 3d at selected cinemas both domestically and overseas. This extent of marketing and promotion is a true first for a Bollywood film. Additionally, Khan's comments about giving the film an even wider release than was initially forecasted reflects the actor's opinion of the film as a tent pole release. 


In the US, tent pole films are usually the most expensive films for the studios who produce them and therefore are given the highest promotional budgets alongside their excessive production budgets. These films are also expected to make an immediate impact on the box office and are usually deemed successes or failures based on their opening weekend revenue. These films are also given the biggest openings compared to other productions in a studio's roster, which means that they open on the maximum amount of screens. 


Therefore we can deem from Khan's comments that he views this as the actual natural 'progression' for Indian cinema. The fact that an influential actor/producer such as Shah Rukh Khan is interested in emulating the American system should come as no surprise. After all the Indian cinema landscape is dominated by media conglomerates such as Reliance Entertainment and there is a lot of foreign investment, including American, currently being poured into the industry. 


Therefore, although Ra.One offers little innovation in terms of its storyline and production, its success could bring about a juggernaut of change that even the Man of Steel would have a hard time stopping.




The good, the bad and the ugly: a short list of Bollywood superheroes

There has been a distinct lack of Indian superheroes and the fantasy genre in general has had a hard time finding an audience in India. However, action hardmen like the ones epitomised by Sunny Deol and Sunil Shetty and more recently by the protagonists in films such as Bodyguard (2011) and Singham (2011) have filled that void. However, traditional Indian superheroes do exist and despite the genre producing some absolute blunders, it has also created the odd outright classic and plenty of cultural curiosities. The following is a list of some of the most notable Indian superhero films.


Shiva ka Insaaf (1985)


Guess what? Ra.One isn't even the first 3d Indian superhero film. That distinction goes to Shiva ka Insaaf, a woefully camp tale of revenge starring Jackie Shroff. Naturally, the filmgoing public saw beyond the gimmick of 3d and avoided this one in droves. Its failure didn't do much to improve the status of this ignored genre. 




Mr India (1987)


Directed by Shekhar Kapur, Mr India is the definitive Indian superhero film. The film revolves around a hapless caretaker of an orphanage and his discovery of a device that can make its wearer invisible. He uses his newfound powers to fight a megalomaniac named Mogambo who is intent on taking over India. The film is a likeable mix of childlike shenanigans, romance and action all carried out by a great cast. The special effects look dated now but add to its charm and it's still the best by far in its genre.


Superman (1987)


The first nail in the coffin for the superhero genre in India came with this take on the most successful superhero film of the time. The filmmakers kept the title and the costume but forgot to add in anything resembling a decent script and good direction. The result is an awful film that had long-term damaging effects for the genre.


Krrish (2006)


Krissh was Bollywood's first serious stab at creating a superhero film that matched Hollywood, both in its size and execution. Therefore, it can be seen as a precursor to Ra.One. Directed by Rakesh Roshan and starring his son Hrithik, it bore more than a passing resemblance to Batman. And like that film was a huge success, displaying that there was an audience for this type of film.


Drona (2008)


If Krissh breathed new life into the superhero genre, then Drona nearly managed to kill it off single-handedly. A major flop, the film was heavily criticised upon its release for lack of characterisation and poor acting from its leads, Abhishek Bachan and Priyanka Chopra.

Films about finance

Films about finance have gone from rags to riches, to rags again. With the exception of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, films in this exclusive genre have been in a state of recession, hardly making a mark at the box office. Stone, however, is looking to boost the flagging genre with a stimulus package in the form of a sequel to his aforementioned film entitled Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.

Therefore in conjunction with the return of Gordon Gekko here is a list comprised of some of the best financial films ever made. In this case, however, greed isn’t good as there are only five films present on the list. These films prove that this is a thriving genre which, if tackled successfully, can provide entertaining and sometimes poignant narratives on society’s relationship with money.

Wall Street (1987)

Wall Street is a must-see for anyone interested in financial films.

Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox, a naïve, small-time stockbroker who dreams of being as successful as his idol Gordon Gekko. The latter is a ruthless market manipulator who lives by his ‘greed is good’ philosophy. Gekko mentors Fox teaching him his insider trading tactics and under his hero’s spell Fox becomes a cutthroat trader. That success, however, comes at a price.

Wall Street is a product of its environment. Its synth-drenched score by Stewart Copeland of The Police, its constant referencing of its era’s technology, for example the DynaTac cellular phone or ‘the brick’ as it is more commonly known, and its over the top portrayal of the superficial nature of the period are all firmly grounded in the eighties. Consequently the film hasn’t aged well. However, it still offers more insight into the hierarchy of stocks, from the trading room floor to the rooftop offices of the brokers, than  any other film on this list. Meanwhile Stone keeps the action fast-paced, employing rapid zoom shots and extensive tracking sequences to emphasise the velocity of his surroundings. All in all it makes for an entertaining ride.

Boiler Room (2000)

Writer-director Jim Younger’s fast-paced film is a slick yet scathing look at the unethical nature of boiler room share scams.

The film’s sharp dialogue compliments the skill of its ensemble cast which includes a host of noughties talent, including Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi. The latter plays Seth, the film’s slacker protagonist. Seth’s troubled relationship with his overbearing father leads him into accepting the role of trainee broker at a small firm by the name of JT Marlin. He is our guide through this hostile environment and we learn through his voiceover of the secrets that lurk beneath JT Marlin’s successful veneer.

The film constantly acknowledges its debt to Wall Street, one scene in particular pays direct homage to that eighties classic. The brokers who are bred in this environment, however, are even more obnoxious than those encountered in that film. They are depicted as aggressive, misogynistic and homophobic but remain the most arresting characters onscreen. In fact it is when the film strays outside the office environment that it encounters stumbling blocks. The other characters in the film including the honest clients that Seth cheats and the FBI employees looking to bring down the operation are mere cardboard cut-outs.

Despite these flaws, however, Boiler Room remains a solid thriller with a brilliant script.

Trading Places (1983)

There is a social conscience at the heart of almost every film on this list. Trading Places, however, wears its issues firmly on its sleeve and pokes fun at them in the process.

Geriatric siblings Randolph and Mortimer Duke, owners of successful commodities broking firm Duke and Duke, bet that if they swap the lives of their top employee, Dan Akroyd, and a homeless beggar, Eddie Murphy, their man will take to a life of crime. Things go to plan until the unwitting individuals find out the nature of the wager and decide to turn the tables on the spoilt businessmen.

Director John Landis was riding high in the early eighties after the back to back success of his films The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London. In comparison to those genre classics Trading Places seems stifled at first. With its classical soundtrack and elegant widescreen shots of Philadelphia’s business district it seems a far cry from the gross out humour that Landis built his career upon.

The third act, however, is where the director cuts loose. In a hilariously un-pc sequence the film’s ongoing theme of shifting identities is taken to new heights. The scene sees Murphy doing his now infamous impression of an African immigrant and features Akroyd in blackface as a rastifarian.

Trading Places is a classic comedy, which although it is built upon an unbelievable premise, has enough gut-busting belly laughs to keep viewers glued to their seats.

Barbarians at the Gate (1993)

The least well-known film on this list, Barbarians at the Gate is based on a fascinating true story. Glenn Jordan’s film re-enacts the events leading up to the leverage buyout of American conglomerate RJR Nabisco. 

James Garner is brilliant as Nabisco’s outspoken CEO F. Ross Johnson who decides to take the company private after learning that its latest ‘smokeless’ cigarettes are deemed a market failure. Jonathan Pryce is equally as good as Henry Kravis, Johnson’s main rival in the takeover bid. Although as a TV film it lacks the cinematic grandeur of some of the other films on this list, Barbarians remains an often funny, satirical take on one of the biggest financial events of the eighties. 

Rogue Trader (1999)

Nick Leeson was the rogue trader who brought down his employers, Barings Bank, singlehandedly with his perilous trading on the Singapore stock market. In this biopic Leeson is played by Ewan Mcgregor as a loutish Brit abroad who finds himself gambling with his employers’ money.  

Although Leeson and his cohorts are portrayed as obnoxious and aggressive, at the core of the film is a sensitive romance concerning Nick and his wife-to-be Lisa. The film is told through the aid of a voiceover and therefore gives the added sense of authenticity. This, however, is Leeson’s side of the story and therefore he is portrayed sympathetically as the unlucky individual who was thrust into a hostile environment. Meanwhile his employers are the money hungry fat cats willing to overlook his errors if he can produce the numbers. It all comes off as a tad biased but remains an interesting story nonetheless, one that effectively cranks up the tension as Leeson’s life comes crashing down around him.

Notable Mentions:

American Psycho (2000)

Christian Bale is brilliant in director Mary Harron’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s blackly comic novel. The action unfolds through the perspective of the film’s troubled protagonist Patrick Bateman, stockbroker by day and serial killer by night. Not for the faint hearted.

L’eclisse (1962)

Not necessarily a financial film, Michaelangelo Antonioni’s drama is worth tracking down for its cinematic treatment of Rome’s stock exchange. The cinematography throughout is truly breathtaking.

Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)           

Based on Tom Wolfe’s bestselling novel, adapted by critically acclaimed director Brian De Palma and starring a horde of a-list actors, including Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis, Bonfire had all the hallmarks of a sure-fire hit. However, the producers’ insistence on downplaying the darker aspects of the source material in an attempt to make the film commercially viable ultimately worked against it. Watch this if you want to witness how not to make a film about finance.