Politics and Bollywood Films have had a bond since the inception of Bollywood. Though in the early ’40s, before Independence due to British censorship filmmakers used it in a subtle manner to skip the censor board. In the 1943 film Kismet, the song “Door hato aye duniya walon Hindustan Hamara Hai…” served as a rallying cry, fueling patriotism and encouraging support for the Quit India movement.
In this song there is a stanza, ‘Shuru hua hai jung tumhara jag utho Hindustani/Tum na kisi ke aage jhunkna German ho ya Japani …. It was an indirect reference to the British government! The song’s popularity drove cinema halls to re-screen it multiple times, with audiences singing along in unison. The film’s success soared, thanks to this hit song, with a record-breaking 200-week run in a Kolkata cinema.
Pioneering Political: Dilip Kumar’s Landmark Film
Later the first film that really exposed the corrupt face of politics was Dilip Kumar‘s film Leader (1964). Dilip Kumar himself wrote the script for Leader, his debut as a writer. For Ganga Jamna, Dilip Kumar was both writer and producer, but Leader was produced by S. Mukherjee.
Based on the theme of a socially active ‘law’ student who exposes corrupt leaders in his newspaper, the story takes a twist when the corrupt political leaders ‘trap’ the innocent hero into the murder of the nation’s populist leader. The production team spared no expense, incorporating cutting-edge technologies like Technicolor and Cinemascope. Despite this, the movie earned semi-hit status, falling short of superstardom. Film critics feel the story was far ahead of its time.
Thus, after Leader for 5 to 6 years, no filmmaker dared to make a film on politics until filmmaker Gulzar used the subject of educated unemployed exploited by politicians in the film Mere Apne (1971). In this film, Gulzar showed the government’s apathy for the youth of the nation. The film showed how powerful politicians create violence in college and use the college students for their own selfish goals by using them to capture votes during elections. Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha played the gang leaders of rival groups who are puppets of local politicians.
A New Genre Emerges: Dilip Kumar’s Leader
Soon after the success of Mere Apne, famous writer Inder Raj Anand, who wrote hit films like C.I.D., SSangam, and Safar, etc., wrote a political thriller Apna Desh (1972), starring Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz. This was the first film that depicted the rise of a common man becoming a Clean Corporator of his ward, and how he eliminates corruption formed the climax of the film. The film was a hit.
In 1973 filmmaker M.S. Sathyu’sGaram Hawa won both national and international acclaim for its brilliant portrayal of Muslims’ plight in India after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. The film exposed how Indian Muslims were forced to move to Pakistan. However, a loyalist Muslim, Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni), fights the battle and stays back in India despite humiliation and atrocities.
The movie made an important political statement for Indian Muslims that running away to Pakistan is no solution but join Indian politics and fight for rights is the real solution
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