Modern Love Stories: How the hero finally falls in love- Amit Kang
In relatively modern Bollywood love stories (starting 1990s and until the present 2000s), a typical element is skepticism regarding love on the part of the hero. We do not notice this in comparatively older films such as Silsila or Guide, but specifically in DDLJ and Dil Chahta Hai, in which there is always one character who is initially notorious and playful and a non-believer of true love, but eventually goes onto finding a girl who he truly, madly and deeply falls in love with.
We first notice this in DDLJ in which Raj is a young guy who is kind of a player when it comes to girls and does not believe in settling for any one particular girl. He however happens to meet Simran over a Europe trip and ends up intensely in love with her, so much so, that he travels to India to find her and bring her back to England as his bride.
We secondly notice this is the case of Akash in Dil Chahta Hai, who like Raj plays a flirtatious young character who is always messing around with women. However after he moves to Australia he reconnects with Shalini and eventually falls for her and then like Raj travels to India to interrupt her marriage with her fiancé and convince her and her family to let her marry him instead.
Sameer from Dil Chahta Hai can also be seen as another example. He however is a little different in the sense that he is a hopeless romantic but none of his relationships are long term. He meets Pooja who he falls for as soon as he meets her but she is not into him as much. However, their love story progresses from there and they eventually end up together.
There are other films such as I Hate Luv Stories that focuses on this particular theme. This again is a very predictable love story in which the male character does not realize that he is in love with his best friend until she disappears from his life. Her absence changes the way he looks at love and therefore ends up falling for her and going after her.
Therefore, in my opinion, initial skepticism in love on the part of the hero has become a quintessential characteristic in modern day Bollywood films.
Filed by Amit Kang at March 29th, 2013 under Uncategorized
Amiiiiiiiit!! What an insightful post!
I agree with you and find this change fascinating.
Maybe, it goes to show a change in values – as society becomes more fast paced and modern – people less tradional and more individualistic – love is down-played by the idea of fun and personal gain. You mentioned Guide and Silsila – yeah – maybe one could argue that love has lost its power over the decades the past since then…
BUT
maybe these new films strengthen the position of love?
In the past – everybody fell in love – only their love did not match social structures.
Is there not something ar more powerful in contemporary films where an individual is transformed, converted from a ‘love infidel’ – to a devout believer in love?
Comment by abtroen — May 9, 2013 @ 4:20 pm