Films follow a storytelling tool to be able to convey their messages without making it too obvious to the viewers. These are known as tropes. Here’s what we identify as some movie tropes that have taken prevalence in the history of filmmaking:
Dancing In The Snow:
Whether it is the DDLJ hit love-songs or the Gerua from the second instalment, Bollywood is known for it’s gorgeous love songs, but there is more to the cinematic glacier. It has been an undying trend to shoot romantic songs on and around snow cap mountains in say Switzerland, but it gets devastatingly uncomfortable when we see the women in such songs wearing thin chiffon sarees in temperatures as low as minus degrees. Other than the obvious eye-catching show, is this movie trope even serving any purpose? Not likely. It has become a tormenting trend to the women of Bollywood who have to bear extreme cold situations in uncomfortable and inadequate clothing. So many female actors have time and again alleged the Industry to be unfair when it comes to such challenges where the male actors get to wear much more comfortable clothes in horrendous situations whereas the female leads are given thin sarees or short dresses in freezing cold. Is this necessary in real life? Can we not as viewers watch the same songs in a way that doesn’t become a torment for the actors?
Dysfunctional Filmy Family:
From one of the biggest productions of Dil Dhadakne Do to the fun-filled film venture, Kapoor and Sons, Bollywood is filled with dysfunctional families that are all about chaos and the righteous conundrum. Bollywood seems to have made a wholesome genre around dysfunctional families. It is either brothers that don’t get along or a parent-child relationship that is devastatingly dramatic. Movies like Haider also have experimented with relatives raising storms of the future-past. Taking inspiration from the real world, these movies resolve their issues around relationships within the families. It does indeed make the film more masala for the Indian viewer but does it make a mark? I personally feel that this usage of dysfunctional filmy families are underutilised and could do more good than masala. One such example is Sir, the Netflix Movie showcasing very realistic family dynamics which were blown with chaos but thankfully not out of proportion. This movie trope of having dysfunctional filmy families on screen for various genres from Drama to Romance to Comedy is highly entertaining and has proven a successful trope on the box office.
Dramatic Screenplay Over Light Music:
Dramatic screenplay over a song is a new development in the Indian Cinema. The newest form of screenplay where an intense dramatic scene plays in the soft, perhaps jazz music. It was first extensively used by Sriram Raghvan in his 2012 movie, Agent Vinod and then again in Andhadhun. In the former, a blind pianist was playing the song, Raabta whilst Vinod took down enemies via mute weapons. In Andhadhun, yet another classic scene was played in front of an apparent blind pianist. While he plays covers of old bollywood songs, two people take down a dead body, and cover it up to further discard it. It shows off a very classic direction with smooth music orchestrated as a background score to a set of very dark screenplay. This movie trope plays with the viewer’s sight and hearing. We are accustomed to see mundane life experiences but when these basic situations are put in rather uncomfortable frames, it becomes creatively distinguished. It is baffling to watch sheer darkness in the form of screenplay over music being played by artists who don’t even know the contrasting action to their musical artform. It not only darkens the mood with witty direction but also proves to be a unique and lovable cinematic trait.
