For a long time now, the Bollywood industry is playing safe and delivering conventional movies based on the love affair between a rich girl and a poor guy or classic action movies. But now the standard of filmmaking in India is changing and the directors are going for the movies that are trying to change the curve. While the filmmakers are trying to wake up the audience, a big group of the audience is still stuck in that classic age phase. In the past few years, we witnessed a slew of Bollywood movies talking about social taboos and deep-rooted stereotypes. Today we bring you a list of the top 8 Bollywood movies that tried to change the curve but failed miserably;
1. Mimi: Mimi should be credited for initiating the conversation over surrogacy. While prioritizing motherhood and the sacrifice of a mother, the movie bluntly shamed the women who chose to abort their babies. Starring Kirti Sanon in lead, the movie impressed the critics but failed to impress the audience.
2. Ujda Chaman: Ujda Chaman chose a good subject to educate the audience. The story of the movie is about a guy who suffers from male pattern baldness getting rejected by several women and then finally marrying a girl who is slightly on the heavier side. But the movie questioned their insecurity a lot and casually indulged body shaming and sexism too.
3. Laxmmi: The remake of the Tollywood blockbuster Kanchana, Laxmmi has a chance to bring the transgender community in the spotlight and give them equal rights. But instead of that, it should them miserable waiting for a ray in their life. Instead of dismantling this image, the film further reinforces it.
4. Bala: Just like Ujda Chaman, Bala is a movie based on the casual manly problem of pattern boldness. While it shedded light on one subject and educated the audience, it indulged colorism quite bluntly.
5. Begum Jaan: Vidya Balan’s Begum Jaan opted for the narrative to showcase women on the bold side but ended up being to cliché. Missing the mark of boldness, the movie exploited the idea of the world’s oldest profession.
6. Guilty: Starring Kiara Advani in lead, Guilty was Bollywood’s one of the earliest disclosure on #MeToo moment and false allegations. While the movie created a good 2-hour drama it somewhere missed the true idea of the story.
7. Atrangi Re: Aanand L. Rai's Atrangi Re attempted to address mental health, primarily the condition of Schizophrenia but failed miserably as it deserved to be dealt with more sensitivity. Mental health was reduced to a subject of mockery for a few superfluous chuckles along with a slew of other problematic things.
8. Majnu (Ajeeb Dastana): It's great to see films incorporate the LGTQ angle to normalise it in society to the point where it doesn't feel utterly forced. Majnu, the first part of Ajeeb Dastaans anthropology, sought to explain how same-sex relationships are vilified and their sexual orientations are always in question, this aspect didn't seem to have fit organically into the plot.
