Of Aanand L Rai's Cinema, Single Screens and Shahrukh Khan

While watching the trailer of the much anticipated Shahrukh Khan starrer 'Zero', I noticed the scene where the character of Bauua Singh is seen dancing enthusiastically on Chikni Chameli, he then throws his hat towards the screen. That reminded me of the way Aanand L Rai has been depicting single screen theaters in his films, which in some way I feel reflects a symbolic attitude along with the cultural influences of cinema on his characters, which are small town people with conflicts, people with desires, people who are looking for love, people who are trying to make it big in their life, people who wants stability, people who desires to live their life, and not merely let it pass away, as Bauua Singh says "Zindagi Katni kisse thi, Hame toh Jeeni thi". The scenes where characters are seen watching a movie in a single screen are not necessarily plot changing scenes; they are added merely as a subtle tribute to the impact of cinema on the lives of people coming from a small town.

I am quite intrigued by the collaboration between Shahrukh Khan and Aanand L Rai, simply because we have an icon, who has shaped an entire country's perception towards romance for the last three decades, along with a man who has successfully portrayed the nuances of small town stories and its people through his films. When I saw Shahrukh Khan's character dancing inside a single screen theatre, I found that moment amusing, because Mr. Rai will now be directing a man, who has given dreams and hope to millions of people over the years that life and love are meant to be larger than life and cinematic in its representation, that man will now be seen as a character which might have originated out of those of millions of people. Surely, it's not happening for the first time, but I can sense a poetic ecstasy in this collaboration.

In Tanu Weds Manu, We see Jassi and group watch Sooraj Barjatya's "Hum Saath Saath Hain", where Tanu asks Manu out for a date, it's a small conversation but it's depicting the importance of going to watch a movie in small town, and that too when a wedding is around the corner. The very essence of Kapurthala is captured beautifully in the film. Tanu at one point asks Manu to shake a leg like Hrithik, while in the sequel we see Manu sarcastically refers to himself as Hrithik Roshan. 

In Raanjhanaa, Kundan and Murari watch Lawrence D'Souza's "Saajan" in a single theatre, and while Kundan is thinking about the kind of sacrifice Sanjay Dutt is making on the big screen, he is brought back to reality by Murari, who then shouts on top of his voice "Sanju", there is certain relatable feeling in that scene, we have been a part of that screaming protagonist name process, while drawing parallel to the scene or situation of that character to our own lives, there is nothing melodramatic about that, that is just the power and influence cinema has constructed over the time in our minds about expressing our love to someone. In "Tanu Weds Manu Returns", we see Raja and Tanu getting back together, they go and watch Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Ram Leela" in a single theatre, and later on Chintu mentions it to Tanu's father that a matinee show of Aashiqui 2 is being watched at Gunjan Theater.

The impact that quintessential Hindi films has made on the mindset of people living in a small town is without a doubt infectious. For example, in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, there are two instances I found where Datto and Pappi refer to Manu as Shahrukh Khan, whereas in Raanjhanaa we see Kundan comparing Zoya with Katrina Kaif, it's almost as if these actors represent that reference point of larger than life romance, and hence that's probably why every single romantic move coming out from a small town guy is bound to label him as Shahrukh Khan. These little instances does indicate the fact that Aanand L Rai’s characters originated from small town should convey some part of their daily lives through the references of popular Hindi films.

Single screen theaters constituted an important part of my upbringing, for small town people like me, going to a single screen meant an event like feel. The dark hall provided a sort of rescue from the cynicism and despair of the outer world, once the darkness of the hall took over, there was no other distraction to attribute our mind to, there used to be a certain aura in that dark hall, a feeling of complete encapsulation by what we saw on the big screen. The whistles, hooting and clapping at punchlines, and Aanand L Rai has perfectly captured that madness in his films. The series of clipart narrating the film, and specifically highlighting the interval point, when the lights turned on during the interval, it almost felt that we are taken back to reality very abruptly.

Not that Shahrukh Khan hasn't played the small town common guy before, remember Sunil from Kundan Shah's “Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa”, yes that Sunil with whom we can so easily relate with, he had imperfections, flaws, had certain daydream driven notions about love. The Raj, Rahul came much later, and became cult, and during the time period that those characters were becoming the important part of mainstream Hindi films, we became so fascinated with those charming, larger than life personalities, that we have forgotten that he could so effortlessly transform himself into Sunil. This is no way reflects that I am trying to draw a parallel line between Sunil and Bauua, he might and should definitely turn out into an altogether different character, my point is that I am trying to connect certain dots between the cinematic world of Aanand L Rai, Small town people, Single Screens, and Shahrukh Khan, (if it exists) and I might not present a perfect rationale to this theory, but just the idea of it sounds so interesting, and worth discussing. A writer, whom I follow on Twitter (@AbbakkaHypatia) told me few months back that the way Sunil looks at Anna during the 'Ae Kash Ke Hum' song is kind of reflective of our own romantic side, and that sense of relativity is what makes him a superstar of its own kind, because a common man can certainly be a Shahrukh Khan of his own world, that discussion somehow stayed with me, and it made me think how valuable and precious the presence of Shahrukh Khan has been in our lives.

The trailer of Zero gives me that hope that once I am done watching the film, I’ll be able to connect the missing points in between these entities.