E : End Credits in Hindi Films / Bollywood #AtoZChallenge 2019

It seems Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has got it right. They treat their End Credits with a lot of respect. Though they don't know that in Indian cinema halls, lights come on before the End Credits start rolling and almost everyone in the audience stands up blocking my view. I don't budge though. I am Iron Man that way! I sit through the MCU films'  End Credits doing 3 things:

• Watch the Mid-Credits scene, despite the bright lights almost spoiling it
• Watch the Post-Credits scene, though it is almost, always underwhelming
• Note how many Indians have contributed to the making of the film (I am patriotic, nationalist and Iron Man that way)

Uri : The Surgical Strike a recent Bollywood blockbuster, had a Post-Credits scene too. I have a habit of sitting through End Credits - MCU or no MCU.  I think the scene was funny and unnecessary but still a great addition. You can watch that scene below. But let me remind you, this is not the norm in Hindi / Bollywood films. 

Hindi films these days have two kinds of End Credits. And both are pretty unimaginative and cliched. 

In the first kind, they show bloopers or making of the film as the End Credits roll by. And I have seen several bad films to reach a conclusion, that these bloopers are most entertaining part of the film. Some films are so bad, that I don't know whether I enjoy those End Credits more because the film has ended or because the making / bloopers are interesting. A case in hand is Housefull 2. I found the End Credits funnier than the entire movie, especially the beauty - beti (daughter) sequence, enacted by Ranjeet.  Watch the video from 1:18 minutes onward.

The second kind and more popular, and thus more hackneyed way End Credits in Hindi Films roll by is that they accompany a ridiculously popular song and dance routine. A song and dance routine which mostly will have nothing to do with the plot, grammar and tonality of the film. Sometimes the actors in these songs are not even in the movie. A recent hit film Luka Chuppi, had in fact two songs (not the usual one) during the End Credits. 

Karan Johar, produced a horror film called Kaal, that released in 2005. He claims in his autobiography, An Unsuitable Boy, that when he saw Kaal, before its release, he didn't feel scared at all, despite it being a horror film. This horrified him. So he shot two music videos and put one in the titles and one in the End Credits. Those songs were super-hit and brought in the unsuspecting audiences to the theaters. That helped him recover the money he had put in the film. End Credits saving a producer! What more can be expected from these humble End Credits?

There are times when I miss the most common way the films used to end earlier. Credits were usually shown in a 2-3 minutes montage at the start of the film. And after the last scene of the film, simply, a frame will appear with "THE END" written on it. 

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My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Hindi Film Industry / Bollywood cliches. You can read the theme reveal post here.

2017 Challenge Post from Letter E: Engineering - It was a post about fun times we had during the engineering days. Click here to read.

2018 Challenge Post from Letter E: Education Kills - It was a post about ills of our education system and how to change that. Click here to read.