F : Food in Hindi Films / Bollywood #AtoZChallenge 2019

There are very few Hindi films that celebrate food in the truest sense. Stanley Ka Dabba (Stanley's Tiffinbox) really romances the food. It juxtaposes a child's hunger with the most delicious food to a devastating effect.  Lunchbox was another film where food builds bond between two strangers. Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana though didn't show food the way such a film should, it really took me down the food lanes from the past. 

But let me not disappoint you. My challenge is to write about cliches in Bollywood. Here I will have to introduce Chekhov's Law. It states that ‘If in Act I (of any script or book or movie) you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must fire in the last act’ . The same is true for food in Hindi films. With a slight twist though. If food appears in a scene in a Hindi film, especially if there is a cake, there has to be a food fight soon after. This cliched scene has been used in several movies in past to mine some laughs from the gullible audience. 

But the following scene turns Chekhov's Law on its head. It has a gun and a food item (an Indian flatbread) playing a really important role. Please note this scene is meant to be an intense and emotional one. But when I see it today and without context of the whole film, it comes across as extremely hilarious and stupid. In this film, Izzatdaar (honorable) one of the protagonists doesn't fire the gun, because the other protagonist uses the flatbread as a shield. It is used as a metaphor for the mother's love, as the gun wielding protagonist has a strange emotional connect with that flatbread. 

Another Bollywood cliche related to food that I can recall is about the fight scenes that occur when hero is about to eat or already eating food. In these scenes the hero has to tackle the goons without letting the food fall down. Or he has to continue eating food oblivious to these goons and still beating them somehow with actions that are part of his food eating routine. Like as he picks his glass to drink water, his elbow will move side-wards hitting the goon who is about to attack him from that side. Of course it is not choreographed ;-) But some films are so bad that they don't get it right. In the following scene, hero is about to eat a really ugly looking item of food. Goons Attack! Hero fights back! And takes a winning bite! But food does fall down at one point of time! Epic fail!

Thankfully, Bollywood has done away with this cliche. Today's heroes look so lean, I doubt they eat food at all. But Mark Twain has a word of advice for them. "The secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."

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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 F: Fish in the Pond - An anecdote from my past which ended well for me. Click here to read. 

2018 Challenge Post from Letter F: FREE SPIRIT - Why do I write? - It was a simple post about why I feel compelled to write. Click here to read.