Indians love to talk! Talk a lot! Even when they want to shoot someone, they don't shoot! They talk! They shout! They abuse! They just can't keep their mouths shut!
This explains bombastic rhetoric and claptrap dialogue in Hindi films. And yours truly is a sucker for such dialogue. I don't just like dry action. I like it with a lot of oral (pun intended) activity. Dialogue creates drama. Dialogue creates recall value for the films.
Imagine watching an action film or a revenge drama. They are all the same. Same story arcs! Similar screenplays! But even after all these years I remember Ghayal and Ghatak because of the following dialogues. Raw power!
It seems Sunny Deol can never go wrong with dialogues which only a Mard (a heroic man) can deliver with such panache. We have seen sparring between a hero and a villain so many times. But how many times that sparring can be iconic. In Damini it is! Watch the video below. It is sad that dialogues in Hindi films these days have become more functional and normal.
When it comes to dialogue delivery with a deadpan face, no one does it better than Nana Patekar. In a police procedural Ab Tak Chhappan, this scene has the dialogue which will convince you that police force works this way only and there is space for no other way. Sheer power of words and how they get delivered!
All love stories are the same too! A boy meets girl. They first have a conflict. Then they fall in love. Then they face a conflict. We get to see their hardships. They either die or win over the conflict at the end. But one of the many reasons Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is the ultimate love story, is its pithy dialogue delivered by Shahrukh Khan. He doesn't even need to fight the bad guys. His dialogue is enough.
The writer duo Salim-Javed and actor-writer Kadar Khan are people behind histrionics of Amitabh Bachchan in early 70s through the way of their powerful dialogues. Whether it is Sholay or Sharaabi, each scene had memorable dialogues. There are many films these people wrote whose words resonate even today, after decades. As Bachchan got older, his dialogue delivery led to several films which had long monologues from him, establishing him as an alpha patriarch in those films. Watch this scene from Baghbaan to know what I mean!
Good dialogues are not only limited to heroes. Villains also had a great time with them. Who can forget Amrish Puri spouting 'Mogambo Khush Hua' in Mr. India! Recently among heroines, Kangna Ranaut has got dialogues that are funny and poignant at the same time, making them memorable. "Hum thode bewafa kya hua, aap toh badchalan ho gaye", says she in Tanu Weds Manu Returns and gets all the applause from the audience.
I am happy that some of the cliched dialogues have vanished from Hindi Cinema. These dialogues were used so often in earlier films, that just by hearing the dialogue you can guess what happened in the scene. Sample few.
Bhagwaan ke liye mujhe chhod do (For God's Sake leave me!) - If you hear this it meant a bad guy is forcing himself on a woman
Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hote hain (Hands of law are long!) - A law enforcer warning the bad guy
Main tera khoon pee jaunga kutte (I will drink your blood, you dog!) - Dharmendra (Sunny Deol's father) threatening Amrish Puri.
At the same time, I am sad that now we rarely get powerful dialogues. Yes, writing quality has improved a lot. With Gully Boy and Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara, we have great writing and thus good dialogues too. But the fire is missing! May be that explains why dialogues of films like Gangs of Wasseypur are so good and old school! The characters in this film are inspired by heroes of 70's and 80s. Watch the scene below to know Tumse Naa Ho Payega!
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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 K: Kipps Bakery - A anecdote about stuff from school years. Click here to read.
2018 Challenge Post from Letter K: Kindness - Remembering the kind acts of others. Click here to read.
4 comments:
While reading this post, some of the good dialogues came into my mind like from the movies pyar ka panchnama and singham (Abhi k abhi). I think nowadays also, we come across the good and memorable dialogues.
Agreed Ishwinder
Cheesy dialogue drives me mad haha - especially the stereotypical "villain's speech" that allows the hero to beat him
Debbie
So true debbie... Thanks for visiting
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