Saturday, April 13, 2019

L : Lost & Found Formula in Hindi Films / Bollywood #AtoZChallenge 2019

Hindi films first perfected this formula and then took it to such absurd levels of stupidity, that the formula became cliched. And then the Hindi films abandoned it. I miss the formula at times. Lost & Found formula is a great literary device that creates potential for drama. 

Imagine two people sitting in a restaurant on different tables. This is a normal scene. They are doing normal things. But as an audience you are aware that these two people are brothers who got separated in childhood and they now don't recognize each other. If you notice, the scene lacks any thrill or drama, but in your mind a lot is happening. No wonder, almost every second film from 50s to 80s used this device to further the screenplay.

Lost & Found formula had a standard arc. A happy family was shown. A disaster (natural / man-made) would strike. Somehow all family members would end up at different places, with no way to reach the others. They would then grow up oblivious to others' conditions. They would grow up in different socio-economic situations leading to a natural conflict between them when their paths cross. Their paths would cross. They wouldn't recognize each other. By the time third act starts, there would be something which would make them realize that they are family. They would fight the main evil together. Happy Ending!

The two films that did it so well were Yash Chopra's Waqt and Nasir Hussain's Yaadon Ki Baaraat. These two films were really well made, because the lost & found formula was not used here for just cheap thrills. The formula was important to make the point of the story. The separation was inevitable and not forced. In Waqt an earthquake strikes and in Yaadon ki Baraat, the three brothers get separated while fleeing away from the killer of their parents. The reunion at the end was also not based on some flimsy logic. In Waqt, the elder son, recognizes a childhood picture and in Yaadon Ki Baraat, the youngest brother sings in a club daily, a song which the three brothers knew by heart, in hope that one of the club patrons, someday might turn out to be his brother. Here are the reunion scenes from both the films. 




But  then as it happens with most formulas, this formula was rendered useless by its overuse. Also in some films the recognition of each other happened in strange ways. Like a birthmark on the arm, which is common to both brothers. Look at the absurdity here. What are the odds that in a highly populated country like India, two brothers who got separated in childhood, would cross each others paths, in sleeve-less shirts and notice a birth mark?

Then there was another cliche - a childhood locket. Before separation the father would buy identical lockets for both his sons. As they grow up, does this locket keeps growing too? Or did father bought over-sized lockets? Why do the sons keep wearing this locket even when they grow up? What are the odds here, that the shop from which the father bought lockets didn't sell it to any one else?

In Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, a miserable flop and the last film in which I remember this formula being used, took this absurdity to next level. One of the brothers had a lock and the other key to it. And they both carry it with them always. As if separated people don't move on in lives. 

I would love it if a modern film-maker makes a movie on this formula but root it in reality. It would be a super-hit!

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