Bold content, bolder language: Bollywood takes a leap in 2011

**Mumbai:**Bollywood this year rode on bold content and bolder language with expletive-ridden films like No One Killed Jessica and Delhi Belly getting the green signal from Censor and the audience.

Filmmakers successfully experimented with real-life stories like The Dirty Picture to give added depth to terrain and characters.

Rani Mukherjee began the year’s trend with her portrayal of a competitive TV journalist in No One Killed Jessica. The erstwhile Babli of Bollywood underwent an image makeover in the film, puffing cigarettes, liberally using swear words and showing her middle finger. Her favourite dialogue in the movie was: “I am a bitch.”

Director Rajkumar Gupta maintained that using abuse in conversation has become the norm and was harmless, keeping in mind the changing landscape and characters in Hindi cinema.

The “irreverent” Delhi Belly found many takers for its toilet humour. Its bouquet of bad words and the drumming ‘Bhaag DK Bose’ became hugely popular for its profane loop.

“Delhi Belly is a very irreverent film. It does not have any skin-show but ‘ashleel’ (obscene) language. It’s a ‘kameena’ comedy. There is no sex in the film. I think the movie will change the definition of bold films in the industry,” producer Aamir Khan had said. And sure, it did.

True to its title, The Dirty Picture’s brave and bold content coupled with innuendo-filled dialogues by scriptwriter Rajat Arora, closed the year on a high note.

Vidya Balan’s acting,provocative outfits and abuse heavy dialogue inspired by the life of south sex siren Silk Smitha,, successfully sailed through troubled waters.

This year, the use of desi expletives and dialogues albeit in a humourous way, also went down well with the audience in blockbusters like Ready, Bodyguard and Singham.

Although getting the cast to mouth offensive words and vulgar dialogues does not ensure successful films, it does create some initial buzz through trailers, making the required noise before the release.

Diwali release Ra.One saw Kareena Kapoor’s character doing a thesis on Indian abuse. She rains abuses on Shah Rukh Khan, who plays her husband in the film, while her onscreen son repeatedly asks her to mind her language. But other than creating hype, this characteristic did not add anything to the film.

But foul language has proved to be a demand of the script in many films earlier as well. Saif Ali Khan and Ajay Devgan were at their abusive best in Omkara; Vidya and Arshad Warsi hit the slang note in Ishqiya and it worked in Kareena’s favour in Jab We Met and Golmaal 3.

PTI