Ittefaq: Will Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar's whodunit push Bollywood to make more thrillers?

Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar deserve full marks for getting out of their cocoon and attempting to serve something to cinegoers which is just not a part of their domain.

The redux version of the Yash Chopra directed 1969 song-less blockbuster, Ittefaq, will hit theaters this week and in three days, the verdict will be known if the gamble has paid off. The release of the film also brings to forefront the moot question that why Bollywood has largely ignored and shunned the murder mystery genre. Some of the most talked about films that have come out from the stables of Bollywood have toed the whodunit line. Think Khiladi, Woh Kaun Thi, CID, Teesri Manzil, Jewel Thief – the list is long but not too long when Bollywood’s 100 years of existence becomes the reference point.

Despite his Parinda, Vidhu Vinod Chopra is also remembered as the man who gave us the slick Khamosh. BR Chopra, who had produced the original Ittefaq, came up with his own Dhund in 1973. Director duo Abbas-Mastan have churned out many blockbuster in their career but a large part of their fame still sits on Khiladi. So why is it that movie Moghuls often shy away from attempting this genre which, if made in the correct manner, is guaranteed to give them moolah and love in equal measure. Ajnabee, Gupt, Drishyam and Talaash are all films that enriched the coffers of producers.

One reason that sums up all that afflicts this genre is the lacunae in writing. Bollywood at best could be described as a den of lazy writers when it comes to penning whodunit scripts. The writers have often looked to the west whenever demands for such scripts have been made. While Gumnaam’s roots can be traced to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Manorama Six Feet Under was heavily inspired from Chinatown; Ajnabee had its roots in Alan J Pakula’s Consenting Adults while Ek Ruka Hua Faisla was a ditto copy of Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men. The original Ittefaq was itself inspired from a Gujarati play. There have been only a few filmmakers like Vijay Anand and Sriram Raghavan who rooted for original writing while most of them toyed with ready-made material.

The industry has often lamented the dearth of good writing and murder mystery genres are such that they cry for perfection at every corner. Needless to say, such films demand more than 100 per cent involvement to be supplemented in equal measure by able direction and breathtaking performance.

It has become a fad these days for filmmakers and actors to talk about mature and evolving audiences. The truth is such films figure lower down the food chain and only those projects are entertained that that are guaranteed to give quick and maximum returns. When Broadchurch, The Killing, Sherlock and True detective can have loyal audience here then it surely gives them fodder and reason to make films of similar genre too. But truth remains stranger than fiction in Bollywood. While the west is replete with Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Hadley Chase, Stieg Larrson and Ian Rankin, here it takes effort to dig beyond Sharadindu Bandopadhya and Satyajit Ray.

In an industry, which is plagued by superstitions and numerous beliefs, the genre itself has often discouraged the filmmaker community from venturing into production of such films. It is imperative for such films that a level of discreetness is maintained even after the films have been thrown open to the public. When Rajiv Rai’s Gupt had released, word spread out that Kajol is the killer in the film. Cinegoers’ interest from the film slowly waned out which impacted the box office collection of the film.

The #SayNoToSpoilers campaign by the makers of Ittefaq is actually an effort to minimize the losses and not anything else. It’s also a genre where the plot of the film takes precedence over the star appeal. Murder mystery remains the only genre where money trickles in slowly as opposed to the more staple romance and action flick, which in most cases recover their investment in flat three days. This also leads to the question that why cinema is then referred to as art when it is more of a business proposition.

India, as a nation, is also a place where music and songs are ingrained in the cultural fabric and thus, when such films are freshly served, people find it inherently difficult to take an instant liking. Teesri Manzil, CID, Humraaz and Khiladi could become blockbusters also because they had some evergreen songs as part of the narrative. Aamir Khan’s Talaash and Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam remain films, which could at best be described as aberrations in their careers. Despite gaining critical acclaim, they failed to breach a certain mark that was expected of them. Absence of lilting tunes could definitely be one of the reasons.

The fact remains that such scripts require some element of maturity and a majority of the films being churned these days only show that the day is still far when this genre will get the due it deserves. While mistakes can be forgiven in other genre, similar mistakes in a whodunit genre might make the entire film go topsy-turvy. It is the lazy and a cowardice attitude of filmmakers, which is ultimately to be blamed. Ittefaq remains a shining example. Even Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar picked up a plot that is tried and tested. The gumption of picking an original plot for this genre surely would have raised their stature a notch above.

(Also read — Ittefaq movie review: Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha, Akshaye Khanna are credible in an effective thriller)