Bollywood - Latest Ishtyle

I watched 'Being Cyrus' today, with friends, at Chicago. Man, what a transformation for Indian cinema!! I clapped in the theatre after a long time. Although I was the only one to clap, I wasn't really embarassed. My applause was not for how well the movie was made, or for how well the story was told, or how good the acting was....it was an ode to the film-makers, for finally being bold enough to be mature and sensible, for spawning a change, for making a difference, for paving a new way. No song sequences in Europe, no sugar coated love-story or triangle or quadrilateral, no macho hero fight sequences, and no weeping mothers - the general fluff we have become ever so used to watching. Just a plot, that beatifully unfolds. Simple and straight, yet elegant and enigmatic. In English too, so all the 24/25/26 states(ive lost track) and union territories can relate to and understand. A good movie!
The sensible Indians are finally making a noise. For so many years, no film-maker seemed to really care about rational people. We are beginning to see a turn-around, what maybe the burgeoning of a new era. Im not quite sure when this started.....Im sure there have been stray cases of non-cliche masterpieces now and then in the 20th century.....but of-late, there has been a steady trickle, the harbinger-atleast from what I can remember being Nagesh Kukunoor's Hyderabad Blues. Im not really a Bollywood buff, in fact Ive eschewed Hindi movies for a while, except for some blockbusters - maybe 2-3 a year. But since the last couple of years, there have been so many good ones - Company, Monsoon Wedding, Page 3, Main Meri Patni aur Woh, Rang De Basanti, Swades, Bluffmaster, Bend it Like Beckham, Mr and Mrs Iyer and to an extent - Lagaan, Mangal Pandey, Bunty Aur Bubli, Bombay, Roja to list a few.
I used to watch only Tamil and English, but now I am beginning to become to a Bollywood fan....not the regular riff-raff, but this new wave of Indian cinema. Aarti always told me Tamil movies are very crass, and Hindi movies are much more cultured, and I refused to cede so far, but I dont think I will(or can) argue with her anymore. Bollywood has jolted ahead, and Tamil cinema has some catching up to do. But I dont see that happening in the near future, except for some biennial jewels from Mani Ratnam.
Indian cinema is seemingly diversifying(finally). This is a welcome change, and I hope this is here to stay.
For some reason, at this juncture, I wish to quote Frost. And I will because I can, and because I am both the writer and the editor of this post, and so, here goes - "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.