The release of "Bahubali: The Conclusion" to packed houses and its staggering collection figures made headlines this week. The clever ploy to tell a story in two parts ( Bahubali: was the first part) with an unanswered question linking the two films paid off, and how !
While the whole nation wanted to know why Katappa killed Bahubali, few realised that by watching the two films, they had put in a total of 5 hours and 26 minutes of film-viewing.
The complete story ( in two parts) seems to be one of the longest story ever told on the silver screen. But is it so, really?
Let's do some digging....
In the early years of Hindi films, a film named Indrasabha ( 1932)was released. The most well-known fact about the film is that it had a total of 71 songs !
The period of 40s and 50s did not see films cross the 3 hour mark. Called the Golden Age, it was probably the era of moderation. Even though the shows were called 3 to 6 or 6 to 9, the average length of films stayed around 160 minutes , if it was a long film. The longest film probably in that period was Mother India ( 1957) , just short of 3 hours.
In the beginning of 60s, we had Mughal e Azam !
So much has been written on the film ( my blog included) that almost all th facts concerning the film are in public domain. The film was 3 hours and 17 minutes long and a grand spectacle of a love story of the Mughal times. This was the first film to be digitally coloured and given a re-release in 2004.
Cut to 1964 and,,,,Sangam !
Sangam was a great showpiece by the Showman-to-be, Raj Kapoor. Beginnig with Aag and gathering momentum through Barsaat, Awara and Sri 420, this colour film became his first big release, his fifth directorial venture, in 1964, The film told the story of a love triangle ( raj Kapoor, Vyjantimala and Rajendra Kumar ) and events ranging from childhood of the three protagonists were covered, in some detail. Incidentally, this was one of the three films turned down by Dilip Kumar, each of which became a mile stone. The other two were Pyasa and Lawrence of Arabia . The twists and turns of the narrative, punctuated with beautiful songs and foreign locales generated a public frenzy for the film, despite the length of the film being a staggering 3 hours and 58 minutes !
Incidentally, the Hindi songs of the film were also much longer than the usual 3 minute songs which were the norm. The shortest of the seven melodies was a 3 minute and 45 second cribbing about getting an old man for a lover ! And, yes there was a multi-language song in the film, too.
The longest song was about the betrayal by a friend, which was 5 minutes and 45 seconds long: almost equal to two songs' duration.
A four hour film to have broken the records of collection showed that the Indian public was ready for the long-winded depiction of stories, if they had content. So, in 1965, B.R.Chopra came up with a multi-starrer film, the first of a kind and a trend-setter of sorts, titled Waqt.
Waqt dealt with the unpredictability of life and the supremacy of time over human beings, thereby giving the message of remaining humble at all times. The starcast had the who's who of hindi film industry : Sunil Dutt, Sadhana, Raaj Kumar, Sharmila tagore, Shashi kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Achala Sachdeva, Rehman and Madan Puri. The long court-room scene, the dialogue-baazi of Raaj Kumar, the melodies of composer Ravi and the twists and turns of the story made the 3 hour and 26 minute film a pleasure to watch.
Six songs, each longer than three and a half minutes made the film memorable.The longest songs was more than 5 minute long.
The seventies saw Raj Kapoor doing an encore of Sangam, in Mera Naam Joker, as far as the length of the film is concerned. This was a 4 - hour film, with 3 chapters and 2 intervals ! His semi-autobiographical dream project did not do well, despite the intrinsic worth of the film.The film was 4 hours and 4 minutes long. Again, the songs were also long, the duration of lengthiest song was over 6 minutes !
The film was a semi-autobiographical take on the life and times of a performer. The essence of the adage "the show must go on" was captured by the Showman in style.However, the box office wasn't set on fire and though the film is termed classic, it's name in history is for reasons other than popularity.
The 80s saw Richard Attenborough make a film on Gandhi, released in English and Hindi. The film was 3 hours and 11 minutes long and held audiences spell-bound as the father of nation, played by Ben Kingsley, British !
However, the remarkable effort by an Indian film-maker was the telefilm ( and later released as a feature film) Tamas by Bhisham Sahni, which depicted the travails of partition and those who were affected during the black chapter of Indian history. Tamas, released in 1987 was 4 hours and 34 minutes long and remains the longest ever story told in a one-part film.
The 90s had Khatarnak and Narsimha as long films, which were focussing on revenge and action, without presenting anything not seen till then. The film that made the tag of Showman applicable for Subhash Ghai was Saudagar ( 1991), a three and a half hour saga about warring patriarchs and loving progenies. The star cast was a coup since Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar were pitted against each other , years after Paigham. Vivek Mushran ( don't ask who, it is rude !) and Manisha Koirala made the lead pair, with the ILU ILU song, a 9 minute whopper, getting on top of charts as the new craze of the nation.
The 8 minute long song Didi Tera Devar Diwana was the chart buster of the year, making waves on the new media of satellite TV and VCR circuit.
The real flourish for long films developed from 2000, with as many as 10 films in the decade breaching the 3 hour mark. Mohabbatein ( 2000) , Lagaan and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham ( 2001) , LOC Kagil (2003), Swades and M-e-A( 2004) and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (2005), Kabhi Alvida na Kehna (2006),Salaam-e-Ishq (2007) and Jodha Akbar(2008) were all long films of duration more than 3 hours, had great story and content , alongwith lots of songs. Out of these, LOC Kargil was the longest at 4 hours and 4 minutes.
The Indian audience had really started to like long-winded tales and all these film ( except Netaji and S-e-I) were successful.
Ye jo des hai mera...
The latest trend in Hindi films that of the Biopic. We have had biographical story-telling for sportsmen ( on Mary Kom and Milkha Singh) and next in line are hindi film legends ( Kishore Kumar and Guru Dutt biopics are on the anvil).
The biopic of M.S. Dhoni was also a 3 hour 10 minute long picturisation of the making of Dhoni.
All said and done, long stories are here to stay and it would not be surprising if we have a film in three parts ( in three films) in future !
While the whole nation wanted to know why Katappa killed Bahubali, few realised that by watching the two films, they had put in a total of 5 hours and 26 minutes of film-viewing.
The complete story ( in two parts) seems to be one of the longest story ever told on the silver screen. But is it so, really?
Let's do some digging....
In the early years of Hindi films, a film named Indrasabha ( 1932)was released. The most well-known fact about the film is that it had a total of 71 songs !
It is therefore, not surprising that the film was too long... 3 hours and 31 minutes, to be exact. Now, with 70-odd songs, each about 3 minute long, on an average, it appears that there wouldn't have been anything else in the film, except songs. But that is not the case.Many films in that era had more than 30 songs. In fact, it was normal to have more than 15 songs. it was disclosed by a knowledgeable source that these songs are not the type of songs we are familiar with. Songs in these films were often simply 4 or 6 or 8 lines of poetry, sung to music and it was considered a song. This goes back to the theatre era when the dialogues are sometimes prosaic and at other times, poetic. Incidentally, the first ever song from Alam Ara ( 1931) was also a simple verse of 4 lines, De De Khuda Ke Naam Pe . Thesongs of Indrasabha are not possible to be located, though there were 71 of them !
The period of 40s and 50s did not see films cross the 3 hour mark. Called the Golden Age, it was probably the era of moderation. Even though the shows were called 3 to 6 or 6 to 9, the average length of films stayed around 160 minutes , if it was a long film. The longest film probably in that period was Mother India ( 1957) , just short of 3 hours.
In the beginning of 60s, we had Mughal e Azam !
So much has been written on the film ( my blog included) that almost all th facts concerning the film are in public domain. The film was 3 hours and 17 minutes long and a grand spectacle of a love story of the Mughal times. This was the first film to be digitally coloured and given a re-release in 2004.
Cut to 1964 and,,,,Sangam !
Sangam was a great showpiece by the Showman-to-be, Raj Kapoor. Beginnig with Aag and gathering momentum through Barsaat, Awara and Sri 420, this colour film became his first big release, his fifth directorial venture, in 1964, The film told the story of a love triangle ( raj Kapoor, Vyjantimala and Rajendra Kumar ) and events ranging from childhood of the three protagonists were covered, in some detail. Incidentally, this was one of the three films turned down by Dilip Kumar, each of which became a mile stone. The other two were Pyasa and Lawrence of Arabia . The twists and turns of the narrative, punctuated with beautiful songs and foreign locales generated a public frenzy for the film, despite the length of the film being a staggering 3 hours and 58 minutes !
Incidentally, the Hindi songs of the film were also much longer than the usual 3 minute songs which were the norm. The shortest of the seven melodies was a 3 minute and 45 second cribbing about getting an old man for a lover ! And, yes there was a multi-language song in the film, too.
The longest song was about the betrayal by a friend, which was 5 minutes and 45 seconds long: almost equal to two songs' duration.
Waqt dealt with the unpredictability of life and the supremacy of time over human beings, thereby giving the message of remaining humble at all times. The starcast had the who's who of hindi film industry : Sunil Dutt, Sadhana, Raaj Kumar, Sharmila tagore, Shashi kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Achala Sachdeva, Rehman and Madan Puri. The long court-room scene, the dialogue-baazi of Raaj Kumar, the melodies of composer Ravi and the twists and turns of the story made the 3 hour and 26 minute film a pleasure to watch.
Six songs, each longer than three and a half minutes made the film memorable.The longest songs was more than 5 minute long.
The seventies saw Raj Kapoor doing an encore of Sangam, in Mera Naam Joker, as far as the length of the film is concerned. This was a 4 - hour film, with 3 chapters and 2 intervals ! His semi-autobiographical dream project did not do well, despite the intrinsic worth of the film.The film was 4 hours and 4 minutes long. Again, the songs were also long, the duration of lengthiest song was over 6 minutes !
The film was a semi-autobiographical take on the life and times of a performer. The essence of the adage "the show must go on" was captured by the Showman in style.However, the box office wasn't set on fire and though the film is termed classic, it's name in history is for reasons other than popularity.
And now to "The greatest story ever told", not necessarily the longest, though. I am referring to Sholay, the film which has more spoofs and references than another film in the history of Hindi films.
The 1975 film was 3 hours and 24 minute long saga of revenge by a crippled man through mercenaries, who get reformed in the process. The unique feature of the film was that each character of the film, howsoever small his role was, got his share of fame. The public lapped upthe film like none other and Sholay, despite being one of the longest films made, kept the audience glued to their seats throughout...
In the 70s, we also had the film Khoon Pasina, which was 3 and a half hours long, again with the usual masala of songs, action and comedy. The film was a superhit.
The 80s saw Richard Attenborough make a film on Gandhi, released in English and Hindi. The film was 3 hours and 11 minutes long and held audiences spell-bound as the father of nation, played by Ben Kingsley, British !
However, the remarkable effort by an Indian film-maker was the telefilm ( and later released as a feature film) Tamas by Bhisham Sahni, which depicted the travails of partition and those who were affected during the black chapter of Indian history. Tamas, released in 1987 was 4 hours and 34 minutes long and remains the longest ever story told in a one-part film.
Not to be outdone, Sooraj Barjatya made a behemoth of a film, seemingly a wedding video replication and a sweet-sugary love story called Hum Aapke hain Kaun ( 1994). The 3 hour 26 minute film had all the trappings of a hit film, with the songs depicting each stage from courtship to mangni to sangeet to joota churayi....ad infinitum. There were a total of 15 songs in the film, harking back to an era long forgotten. The climax involved a canine ( check out the last blog : ) , who made the ending happy for the viewers and the film came to be known as a feel-good film, with no villains !
The 8 minute long song Didi Tera Devar Diwana was the chart buster of the year, making waves on the new media of satellite TV and VCR circuit.
The real flourish for long films developed from 2000, with as many as 10 films in the decade breaching the 3 hour mark. Mohabbatein ( 2000) , Lagaan and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham ( 2001) , LOC Kagil (2003), Swades and M-e-A( 2004) and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (2005), Kabhi Alvida na Kehna (2006),Salaam-e-Ishq (2007) and Jodha Akbar(2008) were all long films of duration more than 3 hours, had great story and content , alongwith lots of songs. Out of these, LOC Kargil was the longest at 4 hours and 4 minutes.
The Indian audience had really started to like long-winded tales and all these film ( except Netaji and S-e-I) were successful.
Ye jo des hai mera...
In 2010, a new beginning was made with the story of a film told in two films. Rakta Charitra I and II totalled 4 hours and 4 minutes, with the latter part being the story after the interval. it was not a sequel ( wo kahani phir kabhi). This paved the way for films like Gangs of Wasseypur ( Part I and II) and Bahubali ( part I and II). The second part of last named film has reportedly extracted 1000 crores world-wide and 247 crores from the pockets of the Hindi audience. Watch out for the blog on the highest grossers of all times, in near future !
Gangs of Wasseypur , both parts included, is a national record holder , having 5 hours and 31 minutes of footage !
Gangs of Wasseypur , both parts included, is a national record holder , having 5 hours and 31 minutes of footage !
The latest trend in Hindi films that of the Biopic. We have had biographical story-telling for sportsmen ( on Mary Kom and Milkha Singh) and next in line are hindi film legends ( Kishore Kumar and Guru Dutt biopics are on the anvil).
The biopic of M.S. Dhoni was also a 3 hour 10 minute long picturisation of the making of Dhoni.
All said and done, long stories are here to stay and it would not be surprising if we have a film in three parts ( in three films) in future !
1 comment:
Don't know if Long films are here to stay, as if that was so more films would be of the duration of more than 3 hours than the average of not more than 10 films out of a whopping 350-400 Hindi films annually released
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