Is ‘based on a true story’ the new success formula for Bollywood hitmakers?

It has been less than a quarter into 2018 and we have seen the release of a number of Bollywood films that have
been successful at making a mark at the box office. While the month of January (and even the following ones)
was owned by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmaavat, February was all about Akshay Kumar’s
PadMan. March’s big release came with Ajay Devgn’s Raid.
While on the surface, these films are a stark departure from each other, Padmaavat being a period war film,
PadMan a social drama and Raid a crime thriller, one thing that connects the three, apart from their stupendous
box office success, is their claim to be rooted in reality. While it is a known fact that PadMan is based on the
story of the social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, the first slide of Ajay Devgn’s Raid reads ‘Based
on true stories.’ Padmaavat, however, is a different story altogether. It may be based on a fictional poem but it
will still remain a piece of ‘historical’ fiction.
Let us first look at Bollywood’s latest offering Raid which narrates the story of a newly appointed IT
Commissioner Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) as he conducts the country’s biggest raid on one of the city’s most
wealthy and well-connected politicians-cum-businessman MLA Rameshwar Singh (Saurabh Shukla). An
interesting premise at hand, right? But writer Ritesh Shah (who has films like Pink, D-day, and Citylights to his
credit) does a disappointing job at bringing the story out on screen.
After watching the film’s trailer, you not only expect Raid to be a terse exploration of the ingenious strategies
and planning that goes into conducting a high-profile raid like this but also a story which is believable and
intriguing at the same time. But throughout the film’s 130 minutes, what we see is Ajay Devgn tapping different
corners of Singh’s mansion resulting in showers of wads of cash and stocks of precious jewellery. There was just
so much more that director Raj Kumar Gupta could have explored with Raid: the pre-liberalised India of the 80s,
the relationship between the affluent families and corrupt tax officers, the struggles of a sincere officer like
Patnaik in convincing his seniors to approve the raid but instead all we get is a predictable stand-off between the
goody-two-shoes hero and the abysmal baddie, repeated to the point that it stops making any kind of sense. f
the makers would have taken to themselves to thoroughly research the lives of previous IT officers (instead of
spending so much time and effort on the look Ileana is sporting), the film would have come out a lot differently.
While the power-packed dialogues were definitely a highlight of the trailer, in the film, it is just taken too over
the top. Viewers never witness Tauji or Patnaik engage in any kind of genuine conversation, be it with their
family or to each other, it is almost like they are their sassy best at all times.
Which brings me to my next observation that films like Raid are almost always packaged as ‘woke’ cinema with
the actors repeatedly stating in their promotional interviews how their film doesn’t stick to conventional
stereotypes. And when under that impression audiences flock to the theatres, all they get is the same-old
Bollywood masala movie.
Similar is the case with R Balki’s PadMan. While PadMan is based on the story of Arunachalam Muruganantham,
the man who started a revolution by creating a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine, Balki is never able to
effectively convey the seriousness of Muruganantham’s struggle to the viewers. It is almost like all his problems
are solved miraculously and not out of his own caliber. And as a result, the essence of Muruganantham’s story is
lost somewhere in the film. A major point of contention with the kind of “cinematic liberties” that R Balki
chooses to take in PadMan is Sonam Kapoor’s character Rhea, who is completely a figment of Balki’s
imagination. Yes, Rhea does become a source of great strength for Lakshmikant in the latter part of his journey
but there isn’t a logical explanation as to why Balki felt the need to introduce a romantic angle between her and
Akshay’s character.
An 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and

challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know.
I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.
I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me
with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years
old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and
she gave me a giant squeeze.
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married,
and have a couple of kids…”
“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her
to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant
friends. Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always
mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She
loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it
up. At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she
taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she
dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone
and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my
speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.” As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We
do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to
staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day.
You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who
are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are
nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years
old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.
Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding
opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for
things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those
with regrets.” She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation
Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by
example that it’s
never too late to be all you can possibly be .When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of
advice to your friends and family, they’ll really enjoy it!
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
Sylvester Stallone Inspirational Story

Like many actors, Stallone struggled at the beginning of his Hollywood career. But his struggles were more
than most. He was so broke that he became homeless, sold his wife’s jewelry and even sold his dog for $25
as he had no money to feed him anymore. He said that was the lowest moments of his entire life and walked
away crying.

A few weeks after the tragic event he watched a Mohammed Ali boxing match that inspired him to write
Rocky. He was so inspired that he wrote the entire script in less than a day! Studios loved the script but
didn’t love Sylvester Stallone’s one request — to be the main lead in the movie.

He was offered over $300,000 for the script but still said no — despite being dead broke! He knew that this
movie was his ticket to success. After enough time a studio agreed to let him star and only gave him
$35,000 for the script. Several things happened.

First, he went back to the place he sold his dog, waited around long enough, and was able to buy him
back…. for $15,000! But it wasn’t a problem as Rocky went on to make history. With a small budget of one
million dollars, it went on to gross 225 million, be nominated for several Oscars, and yield six sequels.