Now once upon a movie time, Alexander the Great aka Sikandar battled it out with Porus. Humayun ruled with benevolence. An ear-studded Tipu Sultan took on the might of the British empire. Naseem Bano as Noor Jahan became the nation’s heart-throb, thanks to Pukar in which Shahenshah Jahangir’s sense of fair justice was put to test.

More: The all-pervasive powers of Genghiz Khan, and Chandragupta Maurya were diligently chronicled. Then Razia Sultan fell head over Mughal heels over a black slave. And Jahan Ara shed tears of abject loneliness.
Sohrab Modi, a Parsi producer-director-studio-czar, spoke in flawless Urdu in the historicals he had steered from the 1930s to the 1950s. His Rani of Jhansi, India’s first technicolour film, was a commercial setback. Yet it did serve as an indulgent valentine to his real-life wife Mehtab, in the eponymous role, as the warrior queen who defied the British Raj.
Most famously, there was that doom-laden liaison of courtesan Anarkali with Prince Salim, heir very apparent of Emperor Akbar. Acadmecians vehemently argue, though, that the pomegranate bud beauty didn’t exist and was merely a figment of a romanic imagination. So what? All of us would like to believe she wasn’t fiction, don’t we?
Indeed, a musically seductive black-and-white Anarkali saw cupid-visaged Bina Rai paying with her life for the ardour of Pradeep Kumar. And imperishable history was made when the same story was retold by K. Asif with the ethereal Madhubala as the courtesan and the palpably intense Dilip Kumar as the besotted prince: K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam remains a supreme masterwork in the history of Indian cinema.
The modern colour tinted version of Mughal-e-Azam is far too falooda-coloured. Instead check out the original 1960 b-and-w, if you came in extremely late. You’ll be converted to the cinema of amazing grace. Those of the 1960s generation will vouch for the fact that the grand old entertainers hauling you back by centuries, were as priceless as family jewels. Alas today, it’s the age of fake jadaoo baubles and beads.
In effect, that is to say that history no longer sells at the movies. Not suprisingly, then, pomp and pageantary are going extinct. Sporadically, hopes are raised for a return to the period extravaganzas. Trouble is that they turn out to be false alarms. For instance, Sanjay Leela Bhansali announces from the rooftops that he’s about to start on his dream project Bajirao Mastani. Wonderful, years tick by, there’s no follow-up news at all.
Rajkumar Santoshi keeps threatening to recall the valour of Prithviraj Chauhan. Sushmita Sen re-appears from hibernation occasionally, to gush that she will produce an opus on the Rani of Jhansi, showcasing her as the warrior queen. Sohrab Modi’s version, it is conjectured, has been forgotten. In any case, a TV serial on the Rani, has already been aired, without making tidal waves in terms of TRP ratings. And there was news that J.P. Dutta would fashion an extravaganza on Rajput royalty.
These projects, however, have remained paper dreams. Clearly, today Bollywood is petrified of launching films in the historical genre. For one, they entail enormous budgets for the sets, costumes, cavalry and crowd scenes. Second, by large the X-generation’s taste veers towards rom-coms and cops-versus-creepos actioners. And of course, directors no longer have the time or patience for research, authenticity and needless to add, a regard for dialogue which doesn’t degenerate into streetside colloqualisms.
Incidentally, the same virus appears to have afflicted Hollywood. Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony et al have been replaced by Tintin, Spiderman and Twilight vampires. Mel Gibson’s richly mounted Braveheart and The Patriot are now things of the past. Special-effects fantasies retain their lead as the big buck ticket. That could have become a major track for B-town films to follow, if it were not for the commercially just about break-even score toted by Ra.One. Don 2 may give birth to more sequels. Ra.Two? You must be kidding.
For sure, in B-town, the all-too discouraging factor in the way of history-unspooling cinema has been the major box-office crash of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey — a harkback to the life of the freedom fighter Surjya Sen. Consequently, the corporation which produced the well-intentioned effort, has suspended film production. Like it or not, trade gurus are convinced that factual chronicles and commercial success are irrevocably incompatible. Today, Gowariker prefers to opt for the contemporary mode — a detecitive story with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead — although his recreation of a chapter of Mughal history Jodhaa Akbar is remembered fondly for its sumptuous sets, costumes, music score and detailed dramaturgy.
Piquantly, another biopic on Surjya Sen has been filmed, toplining Manoj Bajpai. Yet, it is still to see the light of the projector at the multiplexes. In the event, the real-life sacrifices of India’s freedom fighters are likely to go ignored. Even actor Anil Kapoor, who produced Gandhi my Father — a sensitive study of the Mahatma’s tense relationship with his son — is back to the far more market-friendly chick flick (Ayesha) and is at the moment, strategising an Indian version of the popular international TV series 24.
Over the decades, historical accounts of India’s nationalist heroes have been considered as far “too serious and documentary-like”. Ketan Mehta’s Sardar (on the life of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel), Shyam Benegal’s Subhash Chandra Bose and Jabbar Patel’s Ambedkar are all superior-quality films but are rarely recalled, neither by the masses nor the mandarins. Two films on Shaheed Bhagat Singh — one featuring Ajay Devgan and the other Bobby Deol — were released simultaneously but were thumbed down at the ticket windows. Inevitably the only treasured film dealing with India’s independence struggle, continues to be Sir Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi which won Oscars by the armload.
Realistic narratives about the Partition — like M.S. Sathyu’s Garm Hawa and Govind Nihalani’s hard-hitting Tamas — have found favour essentially among the arthouse circuit.
Conversely whenever history has been presented melodramatically and in a hyper-exaggerated way, it has aroused the overwhelming interest of the audience. Case in point: Gadar which dealt with the sub-continent’s Partition. The exruciatingly jingoistic film remains one of the biggest moneyspinners in Indian cinema. Akbar Khan’s Taj Mahal aroused some curiosity for its ostentatious production values. As for an international co-production on the monument, which was to feature Aishwarya Rai as Mumtaz Mahal, it is still to get off the ground.
Frequently, bids have been on to make an internationally-scaled project on the life and times of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. One was to feature Monica Bellucci in the high-profile role. So far, permission has not been granted to such an endeavour. Yet there are renewed attempts by Bollywood filmmaker who rush to New Delhi seeking an appointment with Mrs Gandhi. Permission denied. Perhaps, she is aware that any worthwhile film on her life is hardly likely to make history.