{"id":3612,"date":"2016-07-27T08:28:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T02:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3612"},"modified":"2016-07-27T08:28:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T02:58:34","slug":"bollywoods-statues-of-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3612","title":{"rendered":"Bollywood\u2019s Statues of Unity: Figures that Could Beat Up Bad Guys Or Cure Blindness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

was randomly scrolling through my Facebook timeline when a screenshot that a friend posted from the 1953 film <\/span>Statues Also Die<\/span><\/i> caught my attention. My interest didn\u2019t arise because I\u2019d seen the film or liked it. Instead, it was the dialogue on the image: \u201cWhen men die, they enter history. When <\/span>statues<\/span><\/a> die, they enter art.\u201d Before I knew it, I\u2019d let out a chuckle.<\/span>\n\nThe cause of my amusement was in India\u2019s headlines. The past few days have been dominated by a frenzied, continuous debate on the \u20b92,989 crore Statue of Unity \u2013 a massive figure of India\u2019s first Deputy Prime Minister, <\/span>Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel<\/span><\/a> \u2013 which is now the tallest in the world. I can\u2019t vouch for whether this statue will actually enter the pantheon of great art someday or whether it will be granted some UNESCO award that we\u2019ll come to know through early morning WhatsApp messages. <\/span>\n\nOf course, one statue deserves another \u2013 Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan wants the Statue of Unity to be succeeded by a Lord Ram statue. Seems legit, considering statues have always been a great Indian pastime. In fact, there\u2019s no better evidence than Hindi cinema. It\u2019s funny how statues have seldom acted as mere props in films even though they\u2019ve consistently been relegated to the background.<\/span>\n\nMy earliest recollection of statue-spotting was in the song \u201cTere Khayalon Mein Hum\u201d from <\/span>Geet Gaya Patharon Ne<\/span><\/i> (1964). As a child, the scene in which <\/span>Jeetendra<\/span><\/a> is trying to sculpt his masterpiece, oblivious to Rajshree\u2019s charms, left me intrigued. I\u2019m not certain whether it heralded my own obsession with statues in Hindi films, but Jeetu ji\u2019s obnoxious self and Rajshree\u2019s forlorn and forsaken figure had the ability to create one of the most romantic statue-moments in Bollywood. <\/span>\n\n

You could say, in Hindi cinema, statues have been as important as character actors, except they\u2019re a bit more shy than real people.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThen there was <\/span>Ishq<\/span><\/i> (1997) that featured an anatomical perversion of a statue, but which also ended up paying a hat-tip to the mythical stories behind <\/span>Taj Mahal<\/span><\/a>. In the film, when Razzak Khan, who plays the Nawab of Agra sees the delicate creation, he decides to reward Deven Verma, the sculptor, by cutting off his hand. One can only assume Razzak Khan was part of the \u201cTukde Tukde\u201d gang. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nIn <\/span>Geet Gaya Patharon<\/span><\/i> Ne<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Ishq<\/span><\/i>, statues were almost like a third wheel. Even though they were a significant part of the proceedings, they were hardly afforded centre stage; their roles forgotten simply because they were not made of flesh and blood. <\/span>\n\nStatues have been used as generously in art films as in hardcore masala films and in a variety of ways. In some films, statues have helped foster fantastic bonds between the <\/span>parent<\/span><\/a> and the child. In <\/span>Sapoot <\/span><\/i>(1996), Kader Khan was fond of playing the statue game with his daughter to strengthen their relationship. However, this statue game hasn\u2019t always yielded such happy results: In <\/span>Darna Mana Hai<\/span><\/i> (2003), Aftab Shivdasani uses the power of this game to exert his power over his college, impress a girl, but ultimately faces the brunt of reducing people to a voiceless statue.<\/span>\n\nStatues, like our filmi superheroes also come with their own superpowers. Remember <\/span>Mr. India<\/span><\/i><\/a> (1987), where Amrish Puri\u2019s cronies were beaten black and blue by using the statue of Lord Hanuman as a weapon? But even that paled in coolness quotient when compared to Sai Baba\u2019s statue in <\/span>Amar Akbar Anthony<\/span><\/i> (1977). After all it immediately cured Nirupa Roy\u2019s blindness. <\/span>\n\nBut perhaps, my favourite statue plot-twists in Hindi cinema is the \u201cAhalya factor\u201d, where humans transform into statues and vice versa. In <\/span>Geeta Mera Naam <\/span><\/i>(1974), Sunil Dutt displays a fetish for turning his foes into statues. Meanwhile, in <\/span>Prem Shakti <\/span><\/i>(1994), which rips off the plot from <\/span>Mannequin<\/span><\/i> (1987), Karisma Kapoor is turned into a statue who is forced to wait for her lover, <\/span>Govinda<\/span><\/a> to free her from the curse. Despite the straight-up lift of the premise, it requires a certain kind of inventive imagination to come up with a backstory as ridiculously entertaining as this.<\/span>\n\nA close second is probably in the set-ups where statues have acted as a solid wingman. In <\/span>Coolie <\/span><\/i>(1983), Rati Agnihotri confesses her love for <\/span>Amitabh Bachchan<\/span><\/a> as a statue, that is in fact, him. In <\/span>Sholay <\/span><\/i>(1975), Dharmendra hides behind the statue of Lord Shiva to coax Hema Malini to marry him. And then there\u2019s the classic scene from <\/span>Mughal-e-Azam<\/span><\/i> (1960), where Anarkali has to pretend to be a statue while Prince Salim unveils it using an arrow. It\u2019s a matter of life and death, and yet Anarkali doesn\u2019t move. In fact, this is where the first few lines of the romance between Salim and Anarkali get written \u2013 all because she is unmoving, even in the face of death. <\/span>\n\nYou could say, in Hindi cinema, statues have been as important as character actors, except they\u2019re a bit more shy than real people. But the value of their contribution has always remained an afterthought. Is it any wonder then that they have become larger than life now? Maybe, this is a suitable revenge.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As India goes on a statue-building spree \u2013 with the \u20b92,989 crore Statue of Unity and a proposed one of Lord Ram in Ayodhya \u2013 it\u2019s time to take a look at the role these inanimate figures have played in Bollywood films as diverse as Geet Gaya Patharon Ne and Ishq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":3613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[6785,6786,6799],"class_list":["post-3612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-statue","tag-statue-of-unity","tag-statues-in-films"],"yoast_head":"\nBollywood\u2019s Statues of Unity: Figures that Could Beat Up Bad Guys Or Cure Blindness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As India goes on a statue-building spree \u2013 with the \u20b92,989 crore Statue of Unity and a proposed one of Lord Ram in Ayodhya \u2013 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