If you have been wondering why films and OTT content has acquired such a heavy UP- Bihar flavour, then read on to know the reasons
For the past one month, tragic stories of migrants moving from metros to their native lands have been making headlines. The unending crisis of migrants moving back to obscure and far flung districts, towns and villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has evoked in us anger, anguish and misery.
Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Kanpur, Azamgarh, Bettiah, Motihari, Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, where they are returning to, are familiar names. We have been watching stories based in these badlands in films and now also on OTT platforms.
Dominant flavour
For the past couple of years now, UP and Bihar have been the flavour of Bollywood. Way back in the nineties, Bandit Queen, a film based on the life of dacoit queen Phoolan Devi, had found an audience across the nation. In 2012 Gangs of Wasseypur was a novel treat for the audience. But since 2017, besides crime-based films, other lighthearted ones like Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya, Bareilly Ki Burfi, Ranjhana, Shubh Mangal Savdhan have all seen success. The content for web series too draws from these two states in North India. Mirzapur, Panchayat and Raktanchal being some recent shows.
What is it about UP and Bihar, (often mentioned in the same breath) that fires the imagination of creative writers and filmmakers? Why do stories based in these states, using different dialects spoken here, are such hits?
So far, these states found mention for throwing up the maximum number of UPSC aspirants and successful candidates. But the films and web series make only a passing mention of this aspect, while they showcase the crime and dreams of success people here have.
That the stories make for interesting viewing is incidental. The first truth is that UP under the previous dispensations, began to peddle itself to filmmakers. The government under Akhilesh Yadav’s stewardship had formed a policy named Film Bandhu, which gave any filmmaker shooting in UP a subsidy of 25% of the film’s budget. He was required to also hire junior artists locally. This generated revenue and employment in the state and for the filmmaker it turned out to be an option much better than he had anticipated.
Vibrant Theatre
Districts like Varanasi and Lucknow, where many of the films and serials are based, have a strong theatre culture. The theatre groups offer a rich pool of actors who do not require any training in body language and dialect. There are many small theatre actors in Lucknow, Varanasi and Kanpur who have by now acted in over three hundred films, television serials or web series.
The last decade has seen the success of many writers, actors, filmmakers like Varun Grover, Anurag Kashyap, Anubhav Sinha, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saurabh Shukla, Pankaj Tripathi who hail from UP and Bihar. The scripts, songs and the location of their films have a subtle UP- Bihar flavour. The densely populated states have plenty of iconic landmarks in terms of places, food or art which these imports to Bollywood use in their works.
Eager audience
Geographically too, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are vast states and have a slew of castes, dialects and cultures which vary from district to district. Real life stories of crime, poverty, greed and ambition abound in these politically active states. Ground research is easily available which helps while writing the scripts. Most of the dialects spoken are close to Hindi and are easily comprehensible to audiences across North and West India.
But what works best for these sagas on silver screen, the idiot box and now the OTTs is the audience. Crores of migrants from these states, who are spread across the country, connect and relate to stories set in their native lands. The doodhwala bhaiyya in Mumbai, the washerman in Ahmedabad, the construction worker in Tamil Nadu and the farm labourer in Kerala all relish this content and get nostalgic as they watch these films and serials, hundreds of miles away from home. Actors like Pankaj Tripathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Saurabh Shukla have their own fan base back home. Their work is a big draw in their hometowns.
Today as these migrants trudge back to their native places, their trials and tribulations provide grist for many more new stories that are being formed and will emerge and roll out in days to come.
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