Analysing Rajkumar Hirani – Bollywood’s Biggest Asset When It Comes To Making Socially-Relevant Cinema
Rajkumar Hirani
Cinema is all about entertaining. My principal motto is, ‘I shall entertain’. Nobody walks into the theatre to be preached to or to learn something. So I have to be sure that whatever I do, even when I have a message to deliver, it must be done in a manner that is highly entertaining. Cinema is storytelling, and, storytelling is about entertaining. At the same time, it is a commentary on reality.
– Rajkumar Hirani
It is no secret that I despise Bollywood, for the most part. Week after week I have pointed out the shortcomings of Bollywood and how it’s influencing India and its citizens in all the wrong ways, for all the wrong reasons. Bollywood is, undoubtedly, India’s bane. But, today, I’m not here to talk about the infinite times that Bollywood has let us down. Today, I’m here to tell you that Bollywood may be beyond salvation, but, it’s not all that bad. There are good things about it too, however infinitesimal.
One of the best things about our pitiful film industry is the list of great directors (not actors, no) it has produced over the years. Auteurs such as Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Guru Dutt, Ritwik Ghatak, Raj Kapoor, Prakash Mehra, Yash Chopra etc. redefined Indian Cinema in the last century; putting Bollywood on the international map.
Now, directors like Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Farhan Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee etc. are setting new standards for Indian Cinema, making quality content films covering various social issues, something Bollywood repeatedly ignores and refuses to tackle. One such director who has made his presence felt in the Indian Film Industry is Rajkumar Hirani.
Rajkumar Hirani – A Modern Socialist and Thought Leader of Our Times
Raju Hirani is undoubtedly the Christopher Nolan of India – only in the fact that they both have the distinction of being critically and commercially acclaimed directors with only a limited number of movies in their kitty. Being just four films old, Hirani is something of a savant when it comes to understanding the psyche of the Indian moviegoer. His movies are lighthearted, but, deal with social issues which abound our society. He has found the perfect way to balance socially relevant cinema to commercial success, and he knows how to make a responsible super-hit movie without dumbing down the content like other directors of Bollywood.
Rajkumar Hirani is the master of making sensible stories in an entertaining fashion. Hirani’s forte is understanding the pulse of the average Indian cinemagoer; he does it like few filmmakers ever can. All of his four movies were superhit blockbusters, each one bigger than the last, with two of them being Box Office record-breakers (3 Idiots, PK) – making him one of the only directors with a success rate of 100%. This is exceptional considering that in the film industry, be it Bollywood or Hollywood, the average success rate is rarely more than 20%.
Sure, there are directors like Rohit Shetty who have delivered consecutive superhit movies, but, it must be noted that Shetty’s movies rarely deal with anything serious, being more along the lines of mindless entertainers. Rohit Shetty makes over-the-top movies for minting quick bucks, he isn’t known for creating something noteworthy. Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006) was a surprise hit and Shetty has been milking this cash-cow dry ever since in an effort to make as much profit as he can from the franchise before the audience gets tired of it.
Hirani, on the other hand, is a complete entertainer, providing wholesome entertainment for the entire family. Unlike Shetty’s movies, Hirani’s films have a long shelf life and are liked by both the masses and the classes, which is a very rare thing in Bollywood nowadays.
The Humble Beginnings of Rajkumar Hirani
Raju Hirani is a household name now, but few people know that Hirani has been in Bollywood since the 90’s. His story is similar to that of Farhan Qureshi’s from 3 Idiots. Born to a middle-class Sindhi family, Hirani’s parents wanted their son to become a successful engineer. Like every youth of this country, Hirani tried to be an engineer, not because he loved engineering but because that seemed to be the natural thing to do.
But, Raju couldn’t get through, and instead pursued Commerce (Arts was looked down upon; still is). Hirani’s uncle wanted him to be a Chartered Accountant, but, his heart just wasn’t in it; he wanted to be an actor. So, during one of his final exams, Hirani told his father that he didn’t understand anything about accounting and wanted to pursue a career in acting.
In an unlikely turn of events which is seldom witnessed in Indian families, Suresh Hirani, Raju’s father, didn’t berate or belittle his son because of his career choice and instead told him to chase his dreams of being an actor. But, since the acting course in the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune was over, and the directional course had far too many applicants, Hirani opted for the editing course.
Before starting his career as a director, Rajkumar Hirani tried his luck as a film editor for many years. But, unpleasant experiences in the industry made him shift his focus to advertising, where he gradually established himself as a director and producer of advertising films.
Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra – A Perfect Cinematic Combination
Not being content with directing ad films and wanting to be a part of mainstream cinema, he decided to do something more and so approached Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film director, screenwriter and producer. He helped Chopra make the promos and trailers for 1942: A Love Story (1994) and also edited the promotions for Kareeb (1998). Finally, Chopra gave Raju Hirani his big break as a film editor in Mission Kashmir (2000), after Chopra’s editor had fallen ill and was not in a position to continue.
Once in an interview, Vidhu Vinod Chopra mentioned that Raju Hirani had approached him in the early noughties with an idea he had been working on for almost a decade. The idea was to make a movie on a gangster named Munna Bhai who tries to become a doctor. Chopra initially rebuffed the idea believing that the story was nonsensical and wouldn’t interest the Indian audience. Even Sanjay Gadhvi (Dhoom) was not impressed when he heard the idea, commenting that it was not going to work as it was very unconventional. ‘Who would like to watch a film in a hospital?’ Hirani, however, refused to give up and ultimately impressed Chopra with the script, who agreed to produce the movie.
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
…I am sure that a typical Hindi film producer would have rejected the script because most of them look for a formula. Thus, every film needs to have an item song, some action sequence and a romantic song in Switzerland. A very famous director, after seeing my film said, ‘Oh my God, you finished the whole movie in just Bombay and Goa!’ Likewise, another said, ‘You changed all the rules; you took an action hero like Sanjay Dutt and gave him a role like this, you shot it in a hospital which had no colour!’ I thus realised that what Munnabhai had done for a lot of aspiring filmmakers was to give them the courage to break the rules. It allowed them to experiment and the emerging format of multiplexes complimented their efforts.
– Rajukumar Hirani
When Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. was released, the only USP it had was Sanjay Dutt’s name on the poster. But, the film picked up rave reviews from critics and fans alike; and the resulting word-of-mouth turned it into a blockbuster hit. Munna Bhai would soon enter the pop culture fandom with the country being filled with echoes of ‘Aye, Mamu’ and ‘Jadoo ki Jhappi’. The film also earned the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Raju Hirani had finally arrived. Now it was time to announce.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)
His next venture, Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), was already considered a blockbuster even before hitting the theatres, thanks to the success of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. three years ago. It must be noted that many believed the film would fail as ‘sequels didn’t work in India’. Hirani proved them wrong, and Lage Raho Munna Bhai went on to become a massive success. He reintroduced the long-forgotten Gandhian philosophy of non-violence to the Indian youth with his new movie, and, once again, the audience lapped it all up with fervent gusto.
3 Idiots (2009)
His third movie, 3 Idiots (2009), which was inspired by Chetan Bhagat’s book Five Point Someone, was a pioneer of sorts and broke all Box Office records. The movie, starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi and R. Madhavan, was a satire about the social pressures under the incompetent Indian education system. 3 Idiots was the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the time, earning a massive Rs. 459.96 crore ($88 million). This was also the third film of his to feature Boman Irani in a spectacular supporting role. Irani would also come back for Hirani’s fourth release – PK.
PK (2014)
Already a celebrated director in his own right, Rajkumar Hirani decided to explore Religion and its fallacies in his next outing, PK (2014); taking on the excesses of religion, superstition and godmen in the country. This was as risky as it was dangerous – India, in general, is immaturely intolerant when someone raises their voice against any religion. Hirani, however, knew what he was doing and spectacularly told us the story of an alien (Aamir Khan) who comes to Earth and eventually begins to question religious dogmas and superstitions. PK was the first Indian film to gross more than Rs. 800 crores and is the second highest grossing Hindi film of all time.
Hirani’s next project is Sanju, a biographical drama film based on the life of actor Sanjay Dutt – dealing with the star’s film career, jail sentence and personal life. Releasing in 2018, it will feature Ranbir Kapoor portraying the role of Sanjay Dutt.
Rajkumar Hirani – The Master Strategist and Marketing Genius
It’s not just his films that make Rajkumar Hirani a genius. The man is a perfectionist, much like Aamir Khan. Hirani doesn’t not only make good movies with fantastic storylines, but, he also makes sure the audience knows what they are paying for. The marketing strategy for his films is cleverly promoted and well-thought of.
An analysis by Pratik Thakare on the Promotional Strategies of Rajkumar Hirani’s Films observes:
…although his directorial ventures came out when film marketing and promotion had become integral parts of film business. Therefore, it was not only the film itself, but the promotion which made these films a path-breaking success. It is noteworthy that during the promotion of these films, not a single strategy used appeared unrelated or forced with respect to the content of the films. From the use of bandages on the title of Munna Bhai M. B. B. S. to the butt-shaped chairs in cinema halls for 3 Idiots; in all these cases, promotional strategies for these films cleverly assimilates the core elements from the films into their promotional campaigns.
In many cases, the promotional strategy for a film only aims at creating fantastic ways to persuade the audience to enter the theatre; but when analysed in retrospection, elements used in promotion often turn out to be superficially patched and do not relate to the core theme of the film. This is not the case with Rajkumar Hirani’s films. Not only do his films do better on Box Office, but they also have a long shelf life. This is due to the peculiar elements/one-liners/themes that are portrayed in the films in such a way that they act as promotional tools even after the film has completed its theatrical run. Gandhigiri, Allizwell, Jaadu Ki Jhappi, Millimeter-Centimeter, Chemical Locha are some of the examples.
I couldn’t agree more.
No One is Perfect, Not Even Rajkumar Hirani
Even with commercial and critical success with his movies, Rajkumar Hirani isn’t without his faults. If you watch all his movies again, you’ll see a pattern immerge: an oddball protagonist questioning things that you and I take for granted; a somewhat-loveable antagonist with an ironclad perspective on life, and witty catchphrases littered throughout the film.
He is also guilty of using unrealistic solutions in serious issues (Aal Izz Well doesn’t work in real life; neither does Jadoo ki Jhappi nor Gandhigiri). But, he can be forgiven for using the same modus operandi in every film seeing how his works question the society and its unbound hypocrisy. Even though Hirani uses the same blueprint in all his films, it is the mark of his unparalleled genius that makes the audience come back for more. He changes the characters and highlights different issues in every movie of his and executes it to perfection.
Rajkumar Hirani may not be a versatile director probing different styles of filmmaking, but he is a great one nonetheless. The same cannot be said of the other pseudo-directors in the Indian Film Industry. Also, unlike other directors, Raju Hirani seldom uses vulgar jokes or unwarranted item numbers to entice the audience into seeing his movies. His content alone is enough for us to watch his films.
Rajkumar Hirani – Inspiring The Uninspired
Hirani’s style of making masala movies without compromising on the quality content of the script has influenced and inspired a lot many tenured directors in Bollywood. Karan Johar, the famous director/producer and a product of Bollywood nepotism, is said to be a big fan of Raju Hirani. Johar once stated that he was envious of Hirani and wanted to do a film someday which would be socially-relevant while being entertaining.
I love the fact that he (Hirani) is the country’s biggest filmmaker and he has been making good films time after time. He is making socially-relevant blockbusters. I hope I come up with a brilliant idea of a movie with a social relevance.
– Karan Johar on ‘An Afternoon Film Bazaar with Rajiv Masand’
It is a delight to hear something like this from someone like Karan Johar – it proves that doing things with elegance does make a difference and can inspire even the most uninspired ones.
Rajkumar Hirani is one of the most respected directors in Bollywood and is one of the best things that happened to the Indian Film Industry in a long, long time!
The Idiot's Corner 
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