As a businessman - part of 'show biz' - the most enduring, long-lasting career was that of Jeetendra. He hasn't been given his due for his contribution to Hindi cinema. The man was an industry onto himself; so many jobs, so many families, so many workers were employed because of his churning out of movies that the critics dismissed, but the masses loved.
A film unit comprises of nearly 200 people, think of the technicians, camera crew, lighting crew, spot boys, dancers, costume designers, makeup artists, catering, fashion team, along with the cast and crew of the film - that lengthy scroll of credits at the end of a movie, all those pople got a paycheck because of the success of formulaic feel-good movies Jeetendra led.
And some of those art-house films made on a shoe-string budget with minimal crew, that didn't change cinema as much as they would like to believe - or elevate the lives of the working people in industry. Making 12 critics happy and boring audiences, box-office figures were a stunning indictment of the art-house cinema movement.
It's easy to be dismissive of pop art and pop culture cinema, but lets list their merits too. It's equally easy to praise art films for the reflection on humanity, a slice of life in contemporary India...but let's also critique its slow pacing, its poor cinematography, its shoddy lighting! Was watching Bazaar the other day and the first painful minutes are just completely unnecessary shots of Smita Patil getting ready - a decent editor could have cut that to a few seconds. For the longest time was waiting for the story to kick off. And the dialogues were... well, who talks like that? Sure the film covered painful reality and subjects unspoken of, but as an entertainer, falls short. There are several documentaries that have faster pace and make the point in fewer minutes...
Today's rant ends here. Let's give Jeetendra his due credit. In local parlance, give him his flowers now. The man is 84. His legacy is feeding new stars and new gen till date. The seeds he planted that's become this television behemoth, Balaji, runs the kitchens of many a home.
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