What do you think is the real reason behind the success of Gangs of Wasseypur,Paan Singh Tomar,Shanghai and the ilk. If you ask me these are the new means of escape for our beloved urban youth - the multiplex audience. Surrounded by the plastic smiles - mostly in their wall to wall carpeted offices, tired of English in their workplaces they(or us?) and recently migrated from their small towns to big cities, they want to escape to The Real India. A land where people ain't politically correct, where no one thinks twice before uttering MC,BC and the similar stuff.
In a way Anurag Kashyap,Tigmanshu Dhulia et al are doing what Sooraj Barjatya,Karan johar etc have been doing till now. Especially Sooraj Barjatya. His Hum Aapke hain Kaun was the movie that ruled millions of Indian hearts for a long long time. At a time when the great Indian joint family was disintegrating at a scorching pace, he sold the dream of a Ramayanesque family to the Indians who wouldn't mind shedding tears by the bucketful. Even his Vivah did quite well - especially in Bihar.
But times they are a changing. Had Haasil been released today - it would have done quite well. It was too early to make money. But the same director has been able to reach 10 times the audience with Paan Singh Tomar.
In the opening credits of Gangs of Wasseypur, Anurag Kashyap congratulates himself for being able to return to his roots - i.e. the rugged lands of UP,Bihar. But paradoxically - for him to be able to return to his roots and be applauded in the process - his audience had to migrate away from their own.
