A commanding father, an evil uncle, a helpless mother and a vulnerable child in a lost and found revenge drama – when these ingredients are available, Bollywood can rustle up the most delectable fare on screen. A movie buff who has shed copious tears watching Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan deliver monologues despite bullets being smashed through their chests can vouch for that. But, let us rewind a bit. Doesn’t this plot remind you of the 1994 Disney classic The Lion King?
I was eight when my parents introduced me to a world where a lion, not lioness, leads a pack, where big cats rule over other creatures and where real-life lion family dynamics don’t matter. Over the years and with remakes and adaptations of The Lion King (Jon Favreau’s being the latest), there’s one striking similarity I noticed between Bollywood masala entertainers and the animated wonder – emotion > logic.
Over the years and with remakes and adaptations of The Lion King (Jon Favreau’s being the latest), there’s one striking similarity I noticed between Bollywood masala entertainers and animated wonder – emotion > logic.
Let’s come to the plot. The Lion King opens with the most beautiful sunrise on the plains of Africa. The new day brings with it some great news –king of the jungle Mufasa and his queen Sarabi have been blessed with a son – Simba. Can anyone hear the temple bells ringing when ‘priest’ Rafiki showers his love on the child and his parents by applying red tikas on their foreheads?
Papa Mufasa and mummy Sarabi cuddle baby Simba and teach him tricks, and everything seems to be perfect. Enter evil uncle Scar, whose blood boils seeing his elder brother command so much power over the jungle. Cunning Scar’s initial plan of getting Simba killed by the hyenas fails. Now, if you haven’t watched the latest Hindi version, let me enlighten you – hyenas are known as lakad bhaagas. Two minutes of silence.
Moving on, Scar does succeed in the end, by throwing Mufasa off a cliff. Noooo!!, shouts Simba and I could almost imagine the thunder and lightning ripping the sky apart. He drives Simba out and, along with the hyenas, takes control over the jungle, creating mayhem. The quintessential bad guy of Bollywood. His actions take me back to Agneepath, where Kancha Cheena roars, “Mera raasta katne ki koshish mat karna (Don’t try to cross my path).”
Wicked uncles add the perfect dose of drama in the desi films too. Take the Ajay Devgn-starrer Raju Chacha. Rishi Kapoor steps into Mufasa’s shoes, doting on multiple little Simbas. An obvious similarity is made more obvious as he narrates the story of The Lion King to the kids. No brownie points for guessing what happens next. Kapoor falls off a cliff, and the entire plan is orchestrated by the children’s maternal uncles. Guess who comes to their rescue? Hold your breath, Raju Chacha!
Next, Karan Arjun. As I elaborate, you can sense the reflections of The Lion King in the storyline. Simba likes to gently wake his father up, but Karan Arjun climbs fences every morning to dive into their mother, Rakhee Gulzar’s feet.
The brothers shop for bangles and dance to Bhangra Paale with their beloved (Kajol and Mamta Kulkarni) till uncle Durjan Singh (Amrish Puri) surfaces. He murders the siblings’ father and sends his nephews to the grave too. Two Simbas for the price of one!
But picture abhi baki hai mere dost. After exile, kid Simba returns as an adult to avenge his father’s death, and Maa Kali listens to Durga’s pleadings to bring her sons back. Karan and Arjun have the most dramatic entry – they are REINCARNATED.
Now strangers, Salman and Shah Rukh are at loggerheads with one another. But the heavens come together to unite the duo. A streak of lightning emerges from nowhere to stop them from hitting each other. Even the junior artistes can’t mask their confusion when the bizarre sequence unfolds in front of them.
A fire rages in the jungle as Simba and Scar fight. While Nala and the other lions try to ward off the hyenas, Simba finally hurls his uncle off the cliff.
But can death be this easy in Bollywood? Karan and Arjun take bullets in their palms, and not just survive but manage to finish off Durjan Singh also.
When Bollywood is here, can dialogues and songs be far behind? The Lion King has some iconic lines that are etched in our memories. Take, for example, Mufasa’s wise words: “And so we are all connected in the great circle of life”. Or Simba: “I laugh in the face of danger.”
On the other hand, Rakhee Gulzar screams - “Mere Karan Arjun aayenge! (My Karan, Arjun will return)”.
This brings us to the Hindi dubbed version of The Lion King. The comparison would be unfair without some entertainment from our own stars. When Scar declares that Simba killed his father, Sarabi channels the inner Kirron Kher. She wails and tells her son, “Keh do ki yeh jhooth hai (Tell me it’s a lie)”. The otherwise compelling Ashish Vidyarthi as Scar isn’t exempt from a sleazy line in Hindi. He tells Sarabi after Mufasa’s death, “Aao meri rani ban jao. Roz daawat hi daawat hogi. (You become my Queen. We will have grand feasts everyday).”
A Bollywood entertainer is incomplete without songs and similarly The Lion King is no exception. Hakuna Matata and Circle of Life smell of nostalgia and take us back to happier times.
Similarly, the 90s is incomplete if you haven’t hummed the lyrics of Jaati Hoon Mein. Running around the stables seems to be a favourite pastime of heroes and heroines. By the way, what do you have to say about the questionable steps?
Before we close, let us put our hands together for the heroine. Simba’s love interest is Nala, the clever and fearless lioness who does not hesitate to put up a fight with the hyenas when her lover is in trouble. Sonia and Bindiya are Arjun and Karan’s girlfriends, and their lives circle around the two guys. Just before the action-packed climax, they dance with their boys to Jai Maa Kali, sporting grim expressions.
The curtains can never close without a happy reunion. After all, yeh bandhan toh pyaar ka bandhan hai.
Old habits die hard. Hidden in The Lion King are some key tropes of Bollywood masala movies, and I could not help but nitpick those. Keeping aside cynicism, I bought into the charming tale of the lions, clapped when Karan and Arjun returned with full vigour and did swing a leg to the cheesy tunes. After all, what’s life without oodles of (melo)drama?
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