A number of films over the decades have paid tribute to mega cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata. Sample these — Bombai Ka Baboo, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Salaam Bombay, Bombay Talkies et al for the Maximum City and films like Delhi Belly, Delhi 6, Delhi Heights on life in the national capital. With Bollywood’s focus shifting to smaller cities and towns for interesting stories, the titles are reflecting the change as well. Now places like Meerut, Bareilly, Aligarh, Aarah, Wasseypur are shining bright on the posters and attracting attention.
Filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, whose next Bareilly Ki Barfi will release this year, feels that when people from smaller towns started becoming filmmakers, they began portraying small town stories, ideas and nuances on celluloid as well. She says, “India has many cities which are famous for something or the other. Much like Agra’s petha and Nagpur’s oranges, Bareilly’s barfi is pretty famous. From the world of advertising, we have learnt that a name should have a ring to it and at the same time connote something. The moment people hear the name, they should be able to visualise something.”
Poster of films that have names of smaller cities in their titles.
Anarkali of Arrah director Avinash Das agrees that naming movies on smaller cities is a new trend and a welcome one. He says, “Name of the city represents the cultural context. We always had names of cities in songs like Jhumka gira re Bareilly ke bazaar mein and Dilli se gayee Patna, phir bhi naa mila sajana. To identify these smaller towns in songs is an old trend. But what has happened over the years is that our films got tired of telling stories set in metropolitan cities. Their names have also been used so many times in film titles, Mumbai and Delhi have been repeated quite often. There was dire need for novelty.”
Poster of films that have names of smaller cities in their titles.
He adds, “If ten films are being set in big cities, not every film will underline the importance of the place. But the new filmmakers want to introduce a place along with the story. Obviously I won’t name every film of mine after a city but I will always take great pride in the fact that I introduced everyone to a small town like Arrah through my film.”
On the same page is Zeishan Quadri, the screenwriter of Gangs of Wasseypur and director of Meeruthiya Gangster. He says, “Name is a very important aspect, be it of the film or characters. Agar Gabbar ka naam Pappu hota toh woh impact nahi hota. I was mulling to name my film Youngster Gangster but a young gangster could be of any city. My story was based in Meerut and was inspired by real events. None of the Bollywood films were ever shot in Meerut. I was the first one to shoot a film there and so, I decided my film title has to include Meerut. When we kept Wasseypur in the film’s title, people got to know about that place. And as filmmakers we are bringing these unknown cities to everyone’s attention. Not every film needs to give prominence to the place but in some cases, it becomes important to have the city’s name in the title, like Lucknow Central is named so as it’s a story based in that particular jail.”
Poster of films that have names of smaller cities in their titles.
Hansal Mehta shares that he named his film Aligarh because he wanted to use it as a metaphor for the larger India. Though he feels one shouldn’t read too much into this trend, he does credit a simple reason for the change. He says, “Filmmakers are finding newer stories and placing them in cities that have distinct characters, and films titles have always tried to reflect the film’s content and context.”
Avinash though feels this trend is more than just a passing fad. He sees a purpose in it. He remarks, “Right now, our social and cultural diversity is under threat in the present political environment. But filmmakers are celebrating this diversity through their films and sending out a message that it is meaningless to dwell too much on class, caste and even city differences.”
