BollywoodFAQ_galley

A Century of Bollywood
19
actors Anupam Kher and Shakti Kapoor play the first unabashedly open
homosexuals in a Bollywood film.
70. 1992—Satyajit Ray, one of the twentieth century cinema’s greatest legends
and a pioneer auteur of India’s art-house cinema, is awarded the Honorary
Oscar for Lifetime Achievement “in recognition of his mastery of the art
of motion pictures . . .” In the same year, he is also awarded India’s highest
civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India). On April 23, 1992, just
days after receiving the Academy Award, Ray passes away at his Calcutta
home at the age of seventy-one.
71. 1992—Majrooh Sultanpuri (1919–2000) becomes Bollywood’s first songwriter
and lyricist to win the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the longestlasting,
most notable songwriting career in the film industry. Sultanpuri
had penned his first song for Shahjehan (1946), performed by the talkie
era’s first singing star, K. L. Saigal, and received his last Filmfare Best
Lyricist nomination for Aaj main upar (Khamoshi: The Musical, 1996) picturized
by Salman Khan and Manisha Koirala. In 1992, Sultanpuri had
penned an ode to first love, “Pehla nasha, pehla khumar . . .” (“The first
intoxication, the first hangover”) for the Archie comics–inspired school
sports-drama Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (The Winner Takes All). He wrote an
estimated eight thousand songs for over 350 films during his five-decadelong
career.
72. 1993—Hindu-Muslim riots break out in Bombay in January, followed by
a series of twelve bomb blasts across the city on March 12, 1993, with a
reported three hundred casualties. Leading film star Sanjay Dutt, who
owned an AK-56 assault rifle, is arrested for illegal weapon possession
under the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act. His arrest
causes a crisis in the Bombay film industry as production of twelve of his
films is suspended.
73. 1993—The raunchy lyrics and risqué choreography of the song “Choli
ke peeche kya hai . . .” (“What is beneath the blouse?”) from Khalnayak
(The Villain), make it the most controversial Indian film song of all time.
Morality debates abound concerning the song’s presence on primetime
radio and television as it rises in popularity, becoming a chartbuster.
Repeat audiences throng the theaters just to see the song and walk out
during the interval.
74. 1993—Two films—Darr (Fear) and Baazigar (The Gambler)—rejected by
most image-conscious stars for their anti-hero protagonists—are lapped
up by Shah Rukh Khan, an ordinary-looking TV actor with tremendous
energy and an infectious charm. Following the film’s release, Khan
becomes an instant national heartthrob and begins his two-decade journey
to becoming the world’s most-recognized star. But the film that keeps
the media buzzing about him, Maya Memsaab (Madam Maya, an Indian