As we move ahead in time we see a lot more variety in the kind of films being made in Hindi cinema. Some are inspired by the West; some are exploring new and exciting ideas of reality while some are still stuck in the old processes of society. Despite such a leap in filming, there are still some film genres that have been left unexplored or that have not been experimented with in recent years.

Given the new wave of content, we believe that it’s time for Hindi cinema to go into realms that haven’t been touched upon yet. Here’s a list of the kind of films that we believe Hindi cinema needs:

Medical Fiction

We have not seen a movie made solely on the medical fraternity; not any medical dramas emerging from our industry. There are movies where a character is a doctor, but we don’t see the drama behind the job, we have also not explored eccentric medical concepts that may or may not actually exist. Take for instance a film like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it is a love story, but based on a random medical discovery. It is a film that is deep, revealing, giving food for thought and at the same time, a little scary and bizarre.

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Prison Break

Prison break movies go far back in Hollywood, with careful and clear planning and development. One genre that has scope for so much drama and emotion, a thriller that can thrill us off the seat, will generate great excitement amongst the audiences. A perfect example would be a film like Shawshank Redemption, where the prison movie turns into a prison break quite suddenly leaving its audience with the sweet taste of freedom and justice.

Survival Films

Survival films in Bollywood are scarce, and the few that are there like The Burning Train, center around a man made disaster. We have not yet seen a survival flick that is based on a natural disaster and the story of people coming together to save and rescue others, while battling the possibility of losing their own lives. It encapsulates the mere beauty of everyone fighting off something that affects everyone. Movies like the Volcano or Everest have managed to capture the human emotion of community through disaster. We would love to see a film on the trials and triumphs of the recent earthquakes that ravaged Uttarakhand, or of the typhoon Phalin that hit Orissa.

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Old romance

In the broader genre of love stories and romantic comedies, Bollywood has completely sidelined the romantic escapades between adults over 50. Though culturally, this age group doesn’t date or get romantically involved with people other than their spouses, that culture is changing, rather evolving. We got a glimpse of it in Life in a…Metro and the Farooque Shaikh-Deepti Naval starrer Listen… Amaya. The latter showed the romance between a middle aged couple but the central theme was the daughter’s acceptance of her mother’s affair. It highlighted one aspect of challenges faced in a relationship between two elderly people. However there is a lot more than can be explored and brought to light, which can also help change the perception of society towards middle aged and elderly romances.

Divorce Comedy

There is great scope for humor when two people get married by mistake or are sure that they want to split up. The sheer hatred and the self justifying pranks all put together can make for a really fun movie on divorce. This is one theme that many broken hearts in the country can identify with today. Bollywood has great skill at drawing emotions from its audiences. And we believe that a great deal of emotional laughter is due when it comes to the complications of divorce.

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Animated flicks for adults

Animated films are not only for kids but also for adults. Though Hindi cinema has ventured into animation now, but we are still only making films catering to children. We have a few films with actors and animation integrated while a few pure animated films with mythological backgrounds. What we need is a really good neutral, sweet and exciting animated film, that will not only get the kids excited but the mummas and all the adults waiting for release. Hoping to see films like Kung Fu Panda or Persepolis and more getting added to the Bollywood repertoire.

READ: ANIMATION FILMMAKING: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE WITH GITANJALI RAO

Fantasy Adventure

The way a person thinks and what they see has great scope for psycho analysis. And this psychoanalysis can capture the imagination of so many. By showcasing the great sense of illusion versus reality, we can show a lot more about how a human mind works. That is where a fantasy movie comes into play. We believe that Bollywood can tap into the untamed imagination of our mind to show the magnificence of the brain and in turn show great cinematic skill by capturing illusion. Films like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or Inception would make for great cinema in an Indian set up.

Alien Invasion / End of the World

The world community seems like a reality when the entire human race is united against a common enemy. An alien invasion film centering around the end of the world situation  is long overdue in Hindi cinema today. We have explored aliens entering our world, but they have all been friendly aliens, like Jadoo or PK. We haven’t touched upon the possibility of hostile aliens who want to take over the world hinting towards an apocalypse situation. These are what nightmares are made of and showing how we as a country would fight the aliens, could be quite exciting.

Talking Animals

We have all had our emotional anchors in our pets when we watched the film Halo, we had best friends in our animal companions in Haathi mere Saathi but we have not had a conversation with a pet. It is every child’s dream to have conversations with animals, and Hindi cinema can explore this frontier. Whether in a Dr.Doolittle kind of special scenario or as simply as Babe, we can all have a lot of fun while watching a film like that.

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Stay at home dad

India is finally stepping into a socially acceptable scenario where we have full-time working women and full time stay at home dads. From paternity leaves to full time parenting duty, this new kind of family is still figuring out how to go about their new roles and new responsibilities, something our mothers can’t possible give us guidance on. This maze of new identities has great scope of storytelling. A genre not tapped into yet and can definitely relate to our audiences today.

Food Flick

Food has taken the country by storm. We were always lovers of food, but with the number of food shows on television and food blogs on the Internet, we have a lot of people really taking a keen interest in food. Now is the time for Bollywood to make an out and out food related film, not something that has food only as stimulant to the story like a Stanley ka Dabba, or The Lunchbox, but one which actually has food in its lead and explores the drama that surrounds the love for food, and how food has the ability to make and break the realities of existence. Movies life Chef or Julie and Julia would definitely have many takers in our country.

Mythological films

We have a very rich body of mythological works. But most of these have not been translated on screen in their real forms. We have seen a few television based shows on our mythology and animated films in order to educate the children on our mythology. We’ve have seen films which draw stories from mythologies, but none that do justice to these epic stories. We believe that it’s time for India to come up with live actions films based on our mythology which stay true to the era they are written in and which are showcased by actors and not animated characters.

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