Notice this. Most of the movies that worked at the box-office this year were
desi films. They either had characters from small towns or villages. Or had the rural backdrop. Till the onset of this year, most film-makers were of the opinion that the multiplex junta prefers to watch urban themes, while
desi subjects/characters worked with a tiny minority at smaller centres. But the audience proved them wrong yet again.
Suddenly, all of a sudden, the year 2010 witnessed a number of
desi films striking gold at the box-office. Take the case of DABANGG, the biggest Hit of the year. It had a rural backdrop and its protagonist, Chulbul Pandey, was an uncouth and brash character. But the film worked big time at plexes as well as single screens. Ditto for ISHQIYA, which was set in a village or PEEPLI [LIVE], which, depicted the rural community. UDAAN too was about the father-son relationship in a small town of India, while TERE BIN LADEN threw light on a Laden lookalike residing in a hamlet. That's not all, even RAAJNEETI, which depicted the games politicians play, was set in the heartland of India.
DO DOONI CHAAR and BAND BAAJA BAARAAT, though set in Delhi, had characters the
desi or the middle class audience could relate to, while PHAS GAYE RE OBAMA had a small town backdrop. This doesn't imply that urban themes didn't find acceptance this year. They did. But the point to be noted is that
desi films ruled the roost in 2010.