The last time my parents sat inside a theatre was in 2012, when Barfi released. I had booked their tickets online, leaving them with no option but to go. This time, no such force was required to get them to the theatre. In fact, my cinema-averse father willingly walked in and even dragged the whole family along with him to watch Hanuman Ansh .
Unexpectedly, the only surviving theatre in this two-tier city in Rajasthan was packed on a Thursday afternoon. It felt less like a regular movie screening and more like a festival fair. The women of the city, mostly dressed in colourful poshaks and sarees, were making reels as if they had skipped their kitty parties and arrived at the theatre instead. The older members of the audience were being helped up the stairs by their adult children. Families from nearby villages, who would usually spend their afternoons at home, had also travelled to this crumbling theatre to watch this film. From our local milkman to the families of local police officials, everyone seemed to be at the theatre. And the irony was that Hanuman Ansh did not even have a poster on the theatre’s main billboard. Perhaps the makers thought the upcoming Mirzapur would draw more crowds than a relatively unknown film about a spiritual guru. They couldn’t have been more wrong. Hanuman Ansh’s popularity has increased manifold over the last two weeks, and that Thursday afternoon at the theatre made it clear why. The film is a mass entertainer in the truest sense. It is sincerely made, has good music and follows a simple storyline. Most importantly, the makers have not tried to make it something it isn’t. The film follows the life of Neem Karoli Baba in its purest form, without unnecessary gimmicks or attempts to manufacture spectacle. It narrates the spiritual leader’s miracles. Whether one believes these miracles actually happened or not isn’t really the point. These are stories that generations of people have grown up hearing and believing. Hanuman Ansh gives those stories a cinematic validation of sorts by presenting them in exactly the way its audience wants to see them. By telling a simple story in pure Hindi and relying on authentic performances, the director Vishal Chaturvedi have appealed to a generation that grew up in a much simpler time, when BR Chopra’s Ramayan first aired on Doordarshan. This is a generation that is now in its 60s and 70s — the same people who, as children, would run to the one house in their neighbourhood that had a television to watch Ramayan. This is a generation that has largely been forgotten by filmmakers in their attempt to appeal to the ‘masses’ through violent thrillers and slow-motion action sequences. Hanuman Ansh has finally given this audience a film that takes them back to simpler times — without forcing a political message or propaganda into the narrative. At the same time, the film gives an outlet to those who have rediscovered their faith amid the growing debates around religion. It gives them a sense of agency without attempting to sway them in any particular direction. That restraint may be one of the reasons the film has connected so deeply with its audience.
Today, many of them are being helped up theatre stairs by their own children and grandchildren to watch Hanuman Ansh.
