Why is the 80’s forgotten decade?We had an Asiad, put a man in space ,had a high profile assassination of Indira Gandhi ,became world champions for the first time at anything at Lords, the discovery of precocious child prodigies in V.Anand and Sachin Tendulkar, the birth of people’s car Maruti, smuggling and the rise of Dubai and Sharjah , and the end of cold war.
The eighties had countless kitschy and loud movies but also Jaane bhi do Yaaron and independent filmmaking. It had Hum Log,Fauji,and Wagle ki Duniya .The 80’s gave Bofors and scams, Rubik’s cube, Betamax tapes, the VCR,Walkman and audio cassettes, styroprints leotards, disco lights,Madonna ,Farrah Fawcett hair styles,Pacman ,Super Mario Brothers.Its not that nothing happened ,but still it is not romaticised as the 70s and neither is it seen as a decade of significance and harbinger of change as the 90’s.The eighties are seen as regressive and decadent and frowned upon .
I recently read in Times that the 1970’s are paid tribute because the people in power or making films belonged to that era. Isn’t it enough with the tributes..maybe they just are fascinated by the sensory things like el Camino cars and polyester shirts nylon stockings and bell bottom pants.
The reason probably that is because the 80’s is sandwiched between the 70s which is seen as the era of retro-glossed and candyflossed over and again in films and 90s which is just too close in memory to be classified as yesteryears. In India atleast the 80s is a dark decade, still chugging at along the Hindu rate of growth ;where somehow things were just not the same and they would never be the same.
Asking for sixties is too far fetched, but the portrayal of eighties and its identity and characteristics is deserved .In fact there is a lacunae and an opportunity to produce something really new. There was a Tamil film called ‘Subramaniapuram’ in 2008 that was beautifully set in the eighties and one of the biggest hits in Tamil that year .Arvind Adiga’s between the assassinations is a novel that is set in the eighties .Another such idea is –the rise of Dawood Ibrahim.‘Once upon a time in Mumbai’ and the even better but under appreciated Vishram Sawant's ‘D’ left off Dawood’s story in the 70’s when he snatched power .How he spread and magnified his presence is a story yet to be told...why not carry it forward into the eighties.
