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Parishodh Journal ISSN NO:2347-6648

What’s the Obsession of Indian Audience with the Happy Ending Romantic Movies?

Kumar Ambar Pandey1, Dr. Neeraj Karan Singh2 Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University. Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University.

Abstract

"Indian audiences have always loved watching romantic movies that end on a happy note. No one loves to watch a movie that ends on a sad note or even sometimes left open-ended. Well, this is not just the case only with the romantic genre. This goes well with other genres as well. Audiences always love watching and going back to stream a handful of movies that mostly serve happy endings. There is a lot of science and psychology of the audience behind being a lover of happy ending movies. It's not just a personal trait of an individual but it is something that is seen and observed with the masses."

Keywords: , Indian Cinema, , Romantic Films, Movies.

In , cinema is the primary mode of entertainment. Indian audience’s mainly females, like romantic films with happy endings. Two strangers turned to lovers, breaking all the boundaries and finally the movie ends on a happy note. That’s something that all Indian’s crave to watch on the screens. Not only the audience enjoys the happy ending movies but they often tend to witness the same movie over and over again, till the time they remember each and every dialogue and sometimes even end up learning the exact contraction of face muscles of the characters. Ever thought why this happens? Well, now you will know.

There is much more to a movie than just entertainment, education and information. A good movie is jam-packed with the power of persuasion and even a call-to-action. When the audience witnesses a happy ending movie they just land in the space where they fantasize the same happening with them in their real lives. Not just they tend to actually believe that all that is depicted in movies is for real but they also tend to believe that the same can happen with them. Such a dilemma…..!!

This fake realization makes the audience expect a little more from their life. They start believing that life is a journey of surprising events that will eventually turn out to be the best for a person making their lives happier and comfortable. The perspective of a person shifts and he/she starts fantasizing that whatever the movie serves is true and the same can happen with them, at some point of time.

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A happy ending serves the audience with the feeling of happiness and contentment. A person enjoys being in the state of feeling good for a certain amount of time after watching the movie. Audiences feel as if whatever the situation comes in the love life of a person he/she can tackle all the boundaries and the story is always sure to end on a good note. The movies that end on a happy note cater support to their fake beliefs.

Perfect happy endings or the happily ever after exists only in the movies as real life is so much different from what we expect it to be or whatever we see on the big screens of theatre. The audience needs to realize that the sole purpose of these movies is entertainment and not to build up the idea of a fake factor of happily ever after formula. A chunk of people believe in the idea of these fake stories, turning their lives miserable.

Not all but a majority of the audience, mostly teenagers believe in the notion that endings are always happy in real life as well. But sadly, on the other note we know really well as to how the life of a person unfolds in unfortunate and unexpected ways. That is way away from the expectations of a teenager.

Having firm belief that life will always serve you with the best, is the biggest blunder. Life is unexpected and it serves a person with a fair share of joys and sorrows and there is no doubt in that. We have a whole lot of people who know this and are well aware of the fact that the sole purpose of the movie is to fulfill the entertainment needs of the audience rather than shifting their perspective towards building up a false belief in the happy endings.

Researchers have found that a person mostly streams the movies that end on a happy note, over and over again because this makes a person feel good and this feel good factor elevates the happiness in their life regardless of its ephemeral nature.

The Two Types of Ending

On a broader perspective, we have two major types of ending in the Bollywood movies. They are-

● Open-ended- The movies that end on the climax leaving the audience to derive the conclusion on their own are regarded as open-ended movies. Such a movie has no proper ending and it. It leaves the audience in an ambiguous state. Examples of such movies are- , , , , Rockstar and etc. While some of them end on a happy note, some still serve sorrow to the audience.

● Close-ended- The movies that have a proper ending to them are regarded as the close- ended movies. These movies serve the audience with a proper conclusion. Most of the Bollywood movies outgrow this factor as the majority of the audience is diverted towards them. Few examples of close-ended romantic films are- Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, , Cocktail and the list is endless. A close-ended movie can serve the audience with joy as well as sorrow when it comes to an end. Mostly these movies end when the girl and boy promise to live happily ever after or where one of them dies.

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Whether an ending is an open or closed one, the audience mostly dwells on the content that these romantic movies serve. The movies that end on a happy note are sure to grab the eyeballs of the audience over and over again. The happy ending movies are also sure to warm up the pockets of the Filmmakers and bring the audience back to the screens.

Romantic Movies with Happy Endings and it’s Box Office Collection

Bollywood has served the audience with a lot of Romantic Bollywood movies that ended on a happy note. The most popular decade of the romance movies was the 90s, when the audience was probably fed with the romantic genre from beginning to the end. This was the time when a lot of romantic movies came consecutively on the screens before the audience.

To list a few of the Bollywood movies that serve a happy ending to the audience, are as follows-

● - Directed by Dharmesh Darshan, the movie was released in 1996. The movie focuses on the life of an Indian cab driver, Raja and how he falls in love with a girl belonging to a very rich family. However, they tackle all the boundaries that come in the way of their marriage but unexpected events happen and they start misunderstanding each other. But as things become clear they start living together and the movie ends on a happy note. The budget of the being 57.5 million, it earned 763.4 million, over the world.

● Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge- The super-hit film DDLJ was directed by and was released in 1995. The story of Raj and who fell in love on a Europe trip but Simran has been raised by a very strict father, who has already fixed the marriage of her daughter with his friend’s son. This serves as a conflict in the movie and the movie ends on a happy note when Simran’s father lets her daughter go with Raj. The budget of the film being 40 million it collected 1.22 billion worldwide.

● The LunchBox- Fast forwarding to the movies that we have now, Lunchbox (2013) can be regarded as an unconventional romantic story. In the movie, a housewife Ila prepares a lunchbox for her husband. Instead of reaching to the table of Ila’s husband, the lunchbox is mistakenly delivered to Saajan Fernandes, a widower. Exchange of messages starts from both sides and then an unexplained feeling develops in two. The movie is an open- ended one and the audience is left to connect the dots and derive a conclusion on their own. 22 crore being the budget of the film, it earned 90 crore(approx) at the box office.

● Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani- The romantic-drama film, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani was presented on the screens in 2013. Directed by the film introduces Naina, a medical student who is an introvert. She decides to join her old classmates on a trip to Manali. This trip proves as a journey of self-discovery for Naina and she starts living her life instead of just existing. Movie takes a turn when Naina falls in love with Kabir but she fails to tell this to him. 8 years pass by, and the friends reunite at a wedding and then Kabir realizes that he has feelings for Naina. After which they both realize that none of them is willing to give up on their careers and have a very different life. But then, Kabir

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decides to stay in India and the movie ends on a happy note. The budget of the film being 70 crore it ended up gathering a decent amount of around 3 crore at box office.

The other Romantic Bollywood movies that end on a happy note and their box office collection are as mentioned-

● (2001)- Money invested in the film was 120 million and it earned 456 million worldwide.

● (2004)- Made on a budget of 21 crore, the film made 342 million as worldwide gross.

● Cocktail (2012)- Budget of the movie being 650 million, it earned 1257 million worldwide.

● Wake Up Sid (2009)- Budget of the movie being 15 crore , it collected 83 crore at box office.

Needless, to mention that we can clearly see the fair amount of box office collection of the romantic movies that ends on a happy note. Not just people, witness the movies 2-3 times on the screens but they watch it over and over again on the OTT platforms. The popularity of the romantic movies that end on a happy note or with the message- “And they lived happily ever after” flashing on the big screens is definitely higher as compared to the movies where one of the main characters dies or if any other mishap occurs.

Romantic Movies with Sad Endings and it’s Box Office Collection

● : The Bollywood adaptation of O Henry's short story,The Last Leaf, as Lootera on Indian screens came up in the year 2013. The movie introduces Varun, an archeologist and Pankhi, an aspiring writer who resides in a mansion. The story progresses and the two develop feelings on the verge of art. However, Varun betrays Pankhi and her father by stealing the antiques which have a really high value in the market. However, after a year they meet again when Varun steps at her home while escaping from the police. Pankhi suffers from tuberculosis and she firmly believes that the day when the last leaf from the tree that was outside her home would fall, she would die. Varun espaces from the home and is shot by police, Pankhi on searching Varun finds out that the leaf where her life resides is painted and affixed by Varun. The budget of the film being 27 crore, it collected 47 crore as worldwide collection.

● October: 's, October was released in the year 2018. The film portrays an unconventional love story between Shuili and Danish. At new year’s eve party Shuili slips off from the building of the hotel where she works. Before slipping she asks for the whereabouts of Danish. After the incident, Shuili gets hospitalized and Danish starts visiting Shuili more often at hospital and even her home. Fast forward Shuili gets a little better and she is discharged from the hospital. Danish asks her why she pronounced her name before the incident. She tries to speak Danish’s name but couldn’t and the following

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night Shuili dies and thus the story comes to an end. The budget of the film was 33 crores and it ended up collecting 58 crore at the box office.

● Meri Pyari Bindu: Akshay Roy’s, Meri Pyari Bindu released in the year 2017. The tale of Abhimanyu and Bindu who were childhood neighbours. Abhimanyu has always loved Bindu but he never mustered up the courage to tell her about the same and is contended in being friends with Bindu. As time progresses, they are separated but then both of them meet and Abhi proposes to Bindu for marriage but she denies and leaves for Bangalore. After a few years, Abhi shifts to , his hometown and writes a novel where he meets Bindu again. As of now, Bindu was married and had a daughter. Thus, the film ends depicting the tragic love story of Bindu and Abhi. The budget of this underrated film was 220 million and the movie only collected 178 million at the box office.

● Highway: Veera, a daughter of a rich Tycoon, is kidnapped by Mahabir, just a day before her wedding. Very soon Veera starts feeling comfortable and she starts sharing her very personal stories with Mahabir. Mahabir was surprised and often confused at the comfortably settling behaviour of Veera. Mahabir decides to leave Veera at a police station but she refuses. He even got caught by the police but Veera hides herself. Both of them soon start to have feelings for each-other. They both rest on a hill-top house and the very next morning Mahabir is shot by Police. Leaving the ending of the film on a tragic note. The budget of the film was 25 crore and it earned 47.7 crore at box office.

The other Romantic Bollywood movies that end on a tragic note and their box office collection are as mentioned-

 Raincoat (2004)- Made on a budget of 5 crore, the movie collected 4.8 crore as a whole.  Tere Naam (2003)- Made on a budget of 10 crore, the movie only collected 25 crore.  Rockstar (2011)- Made on a budget of 60 crore, the movie only collected 108 crore at box office.

Conclusion

The fan base of the movies that ends on a happy note is comparatively higher than the movies that end on a sad note. Also, if compared the average box office collection of the movie ending on a happy note is more than the movies that ends on sad one. The rate is definitely higher for the movies that leave the audience happy at the end. Mostly where the girl and boy break all the boundaries and start living together on happy terms.

Well, there are endless examples that can prove the fact that audiences love watching the films that have a happy ending. The box office collection clearly speaks for itself. Life obviously serves us with happy and tragic events in a fair amount of equality but we as an audience tend to see more of the happy ending films as we want the same happy endings in our lives.

The examples that are stated clearly depict the love of the audience for a happy ending movie that is fairly higher than the movies that end on a sad note, majorly with the demise of one of

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the main characters. Well, the movies that are stated under the category of sad-endings are a must watch. They are highly underrated and should be definitely watched by the audience and make them understand and believe that life is unexpected and anything can happen at any point of time and we should be prepared for worse endings as well.

References

1. https://www.desimartini.com/photos/bollywood/gallery-bollywood-movies-sad-endings/ bollywood-tragic-endings-112158.htm. 2. https://www.quora.com/Can-anyone-list-out-some-real-good-Bollywood-movies-with- happy-endings. 3. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201209/happiness-it-s-all- about-the-ending. 4. https://fee.org/articles/the-case-for-happy-endings/. 5. https://www.quora.com/Which-are-the-most-underrated-Bollywood-romantic-movies.

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