Though cinema is an art form, it is also a major investment and business. To make cinema successful, the makers use a several different elements together to make a coherent story. It is peppered by music and choreographed dance sequences contributing a major chunk of run time.
There are emotional scenes between parents and children, raunchy dance numbers called item numbers, romance sub-plots and action sequences. At the end, all these elements fall together to form a medley of flavours. It is akin to how different spices are combined together in Indian cooking. Such films are thus called masala films.
Masala films were inspired by historical epics such as Mahabharata, Ramayana. There are side characters, flashbacks and sub-plots. Ancient dramas too inspire masala films — Abhigyanshakuntalam of Kalidasa where song and dance create stylized spectacles. There is emotional response from the audience.
Indian folk theatre also influences masala films, e.g. Ramleelas. The Parsi theatre also influences masala films — crude humour, melodious songs and dazzling statecraft.
Yaadon Ki Barat (1973) was the first pioneering masala Hindi film. It was directed by Nasir Husain. Salim Javed then created so many masala scripts — Sholay (1975), Deewar (1975), Don (1978). These were remade in other languages.
Masala movies cater to a wider section of population. As there are different elements, there is going to be some element that appeals to you. These are the movies for family audiences. Even the social message delivered by such movies reach a wider audience.
Many masala movies are being made in the south. The recent film of Allu Arjun Pushpa 2 is a big hit; though originally made for Telugu audience, it attracts a wider Hindi audience.
After the economic liberalization of 1991, there was a thematic change in Hindi movies. They started making movies for a large Indian diaspora living abroad, along with the local audience. The NRIs affected the storyline. The first such change was seen in 1995 movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ). There was a change in sensitivities due to western exposure, and a special term multi-plex movies described such niche movies. The urban audience was the primary attraction.
This two does not fade away the trend of masala movies completely. We now see a mix of multi-plex films and masala movies.
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