Changing faces of Hindi cinema

Hello guys,
It's been interesting to note the way Hindi cinema has changed over the years. I've just made a few points and tried to club it decade-wise. I won't say Hindi cinema has evolved over the years; evolution would mean a new stage improving over the previous stage; whether Hindi cinema has really improved over the years I leave that to one's personal thoughts. Wouldn't want to get into that debate now.
But here it is, starting from the '50s.

The decade of the 50s produced a lot of good, meaningful movies, that are now always present in every critic's list of Top Movies made in India. These films were huge successes in the international circuit, many of them reaching the competition section in prestigious film festivals like Venice, Berlin and Cannes. Film-makers in the 50s had the rush of patriotic blood flowing through them, starting off fresh after Independence. Hence, most of these movies revolved around the plight of poor people in the nation, usually but not necessarily, the farmers. Shree 420, Do Bigha Zamin, Boot Polish, Naya Daur and Mother India are the most famous examples of this.
The language used was either pure Hindi or Hindi with a touch of English or Urdu, depending on the character. Films were very realistic and with a no-nonsense touch. The songs were very soothing; they often had a classical touch to it. The costumes were simple - either old, torn clothes for the poor people, very frail in built; saris for women, and men were often in kurta-pyjama covered with a coat, or a proper suit in some cases.

The 60s gradually changed into more melodramatic times, with the acting style shifting from the subtle and realistic to each actor creating his/her own style; however there's no denying that the acting was still extremely good. Films on social issues still remained, but directors began experimenting with other genres as well. This decade will be remembered for the usher of romance it brought in. Colour was the in-thing. By now, filmmakers had targeted the states of Jammu And Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh for their outdoor shooting, while the Brindavan Gardens of Mysore featured in songs from almost every movie produced. The rich were shown living in huge bungalows driving imported cars, usually convertibles shown with the roof down.
The major change that the 60s brought in was that of the comedian, who by now often behaved as the second hero of the film. Men now started wearing Western attire (shirt and pant). Women moved on from saris to chudidhars, pretty tight ones too :)
The 60s can be defined by films like Junglee, Aradhana, Kashmir Ki Kali, Waqt, Padosan and Jab Jab Phool Khile.

The 70s were a stark contrast - while on the one hand, you had rebels fighting against the system, living their every moment with revenge on their mind, going against corruption, you also had films depicting the common man, telling simple tales beautifully. This decade will be remembered as one which produced the finest action movies as well as the finest comedies. While there was a huge craze over certain actors, who became superstars, the concept of a hit-pair was also catching on.
Music changed gradually; it soon became a perfect blend of Indian and Western, with most of the songs of that decade being chosen for remixes today.
The clothes were now bell-bottoms for men, often wearing very colourful shirts. Women continued their tight-chudidhar trend, but you could sense the Western culture soon catching up in the second half of this decade. Heroines now started showing off their assets, something which until the 60s was restricted to the cabaret girl or the vamp only; but hats off to the directors who never once made it look vulgar on unsuitable for family-viewing.
The contrast spoken about the films of the 70s is evident from the films that described that decade - while you have Deewaar, Trishul, Zanjeer, Sholay, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Don, Aandhi, Qurbani and Karz on one hand, you have Chupke Chupke, Golmaal, Anand, Bawarchi, Guddi, Choti Si Baat and Rajnigandha on the other.

The 80s will probably go down as the worst decade as far as commercial cinema goes. While the first few years continued from where the 70s left off, with formulaic films like Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai and the common-man theme going well with films like Chashme Buddoor, Ghar and Katha, the mid 80s soon went into the social films mode again, but nowhere close to the level of the 50s. What this decade did do good, however, was open up a new face of cinema - parallel cinema was soon impressing the critics. While there was no difference between parallel cinema and the common-man cinema, general masses considered them different, probably because parallel cinema was more into depicting reality of the rural people of the country; usually not depicting the life of middle-class people in cities, which I think, was what most of the theatre-going crowd wanted. If you ask me, that is just an assumption. I really don't know what the difference between the two forms of cinema is; all I know is good cinema and bad cinema. That is probably why I'm disappointed that the so-called art films were restricted to a niche audience only.
Parallel-cinema will be known for it's gems like Arth, Ardh-Satya, Junoon, Kalyug, Manthan and Aakrosh.
The last two years of the 80s revived commercial cinema again; both Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Maine Pyar Kiya took the nation by storm, created new stars, brought in a fresh feel of film-making and music, and pretty much set the tone for the decade to follow.

The 90s was no different from the end of the 80s. Romantic films became the order of the day, each film differing in the narration stlye and not the story. Remakes now started in plenty, not just of movies but also music :)
The underworld depiction trend also can be contributed to the 90s.
The 90s will always be known for it's three ruling male stars. This decade also started the now very visible trend of limited shelf-life for female actors. Branded clothes were becoming the new trend for clothing.
The films depicting this decade well are Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Damini, Sarfarosh, Satya and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Finally, the 2000s. This decade is probably the most different from any of it's predecessors. There are now atleast a couple of films releasing every Friday, most of them by a new, young director. Usually small-budget films, they are released keeping the multiplex audience in mind; a trend started very recently. The big budget films are getting bigger and bigger in terms of budget, but lower and lower in terms of quality. The big-budget movies are usually rip-offs from Western and Asian films; the same can be said about their music as well.
However, there have been a few films that will go on to become classics eventually. Every year, we have a thousand bad films and either one or two films that stand out.
Marketing your film by using the media and reality shows has become the new style of gaining audience. The clothing is often nil; females have to wear bikinis and turn very skinny; while the males are no more capable of realistically depicting any character (after all, it's not often that the day-to-day 'common man' characters depicted in films have a certain number of abs to display, have huge biceps!)
The setting of the movies are very rarely in India, and the language spoken is bascially Hinglish.
While this decade will always be known for disasters at the box-office, let us try to look at the bright side of things by remembering films like Rang De Basanti, Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Chak De India, 3 Idiots, and the Munnabhai series, which will definitely go down as some of the best ever in Hindi cinema!

As I started out saying, I really can't say which decade is the best, which is the worst. I also can't say whether there has been any gradual improvement in the graph depicting the quality of films versus the decade made in; but I, actually WE can certainly hope and wish that Hindi cinema doesn't go to the dogs in the next decade and the ones to follow after that.