Lessons For Bollywood From The Social Network

The Social Network is one of the raciest biopics to date and what Bollywood could learn from David Fincher's Masterclass.

The Social Network is a Biographical Drama starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. Released in 2010, it won three Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing. The first thing that strikes you about the film is that the film's protagonist Mark Zuckerberg (played by an amazing Jesse Eisenberg), isn't very “likable” or someone you would root for.

The director makes this clear within the first 10 minutes of the film, where Mark, after an ugly break-up with his girlfriend, declares her a b**ch on his blog and creates a ranking system for girls based on their sexual appeal. This obviously invites the wrath of the girls in his college, and he sought of becomes the bad guy. Such a narrative flips the entire principle upon which biopics are made on, i.e., to glorify the person and whitewash his image to such an extent that he is considered a saint in terms of virtues. The most recent example for such a biopic would be Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju, where the protagonist Sanjay Dutt, A filmstar with a history of substance abuse and who had been framed for the illegal possession of arms during the 1992 bomb blasts, is almost sanitized of his rowdy- womanizer image which he had carried in the '90s, giving the excuses of bad company and circumstances where he had to protect his father's life.

_{Image: Poster of Sanju}

Adapted from the 2009 Ben Mezrich book “The Accidental Billionaires,” the screenplay by Aaron Sorkin is fast-paced and engaging. Eduardo Saverin had served as a consultant for the film along with the book. The movie not for a moment takes its protagonist to be more than a sophomore at Harvard. Mark feels a tinge of jealousy when his only friend gets into the ‘cool’ Phoenix Final Club or his desperate attempts to be socially accepted by his peers. Mark is made as human as possible with grey shades of jealousy, selfishness….etc.

I feel this is what Bollywood lacks when it comes to making biopics, they either be a sanitized account of the individual's life or be overly dramatized, which just entirely robs its essence. Examples include Azhar, the above-mentioned Sanju. There have been others, such as Sachin: A billion dreams which fail to add anything to the well-known narrative. There has been a new trend regarding biopics in the past year or so, where they are seen as mere ‘Propaganda Vehicles’ for various political parties. In 2019, starting with The Accidental Prime Minister starring Anupam Kher and Akshaye Khanna, PM Narendra Modi starring Vivek Oberoi, Thackeray starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, there have been multiple biopics on iconic political personalities. They have been viewed as an easy and effective way to strike a chord with the audience and project themselves in a different light.

Another aspect I would like to touch upon is that of casting, which plays an instrumental role in creating a well-made biopic. Here, almost everyone right from Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Max Minghella, Armie Hammer, plays their role with finesse and not forgetting to add an uncanny resemblance of Jesse Eisenberg Mark Zuckerberg. Bollywood has had a hit/miss streak with casting. Brilliant on some occasions starting from Irfan Khan in Paan Singh Tomar, Farhan Akhtar in Bhaag Milka Bhaag to Sushant Singh Rajput in M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story and even Sanju to an extent but downright miserable like in the cases of Shraddha Kapoor in Haseena Parker and Vivek Oberoi in PM Narendra Modi (Saand ki Aankh was middling would have been much better if older women played the part like Neena Gupta and Supriya Pathak but their performances made up for it) where neither did the physicality nor the intrinsic character arc was portrayed on screen effectively.

But all said and done; there have been quite a few applause-worthy ones as well, such as Neerja, Bhaag Milka Bhaag, Shahid, and Dangal in the past decade. These are rare instances; we must wait for the days when Bollywood produces classy and definitive biopics such as The Social Network.