Pulp literature is often discussed in Hindi, but there is no mention of pulp cinema. In fact, between the mainstream (popular) and parallel (parallel), there has been another stream of cinema in Hindi, which has been called ‘Pulp Cinema’. This cinema has been dominated in the 90s of the last century. These films were shown in the border areas of towns and metropolitan cities of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal. Mainstream heroes such as Mithun, Dharmendra were also seen in these low-budget films, although most of the actors were those who wanted to become heroes and heroines when they came to Maya Nagri, but used to work in these low-budget films to run their families. .

Like masala films, the story was woven with the help of action, horror, sex, there were witty dialogues. These films were released in single screen theatres. These films, which were shot in four days, a week, made a lot of profit to the producer and the artists used to earn in cash. A separate economy had developed for such films called B grade, C grade.

Barring one or two films (Loha, Gunda), these films were generally not considered worthy of discussion in the media or middle-class drawing rooms. Even the critics of cinema used to shrink their nose and eyebrows while writing on these films. But haven’t these movies been part of popular culture? The question is, who was its audience? What kind of entertainment did they come looking for? Why did the market for these films end in the 21st century?

Recently, a six-part docu-series titled ‘Cinema Marte Dum Tak’, released on Amazon Prime, explores all these questions. Vasan Bala, director of films like ‘Monica, O My Darling’ and ‘Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota’, is the ‘series creator’, it is directed by Disha Randani, Zulfi and Kulish Kant Thakur. Ashim Ahluwalia, director of the National Award winning film ‘Miss Lovely (2012)’, is its creative consultant. Incidentally, ‘Miss Lovely’ portrays on-screen the story of two brothers associated with pulp cinema inspired by film directors Kanti Shah and Kishan Shah.

This series is very important for researchers and scholars of cinema. This story has been told in the words of Dilip Gulati, Vinod Talwar, Kishan Shah and J Neelam who were associated with these films. He has once again been given a chance to make a film in a low budget. However, only a few parts of the films made by him along with the old pulp films are included in the series. It is expected to be shown separately in the coming times.

What was the creative process like making these films? The viewer is face to face with this aspect. Along with this, we also see a glimpse of the Maya city of Mumbai. The truth behind the glittering screen, the story of struggle which remains unwritten has been told by the filmmakers-artists associated with the film. This is evident from the tears of Kanti Shah and Sapna Sappu and their confession of loneliness.

In the period in which these films were being made, new techniques of cinema making were coming along with globalization. Multiplex started taking place of single screen. Also porn and soft porn became easily available on the internet. As commented at one place in this series, the interest of the audience who used to watch these films in the Hindi heartland was being fulfilled by Bhojpuri films! Along with this, the question is also connected that why the same audience is seen in multiplex theaters today? Why are stories related to lower class life disappearing from popular cinema? The marginalized society had a major means of cinema entertainment, which has gone away from them. Away from their roots, these films were like a ‘safety valve’ for the audience living the life of a laborer in the cities.

It is obvious that in these films, women were portrayed as objects of enjoyment. Its audience was male. However, there is no separate comment on the obscenity prevalent in the films in this series. The producer-director has not imposed his morality, he has only done the work of collecting that era in a research way.

Finally, filmmakers themselves have admitted that when filmmakers, distributors got greedy and started serving these bits (porn clips) defying censors, the end of ‘pulp cinema’ was decided!