Was it a providential act that the very same week, two films about crises brought on by climatic upheavals hit the theatres - Tum Mile and 2012 – the former a love story with the backdrop of about Mumbai floods that took place in July 2005 and 2012 about a “global cataclysm that brings an end to the world” as per the film’s website?

As it were, unseasonal rains preceded the two films. In fact, on Twitter, the social networking site frequented by film celebrities, one of director/producer Mahesh Bhatt’s tweets a few days before the cyclone scare (Tum Mile is his home production) was “Freak cyclone is supposed to hit Mumbai tomorrow evening! People are asking me how did you involve Mother Nature in the PR of Tum Mile!”

One is unaware of any such observations by the makers of 2012 but that both movies opened better than expectations says something of our changing subjects and perhaps evolving tastes. In the last decade, we saw terrorism and then global terrorism become a recurring leitmotif in our films. Cinema has always held a mirror to social goings-on and what we are witnessing in post-modern cinema is no different. Even mainstream populist cinema is an indicator of sorts; sample this — increasing use of foreign locations points to the global Indian who treats the world as his oyster, the firang dancers as constant feature in our songs signal India as the hub of reverse outsourcing. There’s a lot else — our stars clad in Armani and Prada would suggest that Indians are getting both brand- and fashion-conscious while the omnipresent gay insinuations could mean that as a society, we may just be a few steps away from accepting same-sex relationships. Farmer suicides have made their way into films such as Summer 2007 and call-centers too are not far behind.

And now the new awareness about global warming and its impact, environment issues may well be the emerging “backdrop” in our films. Here’s to a more environment-friendly and aware Bollywood then!

Such experiments also mean that we are now inching closer to real competition with Hollywood films at least on home turf. The last weekend saw an impressive response to 2012 from the domestic audience. We bring you a detailed breakup of the collection figures of Tum Mile and 2012 by Sneha Mahadevan in our news section.

And when speaking of unconventional delights, how could we not bring up R.Balki’s Paa that has the inimitable Mr B as a child suffering from an extremely rare genetic condition known as Progeria! The talented duo comprising Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan play his parents. With such an intriguing idea and eclectic cast, we can hardly be blamed for trying to find out some more nuggets of information about the film.

Screen Preview with the trio–producer-actor Abhishek Bachchan, director R. Balki and actor Vidya Balan–gave us a sneak peek into delightful, behind-the-scene incidents, thoughts and efforts that went into making the film. For more, read our coverage on pages 4 and 5.