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[Full title: Folklore and Genres of Indian Cinema (6) Folktales and Magic Realism in Indian Cinema]

As per the Oxford Dictionary, magic realism is a literary or artistic genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy. Hence the thin line between reality and the magical world of fantasy is blurred in this genre. Indian filmmakers have also ventured into this genre that connects the oral narrative of folktales, legends and myths to reality.

Gujarati film Bhavni Bhavai (1980), directed by Ketan Mehta, is a narrative that throws light into the social evil of untouchability. After graduating from the FTII, Mehta had to travel through villages for work, where he came across such stigma like untouchability prevailing in rural India. This struggle of the Harijans to sustain their self-respect is the central theme which was translated into cinema through folklore and Bhavai鈥攁 popular folk performance of western India presented with music and drama. Themed around subtle social criticism, laced with pungent humour, the pompous and incongruous behaviour of high caste people is scoffed at in Bhavai. The film portrayed a modern-day satire through a medieval story. Bhavni Bhavai was Ketan Mehta's debut film and received critical acclaim.

Literary and folklore scholars have opined that oral literature moves to through different formats including the written records through a mass mediated process. A popular Rajasthani folktale, heard from the womenfolk of his village, made writer Vijayadan Detha to compose it in a concrete form, naming it as Duvidha. Detha relates that he built upon the plots, listening to the curious anecdotes told by village women replete with idioms, gossips, wisdom, sitting in his courtyard surrounded by them (Tiwari: 76). Thereafter he used his own imagination to retell the lores. This story has been the base of two Bollywood films鈥�Duvidha (1973) directed by Mani Kaul and Paheli (2005) directed by Amol Palekar. Duvidha was critically acclaimed and won the director the National Film Award for Best Direction. The music of the film was composed entirely by folk musicians Ramzan Hammu, Latif and Saki Khan. The film was remade as

Paheli in which the story is narrated by two puppets, voiced by Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah. The female protagonist in the film, Lachchi, is torn with a dilemma even when she finds fulfillment of all of her desires through her ghost lover who has taken the form of her real husband. She takes this newfound, sensual, magical, social, self-confident version of her husband as hers. The puppets end the story, remarking that this is a very old folk tale. These films are fantasy ghost movies that strongly portray women鈥檚 liberation and question the institution of marriage. With its strong storyline based on a folktale, beautiful cinematography and vibrant use of the Rajasthani colour palette along with its sandscapes turned Paheli into a treat for the eyes. This critically acclaimed film was nominated as India鈥檚 official entry to the 79th Academy Awards.

Another style of employing magic-realism in cinema has been the introducing characters that are mystical and have the ability to solve long-drawn issues. Films like Golpo Holeo Sotti (Bengali, 1966, Dir. Tapan Sinha) presented a suspicious character as the servant of a joint family. The person is indescribably happy, fond of doing work and very much skillful at everything under the sun. Solving all the internal problems of the family, one day the servant disappears. The filmmaker makes no effort in disclosing the identity of this character and leaves a sense of mystery for the audience. This film was later twice remade in Hindi as Bawarchi (1972, Dir. Hrishikesh Mukherjee) and Hero No.1 (1997, Dir. David Dhawan), which was in turn remade in Tamil as Samayalkaaran (1974, Dir. R. Krishnan, S. Panju) and in Kannada as No 73. Shanthi Nivasa (2007, Dir. Sudeep).

Such a mysterious character with unusual abilities makes the central theme of Amol Palekar鈥檚 venture into the field of magic-realism much before Paheli with his 1990 release Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen (meaning Let There Be a Little Bit of Romance). The theme of the movie is said to be inspired by critically acclaimed play 鈥楾he Rainmaker鈥� written by N. Richard Nash in the early 1950s. The play was filmed by director Joseph Anthony as The Rainmaker (1956), where a trickster claims to have the ability to bring rain to a drought-stricken village. The gloomy village, clinging to a ray of hope, is forced to trust the unknown man鈥攅ven if it knew that, in an era of economic depression, the claim could not be true. In Amol Palekar鈥檚 film, the rainmaker or baarishkar (played by Nana Patekar), with his poetic dialogues and happy-go-lucky attitude, claims to cheer up a parched little town, where it has not rained for several months. Like Raju (Rajesh Khanna) of Bawarchi, he has unshakable belief in his emancipatory abilities, a confidence that is contagious. The parable-like feel of the film with its lyrical dialogues connects the audience all throughout. The characters don't just emote; they 鈥榣yricise鈥� their state of mind. This is not limited to the words in their conversation, but extends to their sensibilities, which are poetic, and, to justify the title, romantic. This makes the entire film very earthy and folk in its treatment. Earlier, this kind of dialogue in verse form has been written in Hindi cinema by Kaifi Azmi for Heer Ranjha (1970, Dir. Chetan Anand).

At the end of the movie Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen, it does rain. But baarishkar doesn鈥檛 have a role to play in that. The narrative here takes an interesting turn from the original story (The Rainmaker) when the director projects baarishkar as a metaphor to fight against one鈥檚 inner demons and to build self-esteem, rather than bringing the mythical rain, for which he neither has the knowledge nor the expertise. This film has been included in management courses as part of the curriculum on human behaviour.