Dishum

When I was a kid (aeons ago, unbelievable but true), we had Hindi movies in which there was a good guy (tall, fair and handsome, even though Fair and Handsome was not yet marketed), and a bad guy who tried all kinds of tricks to defame him, snatch his jaaydaad (property) by unfair means, kidnap his lady love or his mother or kid sister, and various other nefarious tricks. For a while (maybe till the 17th reel in an 18 reel movie) the bad guy would succeed. And then, all of a sudden, the tide would turn.

Dishum, is the sound one heard, that told you the tide was turning. Not once, not twice, but countless times, you would hear the soundtrack say Dishum, and the hero would plaster the bad guy from one corner of a warehouse/villain's den to another. And we would jump in our seats. The hero had full backing from the audience, like Sachin and Sehwag have when bashing up Australian bowling. Even Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon had its own version of the dishum.

Alas, our quest for realistic film-making has taken its toll. We no longer enjoy the thrill of a fist fight with this 'sound' confirmation that good is triumphing over evil. It will surely leave scars on our pysche (those who grew up with this), but it may also lead to box office failures (Kites has no dishum, only gunshots firing, for example).

This is also perhaps a reason why villains are exceedingly colourless in today's films. What's a villain who cannot receive a few good blows on his jaw to the accompaniment of a delicious dishum sound?