Nama And The Romance Of The 90s

The 90s was not just a decade of great transformation, but the foundation of opportunities we take so much for granted today. From the dance of the Sensex to reimagining the dance of life itself, the 90s’ events are to be cherished and memories stored with the same vibrancy the decade brought about a new world for us.

One fine day in 1991, Prime Minster Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh (Nama) threw open the Indian economy to foreign investors and broke away from the long held licence quota permit raj. Economic liberalisation broke away from the socialist leanings, embracing capitalism wholeheartedly.

Economic liberalisation not just transformed India politically and economically, it also created a cultural cauldron of sorts. Suddenlly, there was aspiration, consumerism, brands, variety of food, grander movies and new kinds of societal heroes. If today parents are grappling with tech-obsessed children, blame it on economic liberalisation. If today, rat races in the corporate world are being camouflaged as dreams, blame it on economic liberalisation. If today, money is the primary parameter to judge success, blame it on economic liberalisation. I am not advocating that liberalisation was wrong and has harmed society. I am simply highlighting its side effects.

I grew up in the humdrum yet chaotic India of the 70s and 80s, where aspirations had to be pushed beneath the carpet as there were scarce opportunities for constructing and chasing dreams. I am a Motivational Speaker today and could not have been in pre-liberalisation India, as at that time what mattered was not motivation to achieve, but to stay put where you were and hold on to your territory. You did not have to be a soldier then to guard your ‘borders’, you simply needed to be an Indian.

Cut to the 90s and India underwent a dramatic transformation, financially and culturally. The Hindi film hero in the 70s and 80s was poor, lived in ordinary conditions, ideologically was anti-rich, and was always fighting the system. But the 90s hero and heroine came from abundant families, lived in big houses, romanced in foreign locations and led wealthy lives. It is interesting how movies mirror society, albeit in an exaggerated way. The 90s are as significant in India’s post-independence history as any other period. In fact, this decade marks a decisive break from the past, ushering in an India we see today, full of extraordinary energy, vibrancy and a land where globally people can fulfil their dreams.

The 90s saw the unleashing of aspirations and creativity, driven by technology and economic re-engineering. The freshness of the 90s reflected in the way Bollywood too transited from the fairly mediocre quality of films and music in the 80s. Aamir Khan and Juhi Chwala were sensational in the 1988 release Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. The song ‘Papa Kehte Hain Bada Naam Karega’ reflected an India in transition.

Though economic liberalisation was still a few years away, the 80s gave away the undercurrents of a restless India. The 90s was a decade of massive personality restructuring for people of my generation, who grew up in a socialist India and brought up their children in a capitalist environment. I call us as the ‘Sandwich Generation’, as we participated in both the Indias and reinvented ourselves and adapted with aplomb.

As I say in my article on Linkedin ‘The Great Indian Sandwich Generation’ (link to the article: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/great-indian-sandwich-generation-hariharan-iyer-the-enter-trainer/ ), “The Great Indian Sandwich Generation refers to people like me who grew up in the '70s and '80s, and had to grow up all over again with our children. We are products of the pre-liberalisation India, whereas our children are from the post-liberalisation era. These are not just two paradigms, they are two different Indias.”

The 90s gave birth to a ‘new’ country, and was the childhood of an India which is now in its adult phase. It lay the foundation of a country which would make the world at large sit up and take notice. Perceived as a backward nation of snake charmers by the western world, India today is admired for its incredible diverse cultural concoctions and looked up to for the economic opportunities it provides.

The India of today, though still grappling with its perennial contradictions, thrives because of its dalliance with possibilities in the 90s. The 90s gave rise to a new kind of heroes both from the cinematic and non-cinematic fields. An environment of greater inclusiveness started taking shape. I myself had a cross-cultural marriage and the idea of marrying outside of your community started taking deeper ground. In the 70s and 80s, foreign education was for the ultra-privileged, but the 90s laid the foundation for students to travel abroad for studies. When Yash Chopra’s film Silsila (1981) showed the Amsterdam tulips on the giant screen, it seemed like an unattainable dream for us. But today, foreign holidays too are the norm.

The 90s also somewhere liberated the intellect from mere deep rooted ideological thinking to thought paradigms that looked at life both from an economic as well as justice perspective. The rules of the game of life had changed and the intellect too adapted itself. Social issues now are not just centred around ideological and esoteric models, unreachable and unrelatable for many, but mainly around practical, doable ideas.

The 90s provided the opportunity for enterprise and also somewhere I feel set the tone for women to come out of the closet to explore the world through a more liberated lens.

The 90s thus was not just a decade of great transformation, but the foundation of opportunities we take so much for granted today. From the dance of the Sensex to reimagining the dance of life itself, the 90s’ events are to be cherished and memories stored with the same vibrancy the decade brought about a new world for us.