Movies... Masti... Magic...
Its a habit among wannabe's to flaunt their list of movies, highlighting the intellectual ones at that, and make a statement. We all know many people who watch movie just because they feel left out if they don't watch it. Sometimes I am asked why I dont appreciate or enjoy watching intellectually stimulating angrezi phillums in the theatre. Ya, I dont enjoy watching Lord of the Rings too. Somehow, I do enjoy Harry Potter. (Emma Watson is just one reason, though! :P)
The point is simple. Indian psyche has put in me the school of thought that movies are something which you go to when you want to chill, enjoy, have some fun and come back home carrying nothing in your mind. Given the requirements of having fun and spending time away from the world, why would I want to analyse a scene going on in the movie? Why should I have to remember a scene half an hour ago, only to connect it to a scene to come half an hour later. Goddamnit, I am paying my hard earned money not to screw my brain, but to enjoy for a few hours. So fill it with vibrant colors, masti filled humor and magical sequences.
Of course, I dont say defy logic each time. Make something like Happy Feet. You feel fresh after the movie. Before you conclude I like romantic, musical, animated or comedy movies, let me add another movie I enjoy is Pulp Fiction. There are times when you feel like you should have a gun and thump bullets into any damn guy that comes in your way. Thats when Torentino seems like THE GOD to you! Violence is an art, and he masters it! The underlying point is that the motto of a movie is to make you feel that you have gained enough returns on your investment. It should not make you feel like you have bought some headache at the cost of a couple of hundreds.
If you say movies should come with a message and I should appreciate it, forget it! I am going to be a Post Graduate in an year, and you expect me to change my life and thoughts all watching a 3-hour movie. Then, we should actually close down all the schools, make message-oriented movies and teach our kids to watch a movie a day and capture the learnings and change themselves. Its foolishness to think movies will change people.
Thrill and Suspense might be an occasional choice, but entertainment is what we are looking for and ensemble is what we shall enjoy! I know not all of you will agree with me, but I sure know I am not alone, for wherever I went and whomever I met, I either found people who shared this thought with me or people who first showed off only to confess later that masti is what makes movies.
I find it irritating when people say Hollywood is oh!so good and Bollywood is so bereft of innovation and intellectual content. Movies, literature, dramatics, music are something that are mirrors of the society. In our society, there are very few legal and socially accepted ways of hanging out - I can recollect only family picnics and movies now. So, to us as a society, movies are breaks we take to indulge in ourselves. The situation is different when you look at the western societies. People there booze at home. Late night parties are rampant. Dating is common, prostitution is legal and Theatre, Music, Art, Literature and Sports are appreciated at all levels regularly. To us, a district level sports meet is something which only the national selectors should see, and we call ourselves sports lovers. Duh! To us, literature only means Five Point Someone and likes, but no book reading sessions, no kavi sammelans etc... We neither go out with families to art exhibitions. Of course, as I always say, exceptions do exist, and this exceptions are what we are trying to capitalise on.
In such a scenario where movies are our only respite from our daily taxing routine, we naturally want resplendent 3-hour narrations of larger than life sagas. If we ever wanted something that is common in life, why bother to spend money? Look out of the window, India has lots of diversity. So, the bottom line is that movies should be full of masti and magical which logically explains the success of something like Sivaji. I am amazed at people being shocked by how such films do well in India. The only reason is that we dont connect our lives to movies, nor do we want to! We want an out of the world experience and who ever gives it, wins the moolah!
If you want a start at what movies exactly should be like to reach out to the widest segment of the Indian audience, watch The God in Sivaji... Its coooooooooooooooool!
posted by Naresh @ 2:21 PM
6 comments
