Half way into 2014...
We are half way into 2014 and the kind of stuff that hindi film industry is producing, we have to go through the trials and tribulations of one trash can after another. Generating mindless, senseless and utterly tasteless cinema, which least of all fails to even entertain. Take for instance a guy like Sajid Khan, I thought his Housefull franchise was a mindless caper, but at least it entertained. Even, he seems to have run into a creative menopause. Production houses, big directors and producers have all for long been suffering from a dilemma or a trap perhaps, which I call "Hash-Mash and Market" (HMM) syndrome.
The HMM format is simple, take any contextual setting (do not go far, pick up any Dharma Productions or YRF or Sajid Nadiadwala Grandsons or Eros or ...) and set your protagonist in the context and let the three things do the rest, an item number (with or without the Canadian import), a glitzy setting (classic backdrops, great designer, great looks and great props) and finally a clever Marketing strategy (numerous appearances on reality shows, TV shows, Malls, multiplexes, colleges and everywhere you cannot even think off). The job is done, the hype is created, and if needed pack in a trailer launch on youtube and get 10 brands to endorse in-film placement of their brands. The movie will at least pick up the investment. Otherwise, movies like 2 States, Ek Villain, Holiday, Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, Jai Ho, Humshakals, the list goes on. Each one pathetic than the previous one.
What also surprises me, in two weeks of their release, they celebrate 100 crore collection party, am curious to peer and see the "Inside" story of the so called 100 crore club. Has the audience mindset changed (I have a strong feeling it has!), has the medium (cinema) undergone tectonic shift (I guess this is partly true) or people involved with making them have started looking at everything to do which is not cinema (this is all the more true). I think we have reached a complete menopause in the industry.
Between Jan-July 2014 there were more than 75 films released and the three that to me stand out, Queen (by far the best), Highway (thank you Imtiaz Ali for daring to venture) and Filmistaan. Haven't seen Mastram and Manjunath. Am told they are good, cannot comment. I was trying to figure out how did these three film stand out. I think one thing that stood out, they had a plot, they had a script and most of all they had a story. This is where Hindi film industry is going through a catharsis. Lack of story, lack of plot or a decent script. Or perhaps, we aren't daring to look at plots, scripts or stories which are disruptive. So the natural instinct, play SAFE. The guys at the helm of the affairs today are to be blamed for this distropic and dissipated scenario of today's Indian mainstream cinema. It's a pity but there is nothing much one can talk about. The glitz, the charisma and the big names only sell and even good (so called) directors have no choice but to be lured into this.
Honestly, there are limited options. The process of film making is long, finances are hard to come, producers who have the money will not relent and experiment, templates of success are acceptable. So that leaves one with very little choice. Also, the mindless capers being churned do have ready markets that latches it. If not in India, the NRI base in Canada or USA or UK is there to lap up every junk we produce in a entertainment (desi stuff) starved part of the world. Therefore, why experiment, why look through the lines, why invest in meaningful cinema.
Let me then ask, why, how, when, where did we decide to produce these little gems, like Kahaani, Vicky Donor, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Love Sex or Dhoka, A Wednesday, Manorama Six feet under...the list is not long but obviously readers understand the kind of cinema am talking off. I do not know if you have seen Manorama Six Feet Under. Classic stuff. You have to see it again and again. If these gems can be created, why are film makers and stakeholders not going back to drawing boards. Because each of these films have great stories to tell. Which is suddenly gone missing. Or are the producers afraid, with these kind of cinema, audiences will go missing. Do not bother, let them go missing, we are there, we will support and raise the support, the crowd and the if not anything else, the festival circuit will take you to self actualisation!
There are no answers, but the industry and the so called responsible stakeholders who carry the mantle on their shoulders, need to take full responsibility for the damage done and take steps to mend it. How? For starters, see if Salim-Javed can be asked to set up a Writer's school or academy? This is on the lighter side, but seriously, get the story back into the cinema and give us (a few of us are left though) a reason to go back into cinema halls for those 120-140 minutes of transformation into a world where a true aficionado would wish to...
Dharma, YRF, Fox, UTV...are you listening? You have the remaining half the year to prove a point!
The HMM format is simple, take any contextual setting (do not go far, pick up any Dharma Productions or YRF or Sajid Nadiadwala Grandsons or Eros or ...) and set your protagonist in the context and let the three things do the rest, an item number (with or without the Canadian import), a glitzy setting (classic backdrops, great designer, great looks and great props) and finally a clever Marketing strategy (numerous appearances on reality shows, TV shows, Malls, multiplexes, colleges and everywhere you cannot even think off). The job is done, the hype is created, and if needed pack in a trailer launch on youtube and get 10 brands to endorse in-film placement of their brands. The movie will at least pick up the investment. Otherwise, movies like 2 States, Ek Villain, Holiday, Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, Jai Ho, Humshakals, the list goes on. Each one pathetic than the previous one.
What also surprises me, in two weeks of their release, they celebrate 100 crore collection party, am curious to peer and see the "Inside" story of the so called 100 crore club. Has the audience mindset changed (I have a strong feeling it has!), has the medium (cinema) undergone tectonic shift (I guess this is partly true) or people involved with making them have started looking at everything to do which is not cinema (this is all the more true). I think we have reached a complete menopause in the industry.
Between Jan-July 2014 there were more than 75 films released and the three that to me stand out, Queen (by far the best), Highway (thank you Imtiaz Ali for daring to venture) and Filmistaan. Haven't seen Mastram and Manjunath. Am told they are good, cannot comment. I was trying to figure out how did these three film stand out. I think one thing that stood out, they had a plot, they had a script and most of all they had a story. This is where Hindi film industry is going through a catharsis. Lack of story, lack of plot or a decent script. Or perhaps, we aren't daring to look at plots, scripts or stories which are disruptive. So the natural instinct, play SAFE. The guys at the helm of the affairs today are to be blamed for this distropic and dissipated scenario of today's Indian mainstream cinema. It's a pity but there is nothing much one can talk about. The glitz, the charisma and the big names only sell and even good (so called) directors have no choice but to be lured into this.
Honestly, there are limited options. The process of film making is long, finances are hard to come, producers who have the money will not relent and experiment, templates of success are acceptable. So that leaves one with very little choice. Also, the mindless capers being churned do have ready markets that latches it. If not in India, the NRI base in Canada or USA or UK is there to lap up every junk we produce in a entertainment (desi stuff) starved part of the world. Therefore, why experiment, why look through the lines, why invest in meaningful cinema.
Let me then ask, why, how, when, where did we decide to produce these little gems, like Kahaani, Vicky Donor, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Love Sex or Dhoka, A Wednesday, Manorama Six feet under...the list is not long but obviously readers understand the kind of cinema am talking off. I do not know if you have seen Manorama Six Feet Under. Classic stuff. You have to see it again and again. If these gems can be created, why are film makers and stakeholders not going back to drawing boards. Because each of these films have great stories to tell. Which is suddenly gone missing. Or are the producers afraid, with these kind of cinema, audiences will go missing. Do not bother, let them go missing, we are there, we will support and raise the support, the crowd and the if not anything else, the festival circuit will take you to self actualisation!
There are no answers, but the industry and the so called responsible stakeholders who carry the mantle on their shoulders, need to take full responsibility for the damage done and take steps to mend it. How? For starters, see if Salim-Javed can be asked to set up a Writer's school or academy? This is on the lighter side, but seriously, get the story back into the cinema and give us (a few of us are left though) a reason to go back into cinema halls for those 120-140 minutes of transformation into a world where a true aficionado would wish to...
Dharma, YRF, Fox, UTV...are you listening? You have the remaining half the year to prove a point!
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