We are close to finishing 2016 with a whimper

2016 is about to close and sadly there is nothing much to cheer about in Hindi cinema and not that there is anything to eschew in Hollywood too. We have been witness to some nonsensical fare in the name of cinema. Frankly, in the entertainment genre there are several movies which get classified, but none of them sadly entertains. Most of all they look pushy, over the top and at times seriously suffering from an idea. I guess the whole issue boils down to a plot, script or perhaps an idea which can be translated into good cinema is missing. There have been blimps on the radar like a Pink and Udta Punjab in a limited way and they both worked because there was an idea, plot and a script. There was a message too, which was socially relevant and therefore clicked. Infact, if one where to look most of the other stuff dished out, they looked banal and half hearted in attempt. None of them as actors, producers, or directors where willing to go beyond the cliched approach. Take for example the slew of soft sleaze movies which came up, even for the sake of entertainment if one where to believe that sex sells, but hey at least we need a script. Remember American Pie series.

I managed to watch Dangal over the year end and what seemed like a hype at least lived up to the expectation that in the sports genre this is one movie (alongside Chak De) that comes closest. The two girls (read four- Fatima Sheikh, Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar) as the central characters outshone everything that came in their way, including Aamir. And what stood out through the movie where the bouts (wrestling) that looked realistic and every single game that was played through the movie. The team gave attention to every single detail that are associated with the game. Unfortunately, beyond these, the movie doesn't hold much and Aamir in a long time looks off color and not in the character. Which is very unlike him. The team of Disney and AKP (including Nitesh Tiwari) has to be given full credit for pulling off a large scale film such as this.

But beyond all of this there is nothing home to write in 2016.

I have been using this forum to ask time and again --where do we go from here? And frankly there are no answers. However, god has his own way to balancing and perhaps the stuff coming out from the regional cinema in India is ably justifying this vacuum. Movies like Court (even though it was last year), Thitti, the Kannad miracle of this year and a series of them from Marathi film industry have really stunned us and not to miss the regular fare from the Tamil and Telegu Industry along with the Bengal Film Industry. I for one have had the opportunity to be exposed to the Bengal Cinema and could watch quite a few. Of course the golden era of Bengal is long over with the passing away of the trio Ray-Ghatak-Sen but we had out brief moments with Rituparno. The current crop of Arindam Sil, Kaushik Ganguly and Nandita & Shiboprosad however do come up with little gems too.

I think in all there is a severe catharsis of idea and most cinema makers have a plot and they lose in the screenplay and in some cases they actually do not even have a plot. The big production houses do not want to take risk with some much at stake and the small ones are hardly making money.

The multiplex genre is throwing in a new form of entertainment appeal, and this is packaged differently. It is no more about the movie that am watching but the outing that matters. So the food, the ambiance and location all becomes vital to the cog and cinema is last on the priority. Remember, before the multiplex era, cinema was about watching in a rickety run down place and often with no fans or a distant fan and when the first images came on screen everything became inconsequential. I think somewhere cinema as a medium especially for us needs to be redefined in a manner that brings in the lost charm of "Entertainment" and perhaps Vidya Balan was never wrong when she confessed in her iconic role that films run because of "Entertainment" Entertainment" and Entertainment" and everything else falls apart. We need to believe in that more strongly, else we continue to dish out the stale staple fare and somewhere pretend to be "Befikre" about it.