Dear Couch Critic and Smart A[ss]ce Producer,
Dear Couch Critic and Smart A[ss]ce Producer,
It’s quite thrilling and you should be so happy to know that the recent past has been a field day for your esteemed clan. One with 100000 plus hours of cinema viewing experience and the other 1000000 plus hours of cinema marketing experience both have in a way put in your heart and soul to prevent or discourage or dismiss anything that is an effort towards changing the face or least to say paving a new path towards the betterment of Indian cinema. I envy your precision in nitpicking and dismissiveness and marketing expertise to destroy all and sundry who even dare to take a tiny step in revolt.
Congratulations!!!!
In fact your clan though diametrically opposite in gene and DNA are a team. I really can’t help but admire this unity in diversity. Two potent forces working seemingly towards different goals but achieving the same. On the face of it …..I must admit it does seem that your clans are pitted against each other but in retrospect of the past few weeks of cinematic endeavors you seem to be in the same team. A truly amazing phenomenon….
I sincerely think both of you should also visit regional centers like Tamil Nadu and Kerala to teach them something……Some filmmakers there do dare to attempt something away from the formula and the Couch Critics and the Smart A[ss]ce Producers there just let them walk away. Those idiots not just spare them comparisons from the best of world cinema but encourage them to try better and paving a road to actually reach the desired destinations.
Please Respected Critic and Producer…this is blasphemy….this is madness….how can sincere…well intentioned efforts be encouraged….how can the producer who first takes the pains to support a film then continue to support the film as it’s released…..should he not fuck the chances up by cutting costs in promoting it and put his Penny Brains trying to sabotage his own product by either giving it a limited release or better still, create a space which tells the viewer everything about the film…as then the need to watch it will never arise. Seriously have they forgotten… “Nip it in the bud”….The morons there lag far behind when it comes to smelling a revolt and crushing it and delivering a still born. I mean don’t they know even a Kamal Swaroop was no match to your clan…..Made one film and never to be seen again….Please do present it as a case study to the rest of India. Your recent success rate will add as an added brownie point to your campaign….
Again a bouquet of Roses to your clan….the geniuses….keep the good work up…but am worried…the murmurs bother me…the smell of sweat and blood…Am feeling the heat…some people are up to constant mischief…some say they will not give up….not so soon…Just throwing caution to the tornado….
Again heartiest congratulations to your recent dream run in the face of yet another attempt to change the tide…..your ship sails smoothly…..err…sails safely….eerr….sails with not much damage…eerr…ok still sails
Yours,
Vasanbala
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
GOOd thoughts..nicempost..liked it.
@ vasan:: sorry major typos..nice post .
If the rant is against the producers for killing their products then it is misplaced. The simple fact is general audience will not watch a Manorama-SFU or Johnny Gaddar no matter how much it is publicized or how much critical praise is showered. Even if you take 100 people to watch Johnny Gaddar free they are not going to like it to shell money from their pocket for a repeat watch. Producers know that very well, and they are, I guess, looking to TV premieres and DVD release. That’s the only fate for any good movies in any part of the world. James Bond/Spiderman is always going to make more moolah than The Queen/Snatch and its the truth. In India, we replace James Bond by Saanwariya. So be it.
If the rant is against couch critics, even then it is misplaced. Every one is entitled to an opinion. Even if it resulted in a brilliant movie like Ek Chalis ki Last Local to suffer losses. It would be wrong to say that only Sanjay Khanduri or Sudhir Mishra should be entitled an opinion because they went through the tribulations of movie making. May be their opinion should matter more, no doubt, because of their understanding of the craft and no more. If couch critics are so strong community to sabotage a good product, then this is the world we live in and the general audience is engagingly supporting their cause. And if the rant is about not being lenient to these hatke movie makers, then if you look at it these specific couch critics (like Panini, etc on PFC) you have to agree that they are well read and avid cinegoers and when publicized “different” they expect different like a Del Toro/Kaufmann movie and nothing less. But lambasting them for their puritan approach is both wrong and foolish. why it is wrong, I wont repeat. But foolish because they dont dictate market neither do they have any influence. They are perfectly right in criticising any excessively hooplaized product (excessive hoopla being created by being lenient by other couch critics in the name of new wave).
The bottom line is there will be always be few good movies and lesser audience for those movies. And no amount of hair-pulling is going to change that.
Now waiting for brickbats :d
Omprakash
just that I find the scene down south more favorable…..where both the producers and the critics promote films which are away from the regular fares….if there was one Khosla Ka Ghosla here….there are 10 such more cases there….The producers could have taken to your logic and not promote them….the critics could have compared it with all the Canne award winners and panned it
Hey Vasan,
Which south India are you really talking about? I have been plodding across the Kannda & Tamil industry which is well in the SOUTH and they are highly formula based also.
I have 7-10 bound scripts but god forbid if they are even willing to listen to it. Just because a “Mungaru Malae” became a hit, there was a resurgence of the Kannada Film industry and about 100 films are on the floor. Almsot all of them are fres h romances, forget the fact that a lot of them released have flopped miserably. So let us not assume that the South is holier than thou. The south industry is being run by Real Estate agnets who have made humungous sums of moeny from land deals due to the land boom and hence want to invest it in the glamorous world of Cinema.
So there is really no bloody difference between produers across this great country of yours and they all behae the same way. They will only invest on projects that look like any other.
Actually after “Struggling” down south for sometime now, I am somewhat awed by the producers of Mumbai who are willing to take a risk wit hmovies like “Manaroma”, “Johnny Gaddar”, “Blue Umbrella”. This is not seen in any language here except for maybe malyalam and in one good year of Tamil. So really this is baseless as I have been doing rounds here for sometime now and this is not somebody’s perspective but what I have seen and felt
Cheers, Deepak
are waah…kya baat hai vasan…superb!
paruthiveeran, sethu, pithamagan, chennai 28, mozhi, autograph, 7/g rainbow colony, pudhu pettai, arindum ariyamalum, and more
Vasan,
Sure. It’s the case abroad with “The Queen” vs James bond series, but in general there is an healthy percentage of audience who support “The Queen” types, it isn’t pathetic like the scenario here. Why would a “Kannathil muthamital” fail as against a “Dhool” or “Saamy” ? That’s the scenario more or less…
“paruthiveeran, sethu, pithamagan, chennai 28, mozhi, autograph, 7/g rainbow colony, pudhu pettai, arindum ariyamalum”
Some of those films are examples for packgaging a product with right mix of creativity in terms of narrative skill, aesthetics, nativity, etc. But they are also prone to cliches, and hackneyed themes which has helped its success with audience, for example, “Sethu” has a melodramatic love story with some unconvincing bit sequences, and a poignant protagonist to help its cause, 7/G had a lewd theme which would appeal, but one of the most contrived, and utterly confusing films. They are not groundbreaking or arthouse efforts. All of ‘em are in commercial format, but with enough content and better presentation. But yes, Tamil cinema isn’t all that bad, but not ‘exceptional’. Hindi cinema has its own advantages, and given better films (box office failure notwithstanding). Tamil film producers are equally commercial minded, and if not worse.
The problem is with taste and needs of the audience. We have to develop that culture, and the love of the art than just another product to be consumed, an acquired taste if you will. The acceptance to different genres would also improve. If there is a significant percentage of audience who support such efforts, then it would mean more creative filmmmakers.
oh dear vasan…can c u getting into d same trap like all other filmmakers. always blame d external factors first instd of looking inside. dont knwo d producrs game but as far as critics go,know d tribe a bit.
great effort doesnt mean great cinema always. one shoudlnt score point only cz the intention was honest. if u rember..say 5-6 years ago…there was similar trend..small budget so called indie films..new stories n mostly crap. since filmmaking is tedious process n one has the guts to think differnt, doesnt automatically means it will be great cinema. secondly, crtics r not there to change the business of cinema. doesnt happen anyhwere. no, not everyone is khalid mohd or closet filmmaker. dont genrlise. what do u say abt johnny g ? it got great reviews from everyone. so,its both push-pull factor. n couch critic ? now, i dont know how to bake a cake or to cook great food, but i can taste n tell if d cake/food is good or not. i will shout from d rooftop that the cake is great. but thats nt d critics job. its how u take it forward. they r not sitting there just to kill good cinema. so why put d anger somewhere else ?
Hey Vasan, I watched a Tamil movie called VEYIL when I was in India. I was blown away by how the director beautifully captured the mood and intensity of the emotionally charged story. It did leave a lasting impression. The world he created somehow reminded me of the raw , exuberant style of the Brazilian movie city of god.
I would appreciate it if you could recommend more movies from Tamil and Telugu.
This is far superior to anything that comes from the shit bucket bollywood.
Vasan, every movie critic is NOT necessarily a closet filmmaker…that is a patently ridiculous statement. If one creates a product for the PEOPLE…not necessarily filmmakers, then one should be prepared to take criticism from them. Or else, say that your film is only to be viewed by Directors and no one else has a say…(best of luck financing that!!)
Making movies is not the ultimate goal is everyone’s life Vasan, but you sure as hell seem to think so. I’m wondering, who’s the closet filmmaker here….?
Hey Travis- if you liked Veyyil, try Paruthiveeran as well. You won’t forget it in a hurry.
Travis Bickel hey thanks..yeh forgot to mention Veyyil in the list….awesome….and Pasupathy….what a performance…
Hey Qwerty I am a wannabe even wore than a closet…I know where I belong..
“Making movies is not the ultimate goal is everyone
Phoenixnu “GUILTY AS CHARGED”…..Point taken
Vasan, u live in a hopelessly tiny world my friend…most of us just stop by here on our time off…just like we do a dozen other non-film related blogs…I for one find politics, art, history etc a lot more fascinating than being obsessed by mediocre cinema…u on the other hand seem to think this is the highest goal of mankind..! Get a life brother…and if you try peeking outside your cocoon, you’ll find a whole new world out there…..No, my friend, not everyone is a closet filmmaker, and if u really think so, then you’re pretty messed up….!
hey qwerty,
thanks for dropping in again and again taking time out of your rather facinating life and blessing my tiny filthy one….thanks for the cool advise….and as to how messed up I am…you have no idea….let me just tell you it’s much safer interacting with me with a fake identity and only on the webspace…
qwerty …what a name…timepass ke liye aata hai..patli gali se nikal ja…
vasan dont get too emotional machi…well ur point is right…south generally produces better cinema..south are by nature more experimental…cos the audience is limited and so the budget also is limited. more than three films in same formula …then films flop and they look at interesting ways to capture audience interest..content, narrative, excellent cinematography..etc…
but nowadays a lot of hindi filmmakers have come up with many experimental cinema…
but what abt other languages..bengali, oriya, gujarati etc…have bollywood movies eaten their audeince?
hey,
i being a gujrati know that bollywood hasnt eaten up gujrati cinema but its just that they have stopped making good films .. not that i have seen a lotof them .. but have heard of a few good ones from my parents… because the marathi cinema is still existent and the audiences are also very loyal..
and where as the producers are to be blamed for a movies’ fate .. all i can say is that JG has done better than Manorama SFU or DDE.. because it was definitely promoted well…
shailee khem che..i had a friend from Anand, Ashish Patel…He used to tell me that no one really watches Gujarati movies there ..all are after Hindi (Bollywood) movies only. could be because hindi comes naturally to almost all in north.
spking abt promotion.,…i remember an arthouse movie Desaadanam by Jayaraj it was a hit in Kerala…the distributor Shogun Mohan told he had to invest more in the marketing than the production..Promoting in the right way matters a lot…for sure…
Good observation Phoenixnu and well said Vasan Bala… looking forward to more such remarks from you dude…
Keep it up…
hi vasan, i am tushar patel from uk. i am anurag’s friend. i want to thank u for compliling a list of films i should watch for my script. i really appreciate it. thank u so very much. hope to meet u someday. if u come to uk let me know in advance. tushar
Vasan,
I am dying to watch “Katradhu Thamizh”.
I’ve heard that it is mind blowing.
Can you review the same?
Heard that “Satham Podadhey” is great too.
South – the fact is this. If you do a “different film”, it better be good. If it is half baked, then ppl reject it. If it is interesting, people lap it up. In fact there have been more sleeper hits that are of super hits magnitude in South compared to north, where super hits, mega hits all come from established filmi families and prod. houses. Therein lies the difference and hence the slightly patronising post by Vasan – I guess.