Grace Under Fire–Reviews,Results And Responses
Between OM SHANTI OM(OSO),SAAWARIYA and NO SMOKING(NS) so much heat has been generated , one feels as if these are also a culprit in adding to Global Warming!
This is not about films OM SHANTI OM(OSO), SAAWARIYA & NO SMOKING(NS) per se..This is not about their reviews either..This is about makers of these films..And that too more specifically about the makers of latter two films..
For purposes of this post, just to recapitulate in brief, the box-office results of these three films—NS went up in smoke..SAAWARIYA lost steam quarter of the way..OSO burnt many a record.. But the fact remains NS & Saawariya did not warm up to the audiences..You could say , ‘So what?’..
Exactly!.. No one has the guarantee of a hit or successful film inspite of donning the impressions to the contrary..These films did not click— did not click, period..I wish the matter could rest at that..One could take the resuts in one’s stride and move on..But that does not seem to be happening..
Let me share with you few instances from the past..The greatest showman of Hindi Cinema Raj Kapoor before his passing away had given an interview ( I think to Simi Grewal for a programme on Doordarshan) in which he was asked : Of all his films which is the one that is more dear to him?..Raj Kapoor made a quote, that in his birth place Punjab ( He came from Peshawar region of Pakistan) it is said ‘Maa taan dendi jam, Karam na dendi wund’(Mother gives birth but can’t write the destiny)..And he went on to elaborate that he is like a mother who is in love with all her children..But still mother has something extra for a child whom she realizes, cannot make on his own, who may be physically challenged somehow..And in this context he elaborated he has special liking for Mera Naam Joker..A special kid that could not run on its own..who hobbled and limped to the post.
He was further asked whether he felt bitter about the audience response to Mera Naam Joker..And what he said goes on to seal his mark as a filmmaker of great stature..He said no doubt he is disappointed but he respects the audiences and in future he will cater to what they want, not what he wants..He said something to the effect : ‘I am here to serve the people–both masses and classes of my country..And give it to them what they want in very neat and beautiful packages’..Soon after he went on to make Bobby! A movie with newcomers!(a usp SLB is tomtomming about)..
K A Abbas used to write for Raj Kapoor..He had a distinct persona..Creating beautiful scenario in mainstream cinema under RKs vision and creating his own kind of cinema under his own baton..None of his films made money..But he never felt bitter towards the audiences..In fact the other day I read Amitabh Bachchan talking of him and his Saat Hindustani days..He has gone on record praising K A Abbas’s humility and modesty in accepting the facts and audience reactions.
What is happening in present times! Both the directors of NS & SAAWARIYA are miffed with reviewers and really disappointed with audiences..Whatsoever their genuine reasons may be regarding some of the reviewers who could be biased but both have given generalized and sweeping statements denouncing the reviewers and lamenting the dumbing down of audience tastes..I beg to differ.
I have high regards for both the directors’ capabilities..But the issue is not about talent, vision, knowledge and skills..The issue is much deeper and affects many others in Bollywood..Both have refused somehow to accept the fate of their movies..Anuraag Kashyap(AK) has still shown some courage to come down from where- he –smoked- a –classic- mild after getting the first reactions in papers and electronic media and has gingerly accepted people’s verdict but his stance is still rebellious..He has his reasons to justify himself..And he has gone on record saying henceforth he will make movies(apart from what he is his personal agenda) that even a toddler can understand..He wants to hold a mirror to the audiences and not pander to them..Fair enough..But who decides whether audience wants a mirror or a mirage?And how one can force them to see in the mirror?.. Moreover in AK’s acceptance of audience verdict one senses ( at least I do) a taste of bitterness.
On the other side Sanjay Leela Bhansali(SLB) has lots of difficulty in coming down from his arrogant pedestal..He has a kind of paranoia..He thinks his movie has been sabotaged by the reviewers..And first time people did not go to watch it only because of the reviews..It reminds me of Mulla Nasseruddin’s problem with the world..
Mulla Naseeruddin went to a Hakeem(a desi doctor) who was also a kind of psychiatrist in the village and confided in him that he was somewhat developing an inferiority complex..On questioned why he felt so, Mulla said he felt his contemporaries and colleagues were trying to be his equal!..
Now that’s the problem..The exalted sense of self..A streak of invincibility (its illusion this showbusiness has the capacity to give).. I wonder how he thought he could not be touched or his work taken to the cleaners.. And since when reviewers could make or break the fate of a movie..SAAWARIYA got fantastic initial weekend (due to tsunami of marketing and publicity and also brand SLB)..Reviews came on Saturdays in the print media..No doubt electronic media carried First Day First Show reactions of the public..And verdict was unanimous..Public at large did not like the movie.
All that visual treatment had not mattered..All his harping on great visuals, costumes, sets, cinematography, music did not convince the paying public..The splendour could not compensate for the story or the script..And by the way in the story White Nights on which Saawariya is based the heroine Nastenka at one point tells the Hero: ‘You describe it all splendidly,but couldn’t you perhaps describe it a little less splendidly’!.And the Hero replies ‘Dear Nastenka, I know I describe splendidly but excuse me, I don’t know how else to do it’..How ironical and prophetic, now mulled over in context of the movie!..
I also mull over the era gone by.. In that era may be things were sedate and not that competitive..In today’s cacophanous world of marketing warfare maybe one has to shout from the roof tops and make oneself heard..In an atmosphere of media- is- the- message-and- the- messenger one feels the need to defend oneself..Maybe!..Still I prefer old world value of humility..And it is no easy virtue..I think it requires tremendous self-belief, self-esteem to stand tall in face of criticism..I prefer RK & K A Abbas kind of sense of acceptance than Mulla kind of arrogance..
Arrogance has its own usage but not with the audiences..Instead of running them down it is better to accept and move on..In circus there is a saying that any circus is as good as its next performance..where as in films it is said that any director is as good as his last film..I think it is high time to end this circus of blame,learn the lessons and gear up to win over audiences with one’s next offering..In this race not ire but Grace under fire is required!
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
It would be interesting to find out which of these filmmakers, full of hot air, left the biggest carbon foot print :-?
Interesting comments
However, my point is, why do we expect “grace under fire” from directors whose work has been ( at times unjustifiably) panned . The movie is ultimately the director’s vision (atleast of auteurs like bhansali or kashyap). What you see on screen is a labor of love and passion for the artform. While you may not agree with these directors vision, to expect them to capitulate and be humble about their work and kow tow to the aam janta or critics who totally didnt get the movie would be totally against their nature. These are highly individualistic persons who have a very unique way of presenting their thoughts on screen. My respect for these individual remains undiluted “because” they didnt try and appeal to the lowest common denominator .And they defend their work and their vision even after the release. A singular directorial vision responsible for the work doesnt quiet gel with the same directors flip-flopping on the merit of the work one day after its release.
The right time for reanalysis is not the weekend of the movie’s release. The director has to give himself some distance from his work to come up with areas where he could have made the work more accesible without compromising on the vision.
Gimme bhansali’s arrogance any day!
Who says OSO has broken all records? The cohorts of SRK and FK no doubt. I went to a theater in the DC area last Saturday and the hall was less than half full- and this at the end of first week! These guys pay the so called trade analysts. Komal and Taran are all for hire! SRK, KJ et al have in fact, fine tuned the skill of exaggerating the numbers. I read the headline yesterday that “SRK had beaten Tome Cruise.” In fine print it went on to say that on the first day of its opening, OSO had drawn more people than Lions for Lambs. Well, Lions… is an arthouse movie which was only expected to draw a niche audience. Lets wait for the end of the month for the true picture to come out. I sense that OSO is just an average and not a big hit as the SRK camp is making it out to be.
Point well made, totally agree. As long as the director enjoyed the process of making his film and believed in his/her work, success or failure should not provoke reactions as extreme as we saw from the above filmmakers. Well atleast they got to do what they wanted to do. Also SLB and AK are extremely talented and brilliant in their own ways so it wont be long before they come up with the next big one.
At the end of the day, the model of self gratification replicates itself….today we accuse the Chopra/Johar ‘camps’ for doctoring the books,being in cahoots with critics and trade analysts, yet you have the same coterie developing around so called ‘niche’ filmmakers, the same blinkered mentality, the same refusal to look facts in the eye….In the west this has been perfected, both ‘mainstream’ and ‘indie’ schools of filmmaking have their own world of incestuous backslapping and unequivocal loyalty, insulated from the truth…always calling the other one an idiot.
In India this phenomenon is slowly developing and will manifest more strongly in the years to come.
Example: a portal like PFC which is championed as the last word in independant,non biased thought on cinema by it’s supporters, is largely perceived as an Anurag Kashyap Fanclub by the world of Indian cinema. You may dismiss that as a wrong interpretation, but you cannoty deny it exists.
Which is why I made a comment some time back to Anurag….the comparison with Roark doesn’t really work. There is no way in hell he would get the kind of support that AK enjoys on PFC. I also said that ‘everybody loves a martyr’….which again can be a carefully cultivated image or simply a marketing gimmick. In the West this has been perfected to an art…it will catch on soon in India too. You have commercial, mainstream music and the so called ‘Alternative’ fringe, both are marketed as furiously and with the same level of gimmickry. The same with cinema, there is a specialized promotional strategy geared towards ‘nice’indie,offbeat’ cinema…which at the end of the day will always bash the other side, because guess what…it needs to make some dollars to keep the machine cranking….
So it’s really all relative at the end of the day…the only truth is highly subjective.
Anurag may deride critics and the audience, but the fact is that an Indian ‘chaprasi’ or panwallah or menial labourer would any day spend his hard earned Rs.200 on a gloriously escapist experience where he can leave his dreary,sordid existence behind him (eg.OSO), rather than some self indulgent, derivative experiment in ‘art’. And it would be hard for anyone to deny that basic fact if they have in fact spent any time in India at all.
So I agree with this author and largely disagree with any chamcha-chela camaraderie that abuses any negative criticism coming it’s way. Beware! You are falling into the same trap that you accuse the others of falling into.
@ qwerty –
Word.
The problem with both No Smoking and Saawariya is that they are simply not very good.
Kashyap and Bhansali believe that they have made revolutionary films that are so fantastically imaginative,intelligent and avant garde that the plebeian audience in all their ignorance and stupidity have not given either film a chance.
Well neither film is really earth-shattering or even memorable. Twenty years from now film critics will not go over these films mulling over ‘what is the director trying to say’ because they are simply not worth reverence or reference. These are films that not only bored the Indian audience but would bore even a cinema literate audience that frequents film festivals.
@ Amita –
Word.
p.s. The word of the day is word.
I beg to differ. The directors of commericial failures have as much right to defend their product as the succesfull filmakers have the right to gloat and blow their trumpet.
I also disagree that the critics don’t have much role to play in the success or failure of films. When the reviews have headlines like ” Why you should watch Don a second time (indiafm.com)” and “Avoid this movie at all cost”, it does affect the sales of tickets.
PFC is probably perceived as Alternative Movie fan club, because I think most visitors here are not the usual masala movie fans. Atleast I think it isn’t.
Saawariya
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=saawariya.htm
Domestic: $805,054 4.5%
+ Foreign: $17,018,904 95.5%
= Worldwide: $17,823,958
Om Shanti Om
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=omshantiom.htm
Domestic: $2,892,773 13.7%
+ Foreign: $18,174,637 86.3%
= Worldwide: $21,067,410
As we discuss, these guys are laughing all the way to the bank. And Saw not far behind Oso, just a handful of millions
:d
Hey Mr. BOM, how reliable are these figures? Did you yourselves collect these from the market or were these figures supplied to you by the distributors of the movies? If latter than figures being provided by the distributors from India cannot be trusted as has been recently seen in the case against Eros.
Uma even if No Smoking and Saawariya had got good reviews it would barely have made a difference to the film’s performance,it would however have boosted the egos of Bhansali and Kashyap.
Swades got excellent reviews but didn’t make money.In case of movies word of mouth matters immensely,more so than reviews.
man these articles are huge. I wanted to submit once and then they said it’s too short..my point is shouldn’t it be short. Short and interesting…
I insist that both the movies catered to a select audience and both the movies did as well as one could expect it to considering the core theme. Both SLB and AK are passionate film-makers. They are obviously not very entertainment-savvy or make movies for commercial consumption.
AK’s two directorial attempts catered to a select audience. One was popular because the masses could relate to it and the other wasn’t because the masses couldn’t relate/weren’t entertained. NS was appreciated and liked by people who have enjoyed Hollywood movies such as Mulholland Dr, Fallen, Jacob’s Ladder, etc. All of us who enjoyed these movies came out of the hall and exclaimed “aisi picture India mein 10-15 saal mein bhi nahi banayenge”. NS was appreciated, enjoyed and devoured by THIS crowd. It was obvious for anyone never exposed to these genres to not like NS and this should not be construed as a testimonial to their intellectual capacities.
None of SLB’s films could be termed as commercial cinema. From Khamoshi to Saawariya, all his films were aesthetic, a touch off-beat and bordering parallel cinema. Not everyone can like a Black or a Saawariya because not everyone understands the nuances of film-making. The wide-angles, the lighting, the colours, whatever. He makes a fine, good-looking product even if the scripts let him down. Some are mystified by his grandiose style and some just find it plain macabrous. Some are amazed at how he shoots his movies and some just don’t notice.
I also defend the unfavourable responses by SLB and AK on the reviews they received. But what people fail to see is that the critics are not reviewing the movie at all. Most reviews seemed like an amateur ‘bash-him-up’ endeavour. There were a lot of reviews which constructively criticised the movies and the directors did not respond negatively to these reviews. They have only retaliated at the ‘critics’ who are namesake and just plain senile. After all, how many of us read some of these reviews every Friday, smile silently and think to ourselves “Kaun hai yeh ch#$1y4… what a comic.. how did he get this job??!”
On that note – we should all stop criticising and abusing film-makers just because some are rebels and attempt good cinema and some are plain entertainers who make movies for purely commercial reasons and entertain on the way. For every Mission Impossible, there is a Lions for Lambs. Why.. I know of someone who loved Jaani Dushman even!!! Am still in touch with him too.
To each his own. Kash laga…
@Amita
Box Office results aside, it is not about boosting their egos and it also should not be about discouraging film makers who try something different.
According to you and most reviwers, NS could be a flawed product, but Rediff and some other websites devoted atleast 3-4 articles running down the movie and the director passionatly. Why should a self-respected film maker not speak out against these so called critics? When these same critics failed to write about the glaring flaws in OSO?
Just because his movie did not resonate with the majority, does he have to shut up and stop expressing his views?
PS: didn’t watch Saawariya yet. I have no authority to comment on that movie.
@Anand G
Well said!!
AnandG, Not all people who watched the movies you mentioned and more enjoyed NS.. in fact I would say it is quite the opposite. Unless you watch these movies as meaningless novelty.
anand G
completely agree
I have seen saawariya and the way it has been attacked in the media was a total hatchet job.
The reviewers were basically telling people to not watch the movie. Thank God I didnt pay attention to hacks like adarsh and raja sen , otherwise I would have been deprived of watching the movie and making up my own mind. So, as far as I am concerned Bhansali’s ire against media hacks was totally justified.
You must either be extremely cynical or extremely naive to make that circus analogy. In doing so you’re putting No Smoking in the same box as OSO, poking it with a stick and saying “Dance monkey!”. Are you shitting me? A film like “No Smoking” is aimed at a target audience that, yes, does read film reviews. The state of Indian film criticism is so disgraceful that most of them don’t even have a frame of reference to be able to approach a film like No Smoking. If the same film were to come from South Korea or Mexico with approval stamped by internation critics then same would have jumped on the bandwagon merrily giving it four stars and writing illustrious reviews with a couple of plagiarizes passages ripped verbatim from New York Times or Roger Ebert.com. And thats not just mere faltulence, critics writing for prestigious national dailies like Nikhat Kazmi and Gautaman Bhaskaran have been caught stealing entire paragraphs from reviews of American dailies. A bad review not only kills the chance of a film like No Smoking recovering money, but also of a film of the sort from being made again. A film that is a commercial dud but a critical hit can still get the filmmaker enough lifeline to make another film. Bear in mind, I’m not saying that a film like “No Smoking” should not get a negative review but the violence with which a respected so-called critic like Khalid Mohammad (calling guys like him trade analysts or entertainment writers would be a compliment, gossip-slime peddler would be more accurate) have attacked not the film mind you, but the character of the filmmaker, arouses important issues regarding not the quality of the film itself but that of the criticism. One critic actually had the balls to say in his review that if this was the much-touted Noir genre then two hours of it were more than enought for him. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU CALL YOURSELF A FILM CRITIC IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN A NOIR FILM ?!!?
Fuck grace under fire. If the fire is coming from idiots whose citical knowledge of cinema begins from Abhi-Ash wedding and ends with Dhoni-Deepika hookup, then take ‘em on, I say, Mr. Kashyap and stick it in their eye socket.
I’m reposting the following, as some of views on No Smoking:
I rue at the state of Indian film criticism that could not only not detect the filmic influences of Noir in general on “No Smoking” but in specific
@krysh, good article, and while I agree with what you describe as arrogance of some cinema makers, its is necessary to have atleast couple of film makers like them to shake up the pile of norm film makers. While I do think most movies will have to be made for the aam junta, about 90% or more of the 200 hindi movies released for the so called aam junta dont become successfull. So if 2-3 odd films come out from arrogant film makers of the 200 some aam films, it actually is a good thing and its very much needed.
“One of the best Indian films ever??” Are you kidding me, Mr. Prashin?? Don’t you see that this is EXACTLY the kind of a**-licking that you accuse others of!!
Absolutely no harm in balancing things off, I’m all for such an inqalabi attitude – if Taran and co. do it on such a large scale, why should you not counter them here on your own limited platform? But at least don’t do it with such a blatant sense of self-inflicted ignorance (and disregard for what “the best of Indian cinema” is)!!
Really sir, when you say No Smoking is ” probably one of the best Indian films ever”, how can you possibly avoid others from seeing you as nothing more than the proverbial koop-madook??
Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani ki shapath le ke boliye you didn’t mean it!!
The rest of your comments were spot on though.
One more thing – it really pisses me off when I find people associating noir with Scorsese, Fincher, Coen bros., the likes. For heaven’s sake, why don’t you talk about Huston, Hitchcock, Reed and other founding fathers of noir? The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, Murder My Sweet, Chinatown – that’s where noir came from, that’s what noir is in its purest form. Why this convenient (and misleading) approach to tracing the essence/origins of film noir? This is not in reference to your comments; was just mad generally.
Film makers and producers need to learn what target audience they are aiming at when they pick a story. If they fail in their estimation of the size of their target segment, then rest everything is buck passing.
A person can create art for personal satisfaction or create a product for an audience. Can these overlap? If one’s vision comes from a chasm so deep and intimate that no other individual can begin to understand it, I guess that is something very personal. From my understanding a filmmaker becomes a filmmaker to connect with the audience, to say something to the audience, to affect the lives of the audience. That is assuming that money is not the driving force, (usually not for people who make very personal films). If a filmmaker makes something deeply satisfying just for his/herself without considering an audience, then isn’t the creator being selfish?…and not really caring about affecting other people’s lives.
It’s funny, I’ve always felt so strongly towards creating things without caring about what others think about my creation. But after deep thought, the only person who might be benefitting from this type of creation might be myself…which is not a bad thing, I mean it leads to personal growth. Before, I used to think that Raj Kapoor Ji succumbed to commercialism after Mera Naam Joker, but really he just became selfless. I guess this whole filmmaking thing is kind of like a cycle. I remember Anurag Kashyap once mentioned something about having a balance between making deeply personal films and commercial audience-driven films. You kind of need to create commercial films in order to be able to afford to make personal films. On the other hand, you need to create personal films, in order to increase self-understanding and develop the creativity and compassion required to make a film that will touch the lives of those around us.
Woah, I don’t know if that make sense, but Krysh, you made me think. That’s what’s great about PFC, it never lets your mind slack.
I think AK and SLB were absolutely justified in deriding the film critics….they were absolutely wrong in analyzing the two movies….they just don’t have a basic grounding in films….most of them decide upon the goodness or the badness of the film from the raciness of the script…..after reading the reviewer’s reaction to the two movies the only thing that comes to mind is Farah Khan’s comment about critics — “They are retarded”….though Farah has gone back on her words when OSO was praised by most critics who very conveniently glossed over all the HOLES in the script and the direction….the way both AK and SLB have been personally attacked by some sites such as Rediff (which has written eulogies about a junk film like OSO) i sometimes think whether there is a collusion between some movie makers and these media engines….
well said bro… ^:)^
m in total agreement with u
forget SLB…i hope atleast Mr.Kashyap reads this one
The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, Murder My Sweet, Chinatown – that
And I stick by my statement that it is one of the best Indian films I have seen. Certainly the best directed Indian film I have seen. I don’t think you should pass judgement on my taste. And no, that’s not what I’m doing to the critics, I’m simply challenging their competence in having a taste. What do you want me to put on the list? Aparajito. Fuck verite!
i agree with this post at sum level…tht the audience reaction nd reviewers critics shouldnt bother film makers…thy should keep doing wht thy believe in…whnever thy get frustrated with comments they become dommnique….as AK said tht its not easy to be roark….i agree…but one must try not 2 get frutrated…it shouldnt get affected…nd i m happy atleast thy stnd by their work…one must always stand by for their baby….m happy they havent sold their souls….nd they dont make flicks…they make cinema….they amke wht thy believe in nd not wht ppl want
hi i am in india just 4 a few months i wanted 2 pick up some hindi n my frens suggested i try hindi movies ….. so i went 2 c oso …. after the flick i realized that i should have left my brains @ home n seen it.if srk is a reincarnation n born as the baby he shld. have died when the baby was comcieved n not when de baby was born n hey who was the look alike sandy supposed 2 be depika is very beautiful but srk looks haggard n sick making a fun movie does not mean that u make a movie without a story or a plausible connection and continuity it is a movie one shld c n forget all the holes
@emil
hahaha.. dont start this.. Baat nikelgi to fir door talak jaayegi!
do anybody know that the climax of oso is same like that of old madhumati,starring deelip kumarn wejantimala
@xyz ..yep i knew it
The media with their reviews savaged Saawariya. The vested interests and personal agendas were laid bare.
I am not one to be swayed by reviews but I must admit the onslaught even affected me. I did not go and see it. This from someone who never misses a Rani film. I shall of course see it in due course. The point I make to the writer of this article is, you are wrong, reviews full of extreme criticism do affect the movie going audience. Further since most of the profit is made in the first week they DID negatively affect Saawariya! Even OSO dropped in the second week.
Why do some people have such a problem with SLB. Don’t destroy his product just because you have a problem with his attitude and arrogance.
I normally love SRK films, not because they are meaningful cinema but because HE entertains me (not the film).
But on this one ocassion I was so disgusted with his shameful and very extreme publicity that I also gave it a miss. The only differece is that i shall watch Saawariya in the near future but that is not the case for OSO. For me it is a matter of principle. This time Goliath did vanquish David!
i watched this movie called ahista ahista on tv a few days ago. realized it too is based on ‘white nights’. found it to be much better than saawaria.
wonder why it did not gain acclaim…