Guest Blogger Kay Kay Menon : Sankat Cinema 2 – My reply to your responses
Hello everybody, let me start by confessing a significant hometruth. I am computer illiterate, so much so, that I can’t even type. So lo and behold, how am I posting this blog? Simple, poor Pankaj Advani, the writer and director of Sankat City is typing my verbal diarrhea verbatim. I’ve read each of your responses and been overwhelmed by it. So much as I would have loved to respond to each of you personally, the constraints of time and my work load wouldn’t allow me to do so.
Thank you very much for your responses. I’ve tried to summarize a few poignant points you have raised in all the responses put together. Will try my best to address them.
Two aspects that struck me from your replies were :
1 – awareness and 2 – the will. Whereas awareness is a function of publicity/PR and hence, moneypower, the will is a function of the human desire to consume tasteful and elevating cinema. I have no argument when one says that, “I was not aware, hence I did not see” and my last post was not regarding that. You, me and the world know that with moneypower you can get more eyeballs, hence more awareness. That’s hardly a pathbreaking inference.
My whole accent was towards the will to watch good cinema. And hence I had mentioned that one could start a change, however small. If the whole supplier-buyer-supplier market in the business of cinema is looked at as a circle, you would see that cinema begins and ends with the audience. A producer puts in more money (if he has it at all) to promote a film by looking at previous examples of how much the audience helped in making a film of the same kind a hit.
Otherwise the producer hesitates in spending more money for the promotion of the film. Here again I ask, “is it not the audience, who by example, gives the producer the confidence to loosen his purse strings towards publicity?” To make it simple, if a good film does well by the grace of the audience, the producer makes money and hence, gets the confidence to make and heavily promote another good film. And the cycle goes on.
Now, coming to the second aspect of ‘the will’. Here is something that is completely and totally in the control of the audience. Someone mentioned that even if he was willing to see good cinema, his family would not want to do so. I was basically, in my previous post, addressing the will and the necessary action by the audience.
We have to understand, nothing in this world becomes popular without the sanction of the people. And my objection was to what the people are sanctioning. I always believed that as an artist, it should be my endeavour to keep producing elevating and high calibre stuff with the hope that this disease would get infectious and spread amongst the audience. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.
Sometimes the sanction of the audience has been so overpowering towards crap material that even my so-called steadfast beliefs have been shaken and I have given in to temptation of doing films by looking at what the audience wants, rather than whether I believe in it. After committing these mistakes, my belief that one should only attempt excellence has strengthened.
To rephrase Confucious, ‘I make bad cinema, I unhappy, you happy. I make good cinema, I happy, you unhappy – better you unhappy’!
So friends, whereas we all could have various debates and arguments on this topic, the fact is, that whatever change we can start, however small, would go a long way in changing the tastes of the audience for good. I am convinced that if we, in our own little way, promote good cinema, good cinema will promote itself.
I’ve blogged for the first time because of SANKAT CITY. Let us hope that there are many other firsts because of this film. My sincere heartfelt appreciation for all your responses. I’m truly glad to know that there are so many people who are genuine cinema lovers. Thank you and godspeed.
Kay Kay as Guru – “Mona, samajh le main voh chewing gum hoon, jo teri sandal se chipak gaya hai.”
SANKAT CITY RELEASES ON 10TH JULY 2009 !
- Kay Kay Menon, Guest Blogger, PFC
Tags: Guest Blogger, Sankat City
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
I am looking forward to Sankat City!!! When is the audio hitting the market? Released on 15th but not available in planet M?
Spot on – lets work together to a spot of mutual happiness!!
One question still remains – do the producers think that they can produce good movies but get away by not publicizing it (leaving it to the ‘passionate ones in the net’)? If so wouldn’t it be a travesty? There must be a goddamn law in producer/distributor union or group or coterie that every film produced at X Rs must be publicized at Y Rs at the minimum. South to north, more and more producers are enticing the directors to make risky subjects at rock bottom cost, causing severe strain to the director and cooly walk away from properly publicizing it – for they have
1. made a film at the minimum cost
2. Usurp the film director/actor’s passion
3. Ride on the new found voice of cinephiles on the web
and yet not spend a penny on the required publicity they ought to provide for a film.
If the film succeeds, then they shamelessly sell the overseas DVD rights at the highest price and hog the limelight in awards functions.
I sincerely hope that they learn a lesson (atleast by reading your blog) and promote their movie properly and really ‘trust’ the audience.
Hello Kay Kay
First, a confession: have by and large been in a slumber with regards to both you and your films until I was hit by an electrifying Dukey Bana in Gulal. And then slapped myself hard for having been so negligent. So, in the past few months have been on a strict diet of your films from HKA to Honeymoon Travels; MMJ to MMPAW and Black Friday to well, enlightenment. So thanks for that.
As for the main point of your blog, I agree to all you’re saying. But then again, I’d probably agree if you said the world was ending at 7.33 tomorrow night. (It isn’t is it? It’s just that I’d like to catch Sankat City first).
Good cinema does not need publicity it needs patrons….It is a different issue that patrons can be better informed through marketing…
For example, if a direct selling agent lands up on your doorstep to make a presentation on ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’…its again upto you to buy whichever ticket you want to…The Bollywood audience, I bet, would go for BAH over BF…because they dont see any value in watching BF over BAH…and just want to be entertained…
Till the audience improve their taste and appreciate genuine talent over gimmickry and show offs we still would be in this sorry state…
Good cinema needs to be created and audience need to show discretion in their choice of support…no two opinions in that…No Confusion…
If someone in the audience decides to push the blame again onto the makers in the name of marketing and promotions, then its real sad state…They have to make good cinema…none comes to see…they have beg everyone to come to the theatre…everyone land in the adjacent bollywood biggie hall instead…and complain of marketing, promotion lapse…absolute nonsense…
Hindi audience wake up!!!
Great response KK sir. And thanks for taking time from your busy schedule. We need good cinema and as Sethu pointed out that we need more patrons than publicity.Hindi cinema audience are waking up in superslow motion.They confused even today anything different as sign of progress, not as symbol of different mental approach. Long way to push the people for good cinema… We are on road less traveled…
yayaver bhai..you changed my name…its ok..anyhow I discovered PFC thanks to you….you can call me whatever good names you want.. :-)
Sorry Ram V, I am sitting in the office and finishing a project WITH guy named Sethu.. just missed due to lapse of attention.. nevermind will not happen again.
@KK
u might want to read this and comment
http://passionforcinema.com/audience-to-blame-really/
sankat ka dil thaam ke intezzaaarrrrrr!
Reading your post I can’t resist remembering Vidhu Vinod’s diploma film- “Murder at Monkey Hill” ( the brutal assault to movie financier)…..
Hope you learn to type fast ;-)
Eagerly waiting for Sankat City.
(The style of the film seems close to Ek chalis ki last local.)
BTW..Hey KK..
As far as I know u hve done MBA from Pumba.How come computer illeterate ??
How did u manage those PPTs and assignments??
Agree with you Kay Kay. Change begins with us–each individual counts.
A couple of years ago, I took a vow–life is short, so I will see only good films, I will read only good books. I try to keep my vow except when I have to take my daughter to see a Transformers.
As far as you are concerned, I have been watching all your films, both good and bad ones, right from your Bhopal Express days. Please keep up the good work. Do films that you appreciate, that you believe in. There is an audience for your kind of films.
On a larger point, the problem with small (budget) films is that they want to become big. Big impact, big BO returns. But historically speaking, that is difficult to happen. That happens only once in a while. All of Fellini’s or Antonioni’s or Bergman’s films did not always work. Most of them failed at the box office. Satyajit Ray’s most films were commercial flops. I am sure you know all these facts–I don’t want to insult your intelligence. Yes, you might argue, there were no multiplexes then. Today we have multiplexes, we have internet. Things are fundamentally changing. The whole business will change. Even Hollywood studios are cutting loose their art film (or sensible film) arms. There is a good podcast on this topic at the New Yorker site (sorry, I don’t have the link right now).
Yet I recognize your plea. As individuals, we must patronize good films. I started with myself and am trying to get my family, my siblings, my friends interested in good films. Small, sensible films may not become big (in terms of business) but its audience can. That will certainly help sustain the work of good filmmakers and actors.
I wrote this for Pankaj at the band bajao contest forum as well. I write again for him to notice: Pankaj bhai, I have seen many a movies, which have held their promos like till last week of film’s release and have suffered. Sankat City deserves a month long promotion, before the film releases. I have seen the trailer on tv just once and believe me, it had no impact. It will be big, if Anupam Kher gives an interview for promoting the movie, if Kay kay appears on radio with Jaggu and Tarana and holds a sankat solving contest. Or better still why dont the movie makers hold some sort of sankat solving contest, with answers being sent by sms. The revenues from sms itself would be awesome, apart from generating interest about the movie.
But how do you define an audience,I think film is in truth is expression of a director’s personality.
Some people may like some movies for some reason nad some people will hate the same movie for same reason.
I think you can not generalise audience.In the end audience is consumer, he may not have power to make product but he can reject bad products whose the best amongst worst,which is what audeince is doing now a days.They rejected CC2C ,but then embaraced Dev.d, here also producers did not know will the film will work or Anurag,s Past record at Box Office was not good.
I think the producer should have the will to promote and have confidence in the product so that audience is willing to come.
Everyday while watching trailers of Love aaj kal and Kambaqt ishq.. or even Shortcut… how much I wish… “Sankat City” be there !!!
But success of 99 still confirms the good-product-sell-off-always notion !
May Sankat City be JaneBhiDoYaaro-Revisited !!
I just did some very quick searches online for Sankat City–please take a look:
* Facebook Page: only 45 fans http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sankat-City/67838418765
* Wikipedia page is so basic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankat_City
* Youtube: The most popular Sankat City video on YouTube only has about 1833 views: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=%22sankat+city%22&search_sort=video_view_count
This is concerning…Yes, I admit I am not aware of how the film is being promoted on television, radio and newspapers/magazines in India. However, I do find it odd that the film hasn’t been marketed online more…Shouldn’t one market a film if they truly believe in it? Or, do producers not fully understand the importance of marketing?
“A producer puts in more money (if he has it at all) to promote a film by looking at previous examples of how much the audience helped in making a film of the same kind a hit.” But, regardless of how much the audience helped in making a film of the same kind a hit, if the producer does not put in money on marketing, the chances of the film doing well are extremely low. If a producer is gonna take a risk in the first place to invest money in making a film, the least they can do from a business standpoint is try to encourage people to see the film at theaters…It takes so many impressions to generate audience interest in a film…Shouldn’t a producer keep that in mind?
With all due respect, the term “crap cinema” isn’t really fair because it is all subjective. That’s just how art is. There are films some authority call “good cinema” that I thought were complete garbage, but there were some that I thoroughly enjoyed as well so you can’t really categorize it that way. There were films that did well at the box office that I completely hated, but I can’t really call them crap films because there were people who liked it. Another point is that the films you mentioned (Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi, Gulaal, and Black Friday) don’t have the repeat value of a “masala” film because the content is so heavy which affects its collections a bit, though I must say I’ve seen Black Friday many many times. Also, a producer needs to promote enough to at least raise awareness for the average cine-goer. There isn’t really a need to promote aggressively, but bear minimum is to at least make sure most people have an idea so when they hear the title they aren’t clueless. If I mention Sankat City the title to my friends who aren’t movie fans like me, they will not have heard of it, and these are your average cine-goers. You can’t target movie buffs in your marketting because they are already aware.
WHY WE DONT HAV SUCH SYSTEM?…LIKE ABSTRACT ART..WHERE..THERE IS A SPECIFIC BUYER TO APPRECIATE AND BUY…( MAY BE MOST OF THEM CANT UNDERSTAND THE PAINTING :-))…WE WANT TO SEE SUCH FILMS…i LOVE…YES…JUST WAITING …FOR THAT GROUP OF PEOPLE … THEY WILL PUT ASIDE THE MASK AND MAKE SOMETHING REAL…REAL THOUGHT ON SCREEN. ..AMEEN..KK…I HOPE …U WILL BE THR .
kaykay i love ur acting
According to me, one of the foremost influences that sways the multiplex movie-goer towards or away from a movie is the reviews, and since more than half the country’s multiplex crowd reads the TOI, the TOI reviews. I have met people who wait till Saturday and then take a stand on what to say about a movie depending on what appears in Page-2 of the TOI. For the kind of movies that we discuss in this forum are a poor review in the Times of India can destroy a movie. Because the bad review doesn’t just stop on the Saturday. For most of us, cinema is a choice topic of discussion and most of us seem to enjoy criticism a lot more than appreciation.
That brings me to something which I suppose might have been discussed earlier at PFC. The day after ‘No smoking’ was released, by force of habit, I took a look at the TOI review. Apparently the reviewer found it worthy of only one precious TOI star, but that was not enough. In the review, she went about pouring such vitriol on the movie-maker (not the movie) that you’d find it hard to believe you were reading the leading national daily. It was quite juvenile the way the reviewer went about venting her inability to appreciate the movie. It would’ve been funny, had the reviewers words been ineffectual towards the film’s outcome.
The only problem here is that these overgrown babies posing for reviewers actually make an impact on the viewer, and I’m sure, even the film-maker must be feeling the pinch somewhere. If that lady was asked the logic behind that review, she would never be able to explain it. On that note, I remember, there was a friend of a friend who had made a typically ‘multiplex’ movie. On the day it released, we were all given the task of checking out the response at each centre. I was at some multiplex at Sion, I can’t recall. It so turned out that there were four people in that show, out of which two were I and my friend. It was such a depressing experience for us, so I can very well imagine what the maker and others involved with the movie must go through.
Well, The import of all this is that there is a huge onus on publications that reviews are not biased and colored by personal perceptions, which, I think, is almost impossible to achieve, but at least they can try their best.
Before I write I would like to say Mr. KK you are the best actor. I am a big fan of yours I loved your work in Gulaal. I wish you success and hope you achieve everything in your life.
I loved this movie, this is best movie I have ever seen so far this year. Hats off to Pankaj Advani who showed us what cinema is. Why producers spent so much money in making stupid, cheap, vulgar movie like Kambhaqt ishq which has no meaning and sense. I wish they wud’ve spend money in movies like Sankat city, Dev D, Black friday. I guess they don’t understand what cinema is?
People think if there are 4-5 people sitting the show then it must be a flop, I don’t believe in that.I live in USA and we were kind of shocked that sankat city didn’t release here, we waited for it to come out on DVD and when we saw the movie All my frds said WOW what an awesome movie. I think audience see what’s the star cast of movie and then they make assumptions about the movie which I believe is WRONG.
Whoever reads a blog about sankat city I would like to tell them Go and watch this movie. If you know what cinema is You are gonna Love this movie.