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MOVIES AND REAL LIFE
MOVIES AND REAL LIFE
Some days back, I saw an interview of Sudhir Mishra on Sahara Filmy by Mayank Shekhar. Mishraji told “Today’s film makers watch movies, not life” They are engaged in watching movies, discussing movies but they do not devote their time to watching, analyzing life. 100% correct.
Some so called biggest filmmakers claim their film’s connectivity to real life. They give very stylish, larger than life films. Making is stylish, larger than life films is not a bad thing. But their films do not connect with common man. Why?
Because…..
- They do not research properly for their films. They do not know minor rules of Indian culture like in Hindus, women do not go to shamshan for Agnisanskar. I have seen in many films by so called biggest filmmakers that women were present in shamshaan in a white cotton sarees.
- Human behavior (physical, mental, biological) is not properly analyzed. Take an ex. After a long sleep, when you wake up- your eyes, hairs are changed for sometime. Your eyes get little smaller and anybody can say that you have wake up from sleep. But so called filmmakers have never given attention to these details. Their hero/heroines wake up with smiles, with fresh faces and very well arranged hair.
- While inspiring from (in fact copying) from western films, they do not take care to change some factors as per Indian perspective. In every second film clubs, pubs and disco theques are seen (which is common in Western culture). Apart from Mumbai and other metros, I am sure that there is no disco theques in India. In every second film, Hero and villains are grooming in leather jackets and suits even if the story is set up in Mumbai or India. In Qayamat (2003), Sanjay Kapoor and Arbaaz Khan are wearing overcoats in a boat (which must be very humid and hot atmosphere). And if it was a winter day then why their colleague Ishaa kopikar is wearing a gown? Because it was copy of hollywood hit “The Rock”, is it necessary to copy the costumes also? In USA, generally atmosphere is much colder than India and people have to wear suits and jackets but why our filmmakers do not take care of details like costumes and makeup in Indian perspective.
- Their characters do not match with background of character. Recently, in Shootout at Lokhandwala -Arbaaz khan scolds his son for study because he(arbaaz) did not studied well and he has to think 100 times before buying chocolate for his son and in next scene he is wearing Rayban glasses. In Rudraksh(2004), just to picturise one song (“Ishq Khudai”), the hero is converted from Tantrik to club bouncer (aur film me clarify kiya gaya hai ki Sanjay Dutt poora din Tantrik ka kaam karta hai aur raat ko club me bouncer hai.) What rubbish!
In Dum (2003) - hero Vivek Oberoi and his father are requesting a govt. clerk to release pension and in next scene they are going on Bajaj Eliminator ( a bike which cost around 1 lac rupees).
Perhaps all these filmmakers are inspired from English, Korean, Japanese style of film making but they do not see the details the filmmakers have taken care of in those films.
May be this is not fault of so called filmmakers because most of the them come with filmy background and lived their life kingsize. They do not have to bother about catching the public bus at right time; even they had not travel in public transport in their whole life. They do not face day to day difficulties which an Indian faces daily. They have grown up with parties, designer clothes, swimming pools, foreign vacations etc. and so their thinking is appeared in their films.
The film makers of golden era (60s and 70s- Hrishida, Gulzaar, Basu Chatterjee, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, Ramesh Sehgal etc.) came from middle class background. They faced difficulties which a common man always faces in his life. Also they were connected with literature and so their thinking and background appears in their films. Even director with rich background like Raj Kapoor (he had keen eyes and mind to see life) gave attention to minor details and so his films made direct relationship with a common man.
But there is hope- we have some filmmakers (Shyam Benegal, RGV, Rajkumar Santoshi, Madhur Bhadarkar etc.) which come from middle class background and their films reflects this. So at the end, the director (irrespective of his background) should have eyes to see and analyze life and minor details which connect film and its characters to real life.
To jis director ne zindagi ko najdeeki se dekha ho wohi aisi baton par dhyan de sakta hai. Baaki stylish film banane waloki kahaan kami hai?
17 Responses to “MOVIES AND REAL LIFE”
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Bingo shailesh…. :-)
Very very good observations.
One thing i just need to add to your post that “Real” need not mean boring and deprresing
Take for example last year’s Khosla ka khosla. As real as you can get (I’ve stayed in delhi for 21 years and can vouch for the film’s rootedness)
and yet as entertaining as any other “unreal” commercial film.
ekdam true!
Khosla ka ghosla- in initial scene where Ranveer shourey is talking to his dad while tooth brush in his mouth- reflects our daily behaviour.
Ghatak- where amrishpuri scolds his son for situation of toilet and kitchen together- this is minor detail but connects ourselves to film and character.
Shailesh, Mary Antoniette is believed to have said something to the effect for French people ‘if they don’t have bread why don’t they eat cake’, Bollywood directors have a very distilled view of the reality.Take Shootout at Lokhandwala..Tushar Kapoor is introduced bashing goons at a showroom lined with state-of-the-art white goods-washing machines, microwaves et al. And the period they are talking of is between 1987-89, when in India,even in Mumbai there was hardly a store dedicated to these appliances. In fact the entire thing started after liberalisation circa 1991.And then Raybans being worn by Police officers around year 1990 is highly doubtable…You just feel like throwing your hands up as these people call themselves professionals.They just profess without any credentials.
good article, but shailesh.. you’re looking for logic in bollywood movies?? :)) that’s a no-no [-x
When they go abroad for a shooting.. they feel like they have got a license to show anything - something like: Scotland is in London, An English/Scottish castle in Chandni Chowk, etc.
ok sailesh ur r right when u say dt hindi film makers r not realistic enough.but enjoying a movie & analysing it r two things.even a movie dt u enjoy throughly will b shread 2 pieces once u start analysing them.
also i agree wid u dt our makers try 2 ape foriegn cinema.whos 2 blame.i want everybody 2 shout….US.
“After a long sleep, when you wake up- your eyes, hairs are changed for sometime. Your eyes get little smaller and anybody can say that you have wake up from sleep. But so called filmmakers have never given attention to these details. Their hero/heroines wake up with smiles, with fresh faces…..”
Some girls look their best when they wake up….:) even better than when they went to sleep. That I’m saying after observing in life & not watching Kimi Katkar waking up next to Tarzan….
**********
Last Film - The Painted Veil (7/10) ..Happy Striker?
Music - Thirty Spokes - Yohimbe Brothers
good job mainak :)
sadly, my last film watched: KANK (it was playing on sony).. why oh why didn’t i listen to my instincts?? ~X( ~X(
Based on a real life story that happened in the Lokhandwala area of Mumbai in 1991, making the film was no easy task for Lakhia.
MK…I think they got the name of the dance bars right.
True. So True. :)>-
I remember seeing this Indian comedian years back… he was doing impressions of what it would be like if certain stars sang popular songs… the best (still fresh in my mind) was Nana Patekar’s version of the song from Mohra:
“Subah se lekar shaam tak, shaam se lekar raat tak, raat se lekar subah tak aur subah se phir shaam tak tujhe pyar karoonga to office kaun tera baap jayega!”
:d
On a more serious note, its not just these details… if our filmmakers would analyze life better imagine the kinds of brilliant stories they could tell.. if they thought about the complicated issues people deal with in life, imagine the sensitivity, the psychology, the depths, the impact of their storytelling?
aue ke song hai
“tere paas aake mera waqt gujar jaata hai”
agar samne wala kahega “to kya mujhe timepass samaj rakha hai?”
Nice article and true. Life teaches allot. While writing a script the scriptwriter gets confused on how a character will react or what should happen next. He will go and watch a film on that genre and learn and copy things from that. If he was a good scriptwriter he would know the character well and make him react in the way the person should react. He can now this by interacting with different people, a bit of psychology, etc.
Movies show what happen in life. So learning from movies is also good.
Totally agree Justin John
writers who reach in position through lots of struggle, lose their sharpness and close to reality impression in their script after some years because they lose contact with real life and are surrounded by film fraternity.
Keeping in contact with real life can make their film close to reality. Public tranport (buses, trains) is good source to meet and anlyse different people
Shailesh, there are so many ways a writer or director could stay close to reality and the “common people” or “general public” if they so chose to. It could be as simple as taking some time out observing people at a bazaar, outside of an office, a cafeteria, a hospital, a college, a chai-stall, a dhaaba, or wherever you could find the right characters/setting relevant to your creation.
I can’t think of a better quote:
“Raj (Kapoor) was quite close to the people who worked in the dhabas and restaurants like Geeta Bhavan and Ranjit Caf