On the Fallacy of the New Wave: Multiplex Syndrome?
“I don’t like the sordid and I am not a part of the New Wave trend of today.”
– Satyajit Ray, as told to Marie Seton
Thus spake The Master. We are talking about it again. The latest ‘New Wave’, so talked about in this forum and elsewhere, has it all the makings of a Revolution – a widespread movement strong enough to take the status quo (the bromide of popular cinema) head-on?
The buzz started with films like Mixed Doubles, Being Cyrus, Page 3, Iqbal, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer, 15 Park Avenue et al doing decent business at the Box Office. Cinematic merit of most of the above mentioned films being unquestionable, the talk about this success taking the shape of a New Wave came up with the follow-up by Khosla ka Ghosla, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. and the recently released Bheja Fry.
Can we see a pattern here? I think we can:
a) All such films met with success almost EXCLUSIVELY in the metros/multiplexes
b) Almost all of these barring a few, address issues which only the urban elite can identify with or appreciate. Again, MULTIPLEXES.
What’s wrong with us? How does this crop of films differ in spirit to the garbage that the Bollywood conveyor belt produces with religious regularity? If the latter appeals to the escapist intincts of the masses, the former merely caters to the elitist snobbish intellectual craving of the urban snoot! Where’s the HUMANISM, dude? Where’s CINEMA?
You don’t need to be a Brahmin priest in early twentieth century rural Bengal to identify with Harihar in Pather Panchali. Nor did Do Bigha Zameen enjoy popularity only with the Rickshawwallahs or rural peasants! A story needs only be HUMAN in order to appeal to all. Any revolution or movement or wave or ripple in cinema cannot be worthwhile without being able to do that: APPEAL TO ALL. Rope in the masses. Don’t look down from your cozy ivory towers – climb down the stairs and look wround, for a change.
I am from Guwahati. Being Cyrus has not had a commercial theatrical release here. Same with friends from Dhuburi or Bardhaman or Bolpur or Aizawl. DDLJ/K2H2/K3G/KANK/Mohabbatein have run to packed houses in all these places. New Wave, huh? I look around and don’t see it. Don’ see it happenin’, mate!
Most of these lesser mortals know Anurag Kashyap only through allusions in TV channels or cable runs of gray market DVD prints of Black Friday. A pal of mine had the honor of working with the Art Direction team of Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi…- nobody else in the gang takes this as any different from the usual ‘WOW!’ of working in a masala Bollywood project – ‘Sudhir Mishra, who?’ they say.
Silver lining? Both RDB & Black were hits here too. RDB is no Rashomon. Black (Miracle Worker xeroxed to perfection) is no Bicycle Thieves. Agreed. But shed the Puritan Goggles and and we’ll see they are the very essential early steps towards the True New Wave which is EONS away. PHASE OUT the crap, don’t make them DROWN in the Wave! And then maybe, just maybe, one day me and my friends, sitting next to oz, would be watching those shorts which would be running to a ‘packed house’ suburban theater in Guwahati or any other small city/town in India. Amen.
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
=d> Bravo!
and welcome aboard… what a start!
Well said man. This is why the cinema of Hrishida lives on, because even today we can still relate to it.
I often wonder why there isn’t just one Indian film-maker out there who can come up with a Namak Haraam or a Chupke Chupke. And I don’t mean remakes, but big, mainstream commercial films with heart, soul, that simple magic that everyone can’t help but be touched by.
I know I plug these films to death but this is why I loved Khosla Ka Ghosla and Iqbal so much. Simple films about real people and their issues. I’d just love to see them done on a more mainstream level (ala Munnabhai)…
sure this sure sounds every bit like the ’superficial’ NEW WAVE.
but if you put the term in context (of only bollywood), one can call this a NEW WAVE, however watered down a version it might be.
very well put amborish..and warm welcome to PFC =d>
DDLJ was brought in a new wave when it did, Maine Pyar kiya brought in a new wave when it did, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun did the same, so did Kuch Kuch Hota Hain…but for some reason in the past 4-5 years we have started associating new wave with lesser budget movies…why? donno? Sympathy?…maybe.
At IFFLA saw some very good movies and some not so very good movies….one thing i realised is….all the talk of pick up the camera and start shooting will bring mediocrity….coz not anyone and everyone can make a movie….
@ Tony…. i think Chandan Arora did that with Main Madhuri Dixit banna Chahti hoon and Main meri patni aur Woh…
@OM… new wave in its original sense (or in whatever sense) does not in any way equate to the success of the biggest blockbuster bhai.
@Dpac…tho what is this new wave? To me if anyone is bringing in something different..its a ripple..and when a collection of these guys do it in a period of time..its a wave…commercial success or no commercial success….lets discuss..this is interesting…
i find most of these so called cross over films pretensious and tho i am pretty urban bred high thinkin individual i still cant realte to them… so i really wonder who are these ppl who turn out at the multiplexes and make these films supposedly box office hits
@OM
yeah sure, a collection of ’something different’ released in proximity over a period of time can be called ‘the new wave’.
but the works u mentioned MPK/DDLJ/KKHH/HAHK can hardly be termed different bhai. wahi khisa pita formula with a freshness does not validate a ‘different’ tag.
about all these multiplex centric movies with urbane themes, my take was that since they are somewhat a new phenomenon in india(them making the money back and having an audience) , one could call it a new wave.
frankly speaking its really a bit too premature to term anything as ‘new wave’. mebe in another 5-10 years we will know.
Thanks for the warm welcome guys…:)
@DPac, I still maintain that ‘these multiplex centric movies with urbane themes’ DO NOT constitute the New Wave. If we talk about formulae, these products have their own ones. Keep watching a few of these back to back and you’ll get the picture. Only difference maybe that Bollywood formula is crude & childish, while Crossover formula is a bit sophisticated. Tear the veil of pretentiousness and they are the same. Ghisa pita sara hua formula.
Amborish, welcome!!
N now few points…dont agree with u completly. khosla ka ghosla,iqbal n page 3 can work anywhere. Like rdb n munnabhai. For these films there is no rural-urban divide. no single screen-multiplex divide. but if the films r not getting proper release in some places then u cant blame the filmmakers for this. i also belong to a small town n from a state(jharkhand) whose geographical location most filmy guys dont know.
but its not the same case with other films. n there is nothing wrong in it. society, lifestyle, social norms, moral values…everything is changing. n some films r tackling these new themes. they r new wave for that reason also. a film like mixed doubles tackes a subject becuz now its happening.now people in big cities can relate to that. if i tell my parents about partner-swapping they would not belive me at any cost. same way, 5-10 years ago there was nothing called “page 3″ in indian newspapers.
the urban-rural divide n other things now exist n its becoming bigger n bigger.many films r tackling these nwe subjects. thats also one reason why they r new wave. also bcz in last few years,producers wwith big money n bigger stars were doing dadagiri. now films with smaller budget n good content can crack it bcz of teh multiplex. thats a good thing.
N as far as 15 park avenue n mr n mrs iyer r concerned, u cant put them here. rite from her days of 36 chowringhee lane n paroma, aparna’s “sen”sensibilites hav always been different. the good thing is that her films can also make good profits now.
when do bigha zameen aur pather panchali released that time the divide wasnt that big.m not saying that the films werent great. but there were many reasons too.
@ Om…. Chandan Arora has made some good films but they didn’t really acheive mainstream success… and that’s how you’re going to create a wave… see a “wave” doesn’t exsist on the outskirts… it takes over the entire flow of the water… and to do that, you need to have mainstream appeal…
I think the one thing that hasn’t yet been defined or agreed upon is what kind of cinema are we looking for in this new wave? I mean, its clear what we don’t want to see much of any longer…formula films or superficial emotions… I’d throw in “lifestyles of the rich and famous” in there as well…
Personally I agree with Amborish that films like Mixed Doubles, Being Cyrus, Page 3, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer, 15 Park Avenue are indeed made for a limited, urban, elite audience. My family in the small towns and villages couldn’t sit through 5 minutes of any of these films.
The exceptions are films like Iqbal and KKG and the like because they’re appeal is not limited by metro-centric themes/settings.
But again, you still can’t call these films the norm because the majority of audiences still don’t look at these films in the same light as they would say a “Bunty Aur Babli” or even “Vivah”.
This takes me back to my original argument, and why the balances of films like those made by Hrishida and Gulzar-saab need to emulated today.
Films like Chupke Chupke, Anand, Namak Haram, Satyakam, Khoobsoorat, Milli, Abhimaan, Bawarchi and others had huge stars the likes of Dharmendra, Rekha, Rajesh Khanna, Jaya and Amitabh’s stature.
Gulzar made some brilliant films like Mere Apne, Khushboo, Kinara, Parichay and Angoor with stars like Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Jaya Badhuri and of course the versatile Sanjeev Kumar.
What we need are big films that can bring in all kinds of audiences which people like us and others can proudly call a “great film”.
THAT’s a new wave.
Right about now the closest we’ve come is the “Munnabhai” series…
Amborish…. Welcome to PFC.
Liked your article. Liked that you are pissed off. We need more such energy
BTW what are you doing in Gauhati? I was born in Maligaon. We have a house in Rehabadi I think. I have lived in Bongaigaon also.
Phoenix
I think most of us know where Shibu Soren comes from. So don’t sulk. And please lets stop worshipping Aparna Sen. She is not a good film maker anymore. She has lost it. Mr & Mrs IYER was the worst piece of crap ever made. Rahul Bose cannot act to save his life. And the film was way over the top. Just because it was made by Aparna Sen & it had a bengali girl doing tamil accent, just because it had the poster boy of indian english films(even though he is worse than most bollywood superstars) it was praised by everyone. It even got a fuckin national award. This is when i get irritated when bad over the top are taken as pieces of high art. Its just that people wanna feel intellectual by associating themselves with these films.
Remember the montage of newspaper articles in IYER? man that movie pisses me off. I should stop.
Any new wave movement is usually associated with the torch bearers. Offcourse within a span of time, it dies out because of the addition of members who in the name of new wave dilutes the essence of it. This new wave will also die its natural death like the art movement of 70s in India or French New Wave (when they reviewed JAWS in Cahier Du Cinema).
However, new wave is not meant to be ever lasting. If it lasts, then it will become conservative. New wave is a fresh of breath air that comes to re focus or re position your way of view.
@amborish
really? i havent seen all the movies you have mentioned. and i dont think some of them like page 3 even belong in that category. but apart from the fact that they are made to cater for a certain section of society, i dont see any ‘formula’ here bhai. pretentious maybe, but no formula there !!
and i guess you are talking about new wave in the original french sense of the term, well then theres hardly any ‘wave’ happening anywhere in india today, just some trickles here and there.
@DPac, hold that thought for a moment….isn’t the very fact that they are made for a certain section of the society (almost always the same section), a formula on its own? Refer to the ‘patterns’ that I have observed in my article. Opinions on them are entirely my own, but in retrospect, don’t they ring true?
I disagree.
I am all for the new wave cinema because I enjoy it. I found Honeymoon travels pvt. ltd inspite of its flaws more entertaining and workable as a love story than either DDLJ or KKHH.
Similarly I was reasonably amused by Khosla ka Ghosla and I am raring to see Bheja Fry. Give me these movies anyday to a Dhoom or a Black (which I found to be pretentiouus, over the top and a very loud movie).
More Power to this new age cinema.
Mainak, thnak god u know shibu soren as well. what i meant was the general view of things. everytime i say i belong to a place called dhanbad, almost 99% people in bombay have no clue. n guess what, the intelluctual khan once asked here is jamshedpur!!! neway my point is u cant blame the filmmakers for bad cinema halls or bad distribution in these places.
@Mainak, thanks for welcoming me. I stay in Srinagar Path (G.S. Road).
Well if you have been in these parts then the points that I have made would have definitely occured to you. I beleive I speak for a lot of people when I say the films pointed out as comprising the Wave fails to appeal to a large section of the audience, not because they don’t appreciate good cinema, but because the soul is lost somewhere…they talk about the same set of people facing the same old problems…urban midlife crisis (with the possible exception of an ‘Iqbal’ here and there, but that is the norm of the majority of the pack). Do please note that I am not playing down the efforts of the indie directors to experiment and strive to tell their stories the way they want to…but their brand of cinema, to me, hardly has the potential to turn the tide.
Mainak, n about aprana sen what i said that u cant put her ointo new wave now. the wave that amborish has written about. strating from her first film its new wave only…good,bad or ugly.
@Tony, couldn’t agree more…we need more filmmakers like Hrishida/Gulzar who touched the chord across social/economic barriers. They entertained all of us…they avoided both the extremes…neither titiliated nor sneered…that’s why Golmaal enjoys a good viwership even today when it’s shown in TV channels….
@Phoenix, my friend, the urban-rural divide has always been there…and in all probability WILL be there for quite some time! But what most of these ‘revolutionary’ films are doing is REINFORCING the divide, though unintentionally….they hardly ever talk about the REAL India…the teeming millions who still grope in the dark…these filmmakers never see a story in millions of people crossing the border every year and making the lives of the pre-existing populace miserable…the story of ‘Shoot-out at Nandigram’ will never be told…or the atrocities faced by people in the hands of the army in militant-inflicted areas…because these stories are not as ‘happening’ as partner-swapping or the flesh trade or page 3 people…
I don’t think it’s true that the filmmaker can’t be blamed for his/her films being shown ONLY in the multiplexes: most of the current indie/noir/crossover crop are made KEEPING the multiplex crowd in mind….
oz, your take on this?
And what about the guy who introduced us to the New Wave? Anurag, I’d be honored to have your say on what I had to say….
Amborish, shootout at nandigram will be made for sure. of course if u count bengali films as part of ur new wave. dont think hindi films will do it. n dont knwo if u r into bengali films or not. but they have made very good films on every possibel issue..bengal partition to naxalism to communism. n m sure somebody will do nandigrama also.
(12)=Mainak [Mr & Mrs IYER was the worst piece of crap ever made].
OMG, Sorry to intrude and sorry to be so direct, but unable to stop after reading such cynical views about this film! After all you have published your views in public so your views deserve others views on your views.
You are sure with such views and understanding about films like Mr and Mrs Aiyer you can undersrtand other films?
Please take this film with you and show to any troubled society anywhere in the world and see their reaction. Please go to Pallestine, Serbia, or catch some Jewiesh family whose ancestors faced German dictator’s oppressive cynical attitude. The film which has universal appeal , you find it worst piece of crap!!!
You may like or dislike a film depending on your understanding, background and mind set up at that time but such views!
What was crap in it, story, acting, camera work, BMG, Scene distribution or editing or the impact which film carries?
Its terrific. and you claim to have passion for cinema.
Have you seen anywhere a man who is not mainly an actor but a writer can give such performance as Late Bhishma Sahni gave in small role?
Or when some one Big from Hollywood or world cinema or those who in your opinion can have terrific knowledge of classy cinema will praise M&Mi; Then it will become a good film?
Sorry but you should think to stop watching atleast Indian films.
Very disappointed to read such views:(
Again applologies for countering your views but as mentioned earlier you described them in public so..
RK, thnx for replying. I was wondering what to reply. :-?:-?
@amborish
bhai mere, catering to a section of society does not mean a formula in itself. we can digress to a discussion on socio-economic fabric of current india here.
its a glaring fact that urban india and rural india are polar opposites. such opposites are not limited to region here. it extends to languages, economic status/power etc etc.
you dont necessarily need that ONE movie which the whole of india is gonna cherish/like. there can be n number of themes/stories. some may be have a target audience beforehand , some may not.
the bollywood masala flicks worked around that ‘one theme pleases all ‘ theme forever during the last 2 decades. its refreshing that different themes are being expored.
new wave or not…
@DPac, I think we agree but are arguing aimlessly. The question is not only what’s formula and what’s not…the question is also not whther a ‘one-size-fits-all’ film should be made. Issue at hand is the possibility to bring about sweeping changes in cinema so that the Great Bollywood No-brainer can be effectively countered; all I wanna say is, all these movies discussed here are great films – no doubt about that – but why should they be restricted to the multiplex crowd or urbane easy-chair themes? Urban and rural India have always been polar opposites, true, but this is more like METRO/LARGER CITIES VS. REST OF INDIA DIVIDE. There have been films like Yuva/Satya/RDB which have come out of the comfort zone and taken some REAL issues head-on….at the same time they have reached and liked by all strata of society. My point is, films like THESE should be encouraged and better and realistic themes should be presented to the audience in such a way that all and sundry can grab it as well as IDENTIFY with it, and gradually moving on to better and more meaningful cinema. As I said, PHASE OUT THE CRAP…
@Phoenix, those days are over. I mean, yes, Bengali films have dealt with almost ANY topic under the sun: Partition (Subarnarekha), Unemployment (Jana-Aranya), Famine (Ashani Sanket), Communism/socialism (Pratidwandi, Shunya theke Shuru), Moral disintegration of urban society (Nayak, Mahanagar), and even inanimate objects like the automobile (Ajantrik) or the telephone (Antareen)…but my friend, all these films & others on these topics were made long long ago. Today all we have is Mr. Prosenjit, Shosurbari Zindabad, MLA Fatakeshto and Rituparno Ghosh and his odes to hypocrisy…take my word for it: a film on nandigram won’t EVER be made, least of all in Bengal!
“Or when some one Big from Hollywood or world cinema or those who in your opinion can have terrific knowledge of classy cinema will praise M&Mi; Then it will become a good film?”
RK…let me say that I have met only 2 people so far who felt the same way about that film. A lot of people whose taste in films i respect have liked that movie. But thats not gonna change how I felt. Sorry to dissapoint you but i’m not one of those. You don’t have to take it so personally man. Aparna Sen has the right subjects & intent when she embarks on making her films. But it just turns out verbose, pretentious & fake. Infact after her last film a lot of people agreed with me.
“Please take this film with you and show to any troubled society anywhere in the world and see their reaction. Please go to Pallestine, Serbia, or catch some Jewiesh family whose ancestors faced German dictator
well said amborish!!!
but wht we seem to be missing out over here is the fact tht the new wave cinema that we are
referring to over here is not intentional or its
not tht these so call indie dirctors wish to make
these kind of movies for an elite or selct audience….
It also depends on the distributors releasing these movies who ultimately release these kind of movies on a very small scale and in multiplexes becoz these so called distributors despite releasing these movies are not so confident about these movies that they will work on a large scale…
Its due to this indifference shown to such movies that they end up becoming multiplex movies or movies made for leite audiences…
At times you cannot even blame the film makers or distributors as even the audience has an equal part in sharing the blame…
Even the audience in todays times and age prefers so called sugar coated romantic movies and wahi ghisa pita hua formula compared to these smart movies made by these talented indie film makers…
Its the audience which also proactively needs to patronise such movies…
Until then be it these smart and intelligent movies or wahi ghisa pita formula
new wave cinema wont matter until the audience comes of age………..
@ mudassir, audience won’t mature on its own…in every society that onus is always on the artists…the creators…in this case, the film-makers. The fact that today’s audience is not grown-up enough is on the account of a certain breed of film makers – a whole generation – who have steadily drugged the gullible crowd with heavy doses of the nachagana-escapism stuff…now it is on the fresh blood in the trade to reverse the process.
@amborish
my argument if any was at the underlying ‘phase out the crap’ theme of the post mate.
ideally bakwaas bhi chahiye and acha bhi chahiye, aur ache movies bakwaas se zyaada chahiye, wrt movies.
at this time bakwaaas zyaada hai
no phasing out needed…
Mainak:
You have been pointing out with great labour during last days that bytes should not be wasted on PFC and yet your long comment(27) does not justify how you find M&MI, as “worst piece of crap ever made” and neither does it justify your views in previous long comment(12).
Pls read both your comments and think what is justified and rest I leave on your conscience.
If tomorrow Aparna Sen visits PFC then she wont be pissed off by seeing only blind thoughts with no rationalisation, she will found contrary views also. Who knows who writes on PFC in future?
Sorry I tried to suggest you to stop watching only Indian films. Alas I should have known your views about cinema (comment 27) earlier then I would have suggested you to stop any kind of cinema ;)
Please suggest any film ever made in the world which is not pretentious or fake?
What do you think films you have liked in past, are not pretentious. Actors are not acting there?Its a real world? You are not watching a fake world created through the eyes of lense?
Its a relative world. Every film can be “over the top” for many.
Chalte Chalte, your 27th comment could have been your comment 12th and then most probably I was not required to write. Oppoosition to your writing which might have taken not more than five minute, generated something inside you so you perhaps can understand what can be generated inside those who have put hard work in creating something.
There are ways to point out weaknesses in a product than to simply dumping it in garbage!
There are always possibilities that you(general you) could miss the point.
So I should not write my views in fear of Aparna Sen reading them one day? I wouldn’t have used my real name if it was the case like a lot of people here.
I have a lot to say, but I wont get into a pissing contest on a public forum & waste bytes here as you have reminded me. Besides I have respect for your work on PFC which stops me from doing that. And thats the very reason I don’t understand why you of all the people will not be open to other people’s opinion. I like a lot of movies & if you say they are piece of crap I would befine with that. Thats what makes the world so interesting. Because you write so pasionately about those hindi films most people don’t even know off, because I say the most admired film of india in last 5 years is not a good film. Thats what makes PFC interesting.
Don’t worry about Aparna Sen getting hurt by reading my stupid comments. She is much bigger than U & me. Besides once your film is out in the public, you should be open to any kind of critique.
cheers
Hi Mainak:
(12)=Mainak [Mr & Mrs IYER was the worst piece of crap ever made]. – No mention in your opinion its worst film ever made. no mention why its worst. No mention, its worst film among Aparna Sen’s films. It gives clue its worst film every made by anyone. so worst in the world.
(27)=Mainak [My problem with the film is mainly acting. The dialogues are obvious. Its over the top in a subtle & smart way. A reason people can
Lets just agree to disagree man!
I dont wanna fight with someone whose work i like.
I will write a detailed review of M&MsI sometime later. I will watch it again. maybe I will love it this time.
amborish i agree every bit with what ur saying but in todays times…….
The onus not only lies on the artists and film makers but also on the movie going audience who can patronise well amde movies…
This is quite evident with the type of movies that end up being successful at times…..
salaam namaste,dhoom 2,kkkg,kank,veer zaara etc…
how can we continue to patronise such f*****g crap all the time when obviously there are many sensible movies that have been made over the past few yrs…
i accept that over the years our audience has been spoiled becoz of the type of movies that our indian filmmakers have been making over the years but the change is only possible if we as film going audiences decide not to patronise or accept the crap that is thrown at us by these so called film makers who claim to have attempted something different everytime they make a movie but in reality is the same old stuff rehashed over and over again….
Some of the sensible movies that have been made over the past few yrs are rejected by the same audience who prefer popcorn fare to these well made movies….
I mean wht sort of brains does this audience have tht they enjoy the movies made by these so called chopras,johars sippys and so on and so forth???
hazaaron khwaishein aisi,mmdbch by chandan arora and also main meri patni aur woh made by him,mixed doubles,kkg,bheja fry,dor,iqbal,black friday and the list goes on…
these are movies that cannot be understood by our audiences….there have been many such examples of movies over the past few yrs which have been really well made but still our audience gets a joy out of dissing such movies….THAT IS SOMETHING I REALLY HATE WHEN SUCH MOVIES ARE REJECTED….
Obviously even the filmmakers have an equal part in making the audience immune to the kind of crap which is being churned out even today…
But it is upon the audiences to ensure that atleast they try and accept the hard work put in by these talented film makers in churning out these so called precious gems even if they are coming out on a small scale…
Hope you get my point amborish….
Pls revert back if you disagree!!!
@mudassir, I don’t think we can blame the audience..to quote Sudhir Mishra in one of his posts here in PFC, “…I seriously think the audience today is very talented. And the audience is more talented than the film maker.” (http://passionforcinema.com/generation-now-cannes-and-cash/)….as I said, the gullible crowd has been drugged to numbness. Insensitivity to what constitutes art. But they can still tell honest efforts to pretentiousness. I strongly beleive TRUE CINEMA is something that’ll revolutionalise their film-viewing experience and bring back the audience of yore who made Golmaal and Pather Panchali box office successes…
I think you maybe right amborish on those lines where the audience can make out between crap and TRUE CINEMA but i still feel tht the audience needs to make more attempts to patronise TRUE CINEMA becoz this will only encourage more and more budding film makers or people like us who dream of making movies(do u????)and give these type of film makers the impetus to breka barriers and formulas that have been stereotyped in our cinema and will allow them to make movies that for once do not insult the intelligence of the audience and thus can we get cinema which not only has the capacity of entertaining us but at the same time can put us on a reality check….
Hope u understand my POV…..
Awaiting ur reply…
@mudassir, you can’t leave them in the dark just because you or I think they don’t “patronise” the kind of cinema that we want them to see…there’s the problem of syntax/grammar too….you can’t really make the shop-keeper living across the street from your place read and appreciate Freud or Kafka just because you think he SHOULD choose them over the kind of pulp mags he may be accustomed to….if we want the ‘layman’ audience to appreciate good/meaningful cinema, we need to present it in a format friendlier to him (and more intelligible)….Is that possible? People have done that earlier and been successful to an extent. Check out my other article on one such luminary: http://passionforcinema.com/the-maverick-ritwik-ghatak/
Thnx for quoting tht example amby…
I do get ur point over here tht obviously the layman will not understand a freud or kafka but even then wht happens is tht there are some filmmakers who attempt to present intelligent cinema within the confines of the masala format which entertains them as well will force them to think….
But even when some of these so clled films are made the audience at times tend to reject these movies…
Still i think as u quoted the filmmakers will need to keep trying…
I did get ur point over here hope u could understand as to wht i meant to say…
u knw there are virtually some movies which could have got a better response but fail to garner the attention of the audience and tht is wht ticks me off….To think of the hard work which goes into making a movie…i think u can understand the tribulations the filmmakers go thru….
I hope u got my POV as a person who would love to see the movies that i wnt to see succeeding with the filmgoing audience and they can learn atleast to give the new breed of filmmakers a chance or a glimpse of hope to continue attempting the kind of movies that are required to take indian cinema to a new level altogether….
Hope u understand….
Have enjoyed this discussion with u amborish…