Praise or be damned
Print
MUMBAI: On Wednesday afternoon, critic Udita Jhunjhunwala, was missing from the press screening of Himesh Reshammiya’s Radio. She did not go to the next day’s show of Paa either. The last review she did for DNA, the daily newspaper, was for Kurbaan.
This is not to suggest that the less-than-enthusiastic review of Kurbaan had anything to do with the exit of Udita from DNA. The reasons can only be explained by the newspaper.The upright, well-reasoned Udita has in the last seven years I have known her done her job with more than diligence. Before that she was with Hindustan Times and earlier at Mid-Day where she first made her mark as a forthright reviewer.
Last week,she had phoned up the DNA desk to inform them of the number of reviews she would be mailing in. She was merely told her that her services were no longer needed. In her place Taran Adarsh would be doing the Hindi film reviews, presumably because he also does the TV shows for ETC channel, a subsidiary of Zee which has major stakes in the DNA newspaper.
Normally in another part of the world, a critic’s cavalier axing would send up a chorus of protest, as much from his or her colleagues as from the readers. Case in point: Pauline Kael’s sack from McCall’s because of her negative review of The Sound of Music. Alas, such incidents are not considered worth remarking upon in our stratosphere. Neither is there a semblance of solidarity among the film reviewing community. Whenever any of us have been ‘attacked’ in print or in other media by the film fraternity, a murmur goes up that we should band together and protest. Sadly, it remains at that level – a mumur.
Praise me or else..
It wasn’t always like this though. In the past, the Press Council would issue a statement of tripping up on the job to the editor who had published the ‘attack’ without giving the offending journalist or review the right to an equal reply. Times of India’s M J Pandey, particularly vocal about press rights, would ensure that the film nawabs did not get away with their offensive tactics of “You had better praise me..or else..”
Times (no pun intended) have changed. Today almost if not every newspaper group worships Bollywood as a deity. Stars were once needed to show up at the Filmfare Awards function, now they are needed to show up at a dozen more functions. They are needed to inaugurate fresh editions, websites, sister and brother publications, pop up on television interviews ( a week or few days before a film’s release), and in fact, become ‘mascots’ or columnists for the entertainment supplements.
If I say this it’s because I’ve experienced it first-hand, the most dismal evening in my life being when the marketing department told me that in return for a dinner date at a certain restaurant with a star or even a starlet – and a complimentary write-up – they would be given free coupons to entertain their clients. Nothing could be more demeaning.
Mutual understanding
The plug-plug-plug-or-be-damned trend has risen to dizzying heights – of course — because a story about a film or any product for that matter, can be purchased for a price. There are also whispers that a film production corporate has an understanding with a newspaper that its films should never get less than three stars. In return, their premium ads go to the paper. Such ‘understandings’ have become so impenetrable that it is also difficult to believe that some films were to be denied any advance publicity unless they had purchased space. Jaise ko taisa mila?
In the event, film reviews are not film reviews. They are rain-machines, pouring “the most powerful” stars on movies that are forgotten even before The End comes on the screen.
No distinction is made any more between a review critiquing the content and style of a film, and a review written from the point of view of its trade potential.
Trade soothsayers are all over the place, the only trouble is that their predictions are more often than not off the mark. Such generous souls assign a bevy of stars to 95 per cent of the films released in a year. And averagely, 90 per cent of the films flop. So go figure! Lagaan and Border are just two of the films which were thumbed down by a soothsayer, dire doom was predicted.
Get emotional
That’s human. Conceded. But how about admitting one’s errors of judgement instead of playing tinpot god? As for the ‘non-trade reviews’ – for a want of a better expression – it is still to be understood that they concern the ‘quality’ (aesthetic, emotional and more) of a film. They do NOT hinge on box-office wins and losses.
Today, the attempt (and a successful one, too) is to control and lead on the reviewers. Trade, non-trade, whatever. Indeed, there could be more names on the chopping block of reviewers at this very moment. Just an angry phone call from a producer, director or star to an editor, complaining about the treatment received by his film, is enough to set off an earthquake in the hallowed portals of a media office. Repeatedly the reviewer is chastened:Tone the review down if you can’t praise it, and if that’s not done, thank you, someone else will edit it for you. Have a nice day.
Fortuitously, I have narrowly escaped this stonewall-the-reviewer era. Or else, every week there would have been a face-off with the authorities – read management and marketing sub-divison. There were plenty of unpleasant incidents for sure (that’s another story, guys). Thank the lord, on my side, during flare-ups I had immediate superiors who believed in integrity and free thought.
The last one
Among them for sure, I would always doff my hat to U S Rau and K Kittu, news editors at The Times of India and Evening News respectively. Plus there was also the ideal role-model Bikram Singh who had quietly told me, “Always write your review as the last one..if you’re afraid of the consequences, don’t get into this.” So, I knew it was time to pack up when I was told to be “good” to Raveena Tandon in the review of Daman. She had won a National Award for it, we had to be supportive of this. I didn’t comment on her performance, a silent protest maybe but it suited everyone’s purpose, I had been effectively silenced.
Incidentally, back in the mid-1970s Bikram Singh’s reviews had so upset the film industry that all movie ads were banned in the TOI for months. The management did not say a negative word to him. He was surprised, they even smiled extra-wide at him in the elevator. Naturally there was a hidden story to this. Filmwallas, in general, did not pay up the money for the ads in time, and some did not pay up at all. Plus, the space left vacant by the film ads, could be used for ads which garnered not only more revenue but punctual payment. Film ads, then, not necessary.
Bikram Singh could be a tough cookie. God bless him, he was. I was a rookie but I accompanied him to the patch-up meeting between the Times of India and the film industry represented by Gulshan Rai. Over tea at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Gulshan Rai laughed, “Bikram, you win..now at least have a pastry with your tea. Your people are paying for it. I’m not.”
When watchdogs bark
I rewind to the past to point out that there are neither unbending Bikram Singhs nor flexible Gulshan Rai on the scene any more. The Bollywood biggies appear to have won the new millennium round – only for the time being I hope. B-towners are loved and adored by the nation, the world. So who the hell are these watchdogs? If they bark, just send a complaint to his kennel.
Reviewers, or most of them, love the movies. It’s a beat they have elected and stuck to. Yet does love have to be blind? Nope, nope, nope.
Individual opinion – whether in agreement or dissent – is the bedrock of democracy they say. Bollywood bosses don’t think so, they rant not only against reviewers but also against those who dare to raise any kind of question. They speak to 200 mediapersons when they want publicity, and curse them for the rest of the year.
No solidarity
Journalists endure this. And this is primarly because there is no solidarity. One is waiting for the other to trip, and fall. Ha ha ha. That is the reason why no one says half a word when Udita Jhunjunwala is told that her reviews are no longer needed. She will get a better platform, her word won’t be erased.
Such a moment has happened to her, it could and will happen to others of our ilk tomorrow.
And when it does, no one will be there to even say, hey, what the eff, you’re better off,now you can do so many other things that you’ve always wanted to.
No one will be there. Because the show..aah..must go on.
Tags: Censorship, DNA, Media, Mid-day, Press, radio
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Rahul Dholakia
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Varma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Sachin Kundalkar
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Sir, quite seriously asking you, is this the reason K3G got a 5 star rating from your side… asking this question more or less on being totally frank honest, more like a general talk, out with it and forget it kinds… than an intriguing question, but quite seriously what made you feel K3G was a 5 star worth movie, if not for what you have mentioned above… or would you prefer to not comment and I can can just read between the lines?
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I don’t see an end or a resolution to this. The press in the west too is more or less going down. Layoffs, financial pressure etc. etc. It’s the bloggers, indie websites and an amalgamation of public or community, amateur or professional reviewers that are providing a spontaneous what they see is what you read kind of reviews.
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not trying to shift the focus away from the main point, but this is one of the main reasons why I am looking forward for Rann from RGV… along a this post I have mentioned I guess quite a lot of times about the yellow journalism and how media standards seem to be stooping at an all time low, and why they are important.. the same as AB’s dialogue in the promos… this kind of reviews seem to be happening across all forms of journalism… be it political/Bollywood affiliations or TRP raising activities… the sadest part being the way media behaves today is more or less the lines that PBDHH had shown in most part of the movie and it was panned all the way (it wasn’t greatly made as well) …. guess we might never know RGV’s Rann is going to get its fair share from the media again …
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it still remains mystery!!…five star for K3G..it’s like solving mystery of Bermuda triangle..
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Why give so much importance to “one” single person’s subjective analysis? He gave 5 stars and he gave 5 stars that’s it! It didn’t change the fate of the movie in anyway I presume. KM rating K3G high has been forced to become legendary now much like Salman Khan pulping Manoj Bajapayee in 1998 Filmfare Awards (Ratnakar Sadasyula will elaborate better
). What I mean is it is insignificant. Here we are giving importance to KM’s status and not his opinion/rating. If it were any other bloke would we have questioned? Also we thinking that he “might” have been influenced by ToI’s close association with the Johars is only in retrospect. It could very well have one single guy’s opinion! We all didn’t like it and we should very well bury it. It is one mechanical rating, that’s all.
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…………….. asli pyar to inka OMKARA, NO SMOKING, KAMINEY, HAASIL PE AAYA THA :witsend:
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If I remember correctly and I hope I do, Khalid had explained the 5 stars he gave to K3G. He had written that the movie deserved 3 stars, he gave 1 additional star to Karan Johar for “balancing” all the mega-actor-stars in the movie and giving each one of them their deserved footage and 1 star for something else like that – which I don’t quite remember now.
Does anybody have Khalid’s review uploaded on any website ?
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I have been puzzled by his shredding of Dil Se. a unique story with Manisha and SRK doing a really good job .
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Very interesting anecdotes of the 70s. I think paid reviews in front end what remains of it, print media, is here to stay.
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Once again you hit nail in the center. Taran Adarsh reviews on DNA!!!I read his weekly reviews on Bollywood Hungama and IE… good but lack critic contents.By reading you can figure out his writing style praise B-towners even whey they don’t deserve..
Rajan
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PS. I understand your rant..it is typical of those who miss the wood for the trees. At this very moment, reviews are being sort to be ’standardised’ by the media barons..if you do not get that by”reading between or even in the lines”, then I am sorry…you win. Do enjoy what you choose to read..unless of course, you are a PR for RGV. What Rann has to do with the subject at hand I don’t understand at all. Why don’t u go travel back in time as u have in the case of K3G and read the review of Satya also..regards…
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Khalid sir… trust me it wasn’t a rant..I quite honestly wanted to know if the review was a personally felt one or something you had to write…. and thats exactly why I was trying to write things like “not trying to intrguing” which I realise might have completely missed the mark…
If you go back on your posts at PFC sir, I think I ve made my thoughts on a reviewer and his job being seperate on quite a few occassions…. I remember Satya and K3G, what was mentioned about Satya was more on the lines of what I felt as well, on K3G I remember the opening line which spoke of the landscapes in green and 2 brothers sitting and talking… I somehow felt I missed the same connection that you were able to make….
With Regards to Rann, or RGV… (would love to be his PR, itna toh abhi mere fate mei nahi hai) … but scandalising news or having one sided reviews have been in media and papers for a while now…. and my question was always with the fraternity than individuals which includes people sensationalising news and others who stayed mum while this was going on… more or less sports and cinema became an easy way of news reporting… it was like the pattern I could see when post match Fixing Azhar was suddenly a man who could never do anything right, or for a long time the KJ could do nothing wrong… news facts were never reported in the other light at all…. somewhere news channels have been more or less imparting their views and information than just passing the thoughts and allowing audience to frame their own views… I don’t know if the K3G question irked you… but quite honestly whenever you get possibly feel some more at home-ish… I’d definately like to know of your views on the movie similar to how a lot of other folks share their views about the movies they liked and why they find their liking in it…
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arre saab, now you make me re read my response… chalo to add another 2 words that i hope conveys the meaning.. ki sometime (of course right now is no longer an option) if I ever get to talk to you generally and casually (the 2 words) about the movie… with no intentions of finger pointing and dismissing ideas, discuss the merits you could see in the movie… it would be great…
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Now I understand the meaning of “Sau chuhe khake billi chali haj”
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awesome Ramesh!
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brilliant! this was such an hypocritical piece to read.
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why?
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how about http://www.aslibaat.com/dil-bole-hadippa.html for starters?
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maybe you can look up http://www.hindustantimes.com/cinema-news/reviews/Review-Rab-ne-Bana-di-Jodi/Article1-357621.aspx after the earlier one. while i haven’t seen DBH, RNBDJ was absolutely cringe worthy.
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Unfair critism!!!
I liked “Rab ne…”, crores others also liked this movie and that is the reason why the movie is such a big success.
One can still say that this film is cringe worthy because everyone has his own opinion, you have your opinion, others (including Khalid) have their own opinion.
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so why have a problem with a taran adarsh liking a de dana dan? By this logic, since DDD is a hit and TA should be entitled to his opinion, leave him alone. don’t adopt a different yardstick for different folks.
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The problem is not the opinion but the glaring inconsistency in it… because these reviews don’t look like honest…just imagine…if Khalid can like films like DBH, K3G & RNBDJ…how did he passionately bash some other movies like kurbaan, blue, tum mile or London Dreams?
…millions of people liked RNBDJ but I think those so called “masses” would have liked the other films trashed by Khalid…KM definitely share the same taste with the “masses” and hence these reviews raise suspicion…
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sorry typo…i meant to say KM definitely DOES NOT share the same taste with the “masses”
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any opinion on the issue addressed in here. Would love to hear it.
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unfortunately my views again would go on a general terms… its been happening for a while with the media… all raising toast to the one who’s up there, or the TRP race… and unfortunately again, the “his troubles his miseries will fall on my head if I support him” is part of our whole system in the country …. including the junta janardhan, who might have the same problem of maybe a stinking garbage next to their house, or feeling insecure about a woman being out real late in the night, but would do nothing if the neighbour has the same issue…. again… unfortunately I thought media can play a role in shaping a better thought process in society by constant constructive programs or articles and or drives and kinds, but reading this article made me re realise, media is made up of people from society as well, who would still not come up together to fight common insecurities but would prefer to see the other one go away cuz they are reasonably insecure about leaving their current status/position/value…
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I agree with you. I feel that KM is out in the cold now so there’s not much to lose writing this article which by the way I totally believe is what happens.
Had KM had the guts to write this a few years ago I would have admired him for it but not now. Just like Shobha De who who wrote some time this year on her blog about Acting Awards being given for considerations other than acting, KM is too a bit late in the day to raise the matter. Both actively participated in the process for years and years only to denounce it when they were no longer major players in that scene – I mean bollywood. In KM case he’s just P****d off to many people with his “star pleasing” in the past and the right people (the people that matter) no longer want him on their staff.
Nothing in the showbiz media is to be trusted any more. Stars or their PR’s plant great stories about themselves and “bad ones” about their competitors. Reviews are biased. Box Office Figures are a lie or exagerated. The media has been “bought”. It happened a long time ago.
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exactly..you summed up my thoughts!! A case of sweet grapes turning sour for Mr Khalid Mohammed
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very brave piece, khalid.
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I don’t know abt the debate that is going on right now.. but i can say that taran adarsh is the worst. He has called all the biggies released in the last few weeks as must watch and adorned 4/5 stars to all of em. Its pure propaganda and his judgment has proven to be wrong on more than 1 occasion. I guess bloggers who write for free are the only *true* “critics” left..
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even as you say it and I read this, there are bigwigs hailing and lauding Taran Adarsh for celebrating 500 weeks of his work.
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Arre yaar, when you keep giving positive reviews for every 3rd movie, who will not hail and laud you.
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RS,
I just mentioned a fact, didn’t qualify it at all
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Facts, Qualifying, Reviewing, Sab Maaya Hai.
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RS
at times I feel all this professional review process and the hype surrounding it is one fucked up business. I totally agree with you when you say apni dil ki baat suno and then may be read a select few reviews to have fun!
That reminds me, you should see Telugu audiences going bonkers on public fora of popular websites trashing the reviewer just for the stars. I request the reviewer to change the rating from 3/5 t0 3.25/5, it was a “full length entertainer” , The film at least deserved a 2.75 . Makes me wonder if these forced incremental ratings are actual indicators of tremors these reviews create :rofl: Filmi Richter scale?! :yahoo:
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Santosh, the Telugu movie websites are even worse, both the reviews and the comments. You have fan fights, caste fights, area fights, what not. The best reviews i recall used to come in Sitara magazine from Gudipoodi Srihari, would wait eagerly for Sitara just to read his review, and more often than not, his take would be correct.
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Teja TV actually used to provide very critical reviews of Telugu movies, remember the Jogi Brothers, but after complaints from producers, they toned it down. It became a farce, with every “teen/kiddo” love story being described as a “sensitive love story”, and i recall the way Gemini went all out to promote the no talented Tarakaratna Guy, arrgggh.
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turn everything into an industry and see how profits is all that matters to people!
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Khalid, with all due respect to you, there is another side to this coin unfortunately. Journalists like you have on occasions more than one, have misused the powers bestowed on you by the print media, by using the platform to settle personal scores in the name of reviewing the films. Ex: No Smoking, Agyaat, Bhootnath etc.. While I admit to deriving voyeuristic pleasure of watching big wigs fight, you stooped yourself to the same level as those other “critics” (read Taran) in the process.
I do agree with the issues you raised in your piece, but coming from you, the words lose their impact
It is akin to Karan Johar writing an article about how big studios are cannibalizing the indie film movement.
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Am surprised at this. Because almost all reviews of most movies dont go beyond 3 stars. Obviously these are run-of-the-mill, cinema made for making money, kind of movies. Which means that the producers would leave no stone unturned to assure making it a box office hit. Be it rediff, mumbai mirror, indiatimes or PFC, in recent times other than kaminey, no movie has received more than 2-3 stars. This means that the reviewers of these sites/newspapers are not pressurized.
…
We all can see through Taran Adarsh. He gave Blue four stars and asked everyone to not miss the gem.
…
We can also see through Jitesh Pillai on ToI. SRK and his cronies (Kareena, saif, arjun rampal) praise him at no less than a filmfare award function. Which of course means that Jitesh Pillai’s SRK film reviews will get more than 3 stars.
…
Khalid himself gave not just K3G five stars, but also Karan’s debut movie KKHH. Its obviously because of his good relationships with the Johars. Then of course we saw what he did with Kurbaan … and Karan here on PFC
…
If newspapers are guilty of being spiteful, they are doing it because its business. But when Khalid does it, which associations should Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and RGV go to! Dont worry Khalid, there’s no unity there as well.
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I believe that the state of reviewers today is because of the reviewers themselves. I am too young to have read reviews in the 70s or the 80s or even the 90s. So I dont have much idea of reviews written in that era. But reviews of 2000s and beyond cannot be regarded as reviews. IMO, reviews should be written as a personal opinion and should not be passed off as an absolute truth. I am not able to put down in words the points that I want to convey, but I would like to say that just take a look at reviews written by Baradwaj Rangan. He appreciates or criticizes the movie in a very personal manner. After reading his review one can easily make out that he is talking about his personal experience and that need not be the experience of any other person who as seen the movie. That’s the difference between him and the rest. The rest are just interested in trying to influence the reader, be it positively or negatively. Reviewers of today are too interested in playing GOD. The current situation is nothing but a logical extension of what has been happening all along.
I used to believe that blogs will one day overthrow the popular print media. But I dont see that happening any more. Because I believe that its not just about reviewers or newspersons, its something that is wrong with most of us. Even here on PFC we find people trying to influence each other’s opinion rather than just stating their own viewpoint. There is too much of garbage these days and one has to browse through miles of shit before finding anything worth reading.
But anyways, nice to see Mr. Khalid trying to state a point. Had never heard of Ms. Udita before, but will try to read through her reviews now.
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Bollywood Hungama is celebrating Taran’s 500 weeks in office and has a video of who’s who of Bollywood applauding his work.
With stakes so high for the big movies, and also the influence the reviewers have on the general public this is bound to happen. But is there a solution?
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Nice reading about the past of reviewing in India. But Khalid, it’s also quite naive. Like you said, everything’s on sale, so is the reviewer… To have a better idea, read this biting piece by P Sainath. He talks of Marathi paper, but the english papers too, are only slightly better. Everything is connected, and we know what’s happening around and are a part of it in some way, yet all of us behave, when something like this happens, as if we didn’t know. Strange and hypocritical… the lot of us city bred morons, blind to the obvious around.
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article57019.ece
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When business relies on ‘ first 3 days collection’ rather than ‘word of mouth’ this is what happens. Sole purpose of the business is to make profit.
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And BTW I fail to understand that what is the role of a movie critic, why should I rely on somebody’s view while picking what movie I should watch when they themselves are not sure what to praise and what to trash ( based on all financial equations). I would rather ask a friend whose taste of movies matches mine.
It sounds so ridiculous that somebody tells us what to like and what to dislike..pheww…I watch movies for my self and as I pick my own food, cloths, music etc I can also pick my movies.
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AILA!!! JUDWAA!!!
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Dil ki baat suno, that’s the best critic you can ever have.
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i hav started doing just dat…its working big time for me..
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I had noticed this trend long time back. for example(it is just my observations , it may not be true), I have noticed Raja sen doesnt review big movies if they are bad but if they are good his reviews will be there on rediff. For small movies every reviewers have field days because there are no johars or chopras to edit them. Same goes with taran adarsh; one can easily predict how many stars taran adarsh is going to give to a movie. I think he counts the number of stars acting in the movie and adds them up without looking at the content… for example …Kurbaan 4 stars( saif, kareena , karan johar and financial benfits for indiafm.com).
I guess platforms like passionforcinema , individual blogs , twitters could be the tools using which such cheap tactics used by producers can be negated.
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So true Tut ! We have already seen that with Kurbaan. All the celebs tried to suck up to Karan. Classic one would be Tarun Mansukhani. Everyone started to quote his tweet. Judging by the actual movie and the box office performance, no one fell for that trick.
It will only get worse as these production houses (Dharma, UTV, YRF) are putting their fingers into more pies like print media and TV media. More people need to be aware the reviewers like Taran Adarsh is just part of marketing.
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tut and TM,
take a look at some low brow bolywood forums on popular websites and you’ll be heartened by the savvyness of the aam junta. they can clearly see thro taran adarsh and nikhat kazmi.masand is for sale only to a very select few. but with national media, print and tv up for sale, we’ll have to trawl the blogs and certain websites and above all our own deductions to come to a fair evaluation of the product on offer.btw, i’ll go by what KM says now, b’cos he ain’t attached to any media house, now.a free thinker, what?
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What’s new? The media had long ago sold out to the money bags, and it’s not just the movies. What they did in the Aarushi case was character assasination of the worst kind?
My advice, don’t take the Media too seriously, and apni Dil ki Baat Suno.
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BTW this reminds me of that incident, when Sony used a fake critic, David Manning, to publish positive reviews of it’s movies, and was caught pants down.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1368666.stm
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well this post brings back to me the memories of the days when i was a very young & passionate city reporter for a small-time newspaper. despite the puny size of the newspaper, my zeal would always lead me to ask uncomfortable questions to all and sundry, pissing them off no end and one not-so-fine day i was told to write a ‘good’ article on the mayor (who i thought sucked big time). i refused and was damned. today i am glad i quit journalism, well in time, or even i would be writing ‘paid reviews’ or some such. Viva PFC! Wonderful post Khalid saab.
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Hmm, reminds me of the Page 3 scene, when Boman Irani asks Konkona to remove an offending article about a Celeb.
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By the way, can’t wait to read your Radio & Paa reviews here on PFC. Keep it real Khalid saab. Here you’ll praise and be damned, CineMaa Kasam.
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First of all, thanks for this great post Khalid sir!
For shame, if this is the scene of Industry.
This is probably pathetic as it can get. The whole point of writing reviews is to give your take on the movie, you like or not, that’s purely based on if your frequency matches with the critic.
It’s like hard truth of “Entertainment” industry. For shame!
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It’s funny in a tragic way. Both the reviewers and film big wigs are attaching too much importance to the reviews. Even after all these tactics, if they could improve their hit ratios beyond 5%, I wouldn’t mind. All the rave reviews and 5 stars could not save Kurbaan.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just make better movies, invest in writing, scripts, stories and other basics instead of threatening the newspapers and channels? Taran Adarsh is a genius in how he makes the filmwalas believe that he and his reviews actually matter. What made Blue a hit is not that Taran Adarsh recommended it and called it a gem. It’s the mega marketing budget for the film that created the hype resulting in huge crowds in first 2-3 days. But these big wigs are playing with fire. One day, the aam janta is going to figure it out, and a mega budget, over hyped crap is going to crash at box office- anyone remember Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja or in recent times – CC2C.
Until then, the game will continue. Bollywood gods will continue the quest to crush the critics and when their film fails, blame it on the same critics.
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Singh Saab the public already has started realising that all that meets the eye is not real.Like you have those hazaar t.v promos of every anaap-shanaap movie which show audience coming out of theatre and saying the movie is mindblowing,fantastic etc.People now watch these with amusement.Yes its still a long way to go, but the % of people who now read reviews of TA or those on TOI more for fun & not seriously is ever increasing.BTW Blue is not a hit- the movie had a good opening,but tanked after that.
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“Like you have those hazaar t.v promos of every anaap-shanaap movie which show audience coming out of theatre and saying the movie is mindblowing,fantastic etc” …. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: …. gimme a chance to come on TV for 1 second once every 3 minutes and I will talk the same …. “ajay devgan ne bahut badhiya pole dance kiya” or whatever, totally irrelevant crap…. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Absolutely dude- in your case since you are in the U.S, you must try to get hold of someone who will shoot you & others getting out of a desi theatre in the U.S.Bas ho gaya kalyan, all your friends & relatives can then go ga ga over you
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@ Sethu… why even shootout yaar …. “i was trying to get inside a bar and the security ooutside asked me for an ID card, and laughed at my blore made licence” … enuf for aajtak to fight for my global fundamental rights… :rofl: :rofl: .. they may even go back to my school and get my civics teacher talking about how I always believed in fundamental rights…
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I agree. Reviews are for fun reading. Nobody takes them seriously except the film makers themselves
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Isnt it the same everywhere. The classic struggle between the artist and the financier. The architect designs the building according to his aesthetics, the builder has no clue… he only costly material being wasted, no need for unnecessary arches, etc… so has the architect change the design to cut costs.. or worse gives his own inputs into the designs… Same with dress designs, same with director’s vision and producer’s commercial concerns. Its an age old struggle. But there are right things being done in the world. Its all a matter of hooking up with the right people.
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Khalid saab- valid issue raised here in this post.But one thing I’m wondering is how could someone casually tell the reviewer over phone ( Udita Jhunjhunwala here ) that her services are no more needed?Was she a free lancer, I doubt because she has been writing/reviewing for quite some time.But this menace will certainly continue to haunt us for some more time unless something dramatic happens to change the scenario.
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“No distinction is made any more between a review critiquing the content and style of a film, and a review written from the point of view of its trade potential.” these are your words..
Now my question
when you review/critique movies .. please categorize them as worth reviewing content Vs worth reviewing trade potential and then start doing actual job
Otherwise you will end up being laughing stock trying to critique De Dana Dan for its content. Even Mr. Priyadarshan never claimed any content which you reviewed. and I never saw your review of Kanchivaram from the same director and which is a movie worth reviewing its content.
So basically stop being a hypocrite
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KM, you are so spot on. When will the others stop pulling each other down like a basket of crabs….
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I think twitter engineers will invent a software that will assign stars to a movie based on the tweets from users…that will be good
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Well at least we have blogs for our rescue. At least u can judge within a week or two, whether the reviewer is doing complete justice or not. Oz, take a bow for Passionforcinema. U guys r a big rescue for serious movie geeks. We feel sad for DNA than for Udita.
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And by the way guys and KM sir, here is someone who gives a solid spot on review http://www.thevigilidiot.com/
Alert: Full of spoilers.
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So now lets light a candle for the film reviewer?! gosh! suddenly even they have become sensitive!
I am giving Khalid’s angst a 1.5 rating, which means I could care but I don’t!
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So now lets light a candle for the film reviewer?! gosh! suddenly even they have become sensitive!
I am giving Khalid’s angst a 1.5 rating, which means I could care but I don’t!
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the most rubbish and embarrasing thing goin out in the film critic world is the name taran adarsh who from no angle seems to be a reviewer…worst person ever related to the movie world..a shame on the name of reviews..lowers the dignity of film reviewers…and adds no value to anyone…i think he should be banned…as his reviews have no single iota of sense…feelin lik hittin him off..
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It is a sad state of affairs that a “dalal” like Taran Adarsh who doesn’t even correctly write in the language he chooses to use, is now the most popular movie critic. It has to do with what our Indian audiences tolerate in the name of cinematic entertainment. As long as movies like “Gol Maal” and “De Dhana Dan” are run away hits, people like Taran Adarsh wil continue to thrive.
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Mass Media being under the ownership of this dudhead capitalists, creativity shall never flourish.
It’s all a full circle of capitalists under whom we shall have meaningless existence as mere worthless entities.
Take this asshole taran for example he is the within the very circle of these capitalists, inheriting his fathers rights. That’s why he got in.
We shall be doomed in the next 20. Every fuckin’ right shall be taken away by this capitalists/globalists who shall install puppet governments in every fuckin’ nation.
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If i were to try and summarise the article , its a take on the state of film reviews in the mainstream print media today. The trigger point being UJ being sacked and replaced by TA for better commercial considerations on part of the media group.
What I do not understand is that is this the first time in his career that KM has come across a scenario where a journalist was removed for commercial and not merit considerations ? If not , then why is this article written now and that too not in the mainstream media but a platform which KM had made snide remarks about.
The other question is that does KM actually believe that he has been honest in his entire career and reviewed films on merit purely ? I am not sure what KM believes but I am certain that there in no single person on PFC who believes it. Given the previous fact , what moral right does KM have to point out which media/ film production group is wheeling dealing to influence film reviews in the media ?
Finally my 3rd question to OZ , with all due respect to the rights of the blogger , i find an extremely disturbing trend in KMs posts … other than his nostalgic ones which are brilliant and are universally praised by the commenters , KM almost never replies to the comments unlike all the other celebrity bloggers.
The critical comments and questions never get answered. Technically nothing wrong with that , but isnt that going against the whole objective of blogging as an interactive form ?
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It seems from the topic that anyone who critices a film is a good reviewer. Naah! like any individual reviewers have a view point which may differ from others. No reviewer or journalist worth his salt can just demonish a movie which is an effort that took time, money and emotions to be created. No filmwallah wants to make a flop film or a boring film. Wonder what’s the feeling when it is rejected by the audience! Some elite-reviewers like urs’ truly are like pseudo-secularist who beleives in ‘I am always right’!!!ultimately no amount of good review will save a bad film like Dil Bole Hadippa and no amount of blacklisting will drown the movie. Audience are intelligent and don’t need reviews to make their preference.
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While we are talking about status of movie reviews here, the very concept of reviewing is changing. Crowdsourcing is slowly replacing opinionated pieces from the reviewers and giving power in the hands of the people who watch movies. Go look for 140 character reviews on Twitter or Google live search and help others watch good cinema.
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I have become much more careful of all reviews / previews after Sankat City (and it was PFC that screwed me there!). The only reviewer whose opinion I trust now is Baradwaj Rangan. I have found him fairly intelligent and honest.
Roger Ebert or A O Scott in Hollywood have a certain stature built over time, and in their writing, I see a depth and understanding of the film medium and humanity that I am yet to find in our reviewers.
And is just being ethical, asking for too much? I once caught a Nikhat Kazmi review with several portions copied almost verbatim of what Ebert had written. I changed by newspaper the next day.
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If my memory serves me right, Udita had given the atrocious dud Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost FOUR stars. Upright? I am not too sure. She’s given a similar (dis)service to many such films. Fishy.
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Taran Adarsh gave 1.5 stars to Rocket Singh in his review on DNA – doesn’t quite fit in with your theory, does it?
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Mayank Shekar who used to do reviews in Pune Mirror was very good. You could blindly trust his reviews and go for his suggestions. Dont know where is he now. May be he was chucked out by some dumbo Bollywood star for not giving favorable reviews.
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I totally agree…..”Sau chuhe khake billi chali Haj Ko”
Why has the writer still not explained why he wrote those reviews of K3G and Dil Bole Hadippa…..you need to come clean before you can preach to others.
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Isn’t that the reason we have bloggers reviewing movies, and better so many times? On a different note, Taran’s reviews are going so crass I wonder how many readers can DNA lose if people had to read his reviews in the newspaper.
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very interesting post and quite relevant . there’s a scam out there . reviews coming out days before the release of the film.(3 idiots) reviews of the film with 4 -5 stars telling the audience to book back to back shows appearing on the first page (mid-day and bollywoodhungama). review by a new guest reviewer in place of the regular minty tejpal in mumbai mirror now c oming to the question do reviews have any impact on the way movies are viewed. the answer has to be a YES in my opinion. vinod chopra himself had said once said that the public is not interested in reading the review but only seeing the stars at the end . so may be e didnt wnat to take chances . RGV wrote an open mail to the media about this . an dnow when i meet a friend who says lets go watch 3 idiots , its a damn good movie ..i ask why ..because it has got 4.5 stars is the answer . and i hear people talk about it …3 idiots got 4.5 stars and thats why its a good mopvie without having watched it. when so much is at stake because of a review then why wudnt the producers try to buy out the reviewer or the publication.
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I think KM is a pretty balanced reviewer for all except SRK and Aamir..I think he can’t remain partial towards them, and his personal equation reflects in his reviews, like he goes on to bash Shahrukh’s good films like Dil Se and praises shit stuff like K3G etc. For Aamir he goes quite the opposite and don’t like Rangeela and thrashes Ghajini, though a week or two before he has no qualms praising the absolutely absurd film RNBDJ and SRK’s “Great Acting” in it ??? LMAO !!!!
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