Sorry State of Affairs
iView Author: Josyula Srikant (Los Angeles, USA)
Email : jsrikant [at] gmail [dot] com
Sorry State of Affairs
I really don’t know what is happening to hindi movie industry. It literally makes me sick. Gone are the days when actors and directors could say that hindi movies caters to the masses (the rickshawallas, the front benchers) and that these people don’t want to see the day to day hardships on the screen. Now they all cater to a new breed “The NRIs” and it’s funny how the rhetoric hasn’t changed much. Sometimes I don’t know whom to blame the audience or the movie makers.
Hindi movies were not always great anyways but people who wanted to watch some sensible movies had a way out in actors and directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Amol Palekar, Om Puri, Naseruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Supriya Pathak etc. I don’t see that anymore. That kind of movie making is lost somewhere. We do have some saving grace but I frankly don’t know how long that is going to last.
The funny part is that the crappy movies people make are lift off’s of some Hollywood movie. Do you really need to copy someone to come up with that kind of junk? I don’t think there is any lack of potential in India but I think the bureaucracy and redtapism kills it. It’s also about satisfying huge ego’s. I happen to believe that true passion and kissing ass will never go hand in hand. As long as there is this fucking ego there will be a strong effort to kill the talented bunch.
Big stars in the Hindi movie industry I am sure have earned so much that the next five of their generations can live off their earnings easily without lifting a finger. When are these people going to stop? How much money can one hoard? How about working in a different project that shows some good potential? How about challenging oneself by taking an altogether different role? No one wants to do it. Looks like everyone is in a rush to ration as much money as possible while supplies last. They are everywhere from television adds to television programs (thereby killing the talent there too…not that there is many).
Movie industry is suffering from some major wannabe attitude. It’s in the name “Bollywood”. The name itself sounds so stupid and wannabe. We want to copy everything from the west except for the good things. Shooting all over the world for a freaking song sounds so ridiculous. It’s such baloney when movie makers state that people want full entertainment. I mean satya was full entertainment and a block buster hit. It did not use the standard formula of 27songs, 5 fight scenes, 40 bucket to tears and 52 romantic scenes. The formula drives me nuts.
The only hope and saving grace are the people who made some great movies like Mixed Doubles, Khosle ka Ghosla, Ab tak chappan, No smoking etc just to name a few. My heart goes out to all the talented and aspiring people who want to make it big in the Hind Movie industry by doing something more sensible that the crap we usually put up with.
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10 Responses to “Sorry State of Affairs”
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Inspired by real story… great read…please write regularly…
You are right but now more sensible movies are being made than say 10-15 years back.In 2008 only we got Aamir,Mithya,Mumbai meri Jaan and it is only Aug.Last year we had Taare Zameen Par,Chak De,Life in a Metro.In 2006 we had Omkara,Lage Raho Munnabhai,Rang De basanti,Khosla ka ghosla.Cut to 90’s or early 2001-2004.How many good films can you remember?The best thing about now is that big films like Welcome or Singh is King are severely criticised.10 years back these films would have won awards.So things are changing..though slowly
Srikant, i think what we are seeing is like a mixed trend. While the multiplex genre movies like Mixed Doubles, Black Friday, KKG, ATC etc have been seeing a surge in the quality and range, it is the mainstream that has been floundering.
Also movie makers like Nagesh Kukunoor(Dor,Iqbal), Dibakar Banerjee(KKG), Vishaal Bharadwaj, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sriram Raghavan, Shimit Amin are keeping the middle of road cinema alive with their movies. KKG was one of the best tributes to Hrishida-Basu Chaterjee brand of movies. These movie makers are proving that it is possible to make entertaining, meaningful movies without any exotic locales or skin show or steamy scenes.
Sadly barring a TZP or Chak De India, the mainstream scenario looks quite bleak. I heard that BAH is a hit, so we can be sure of being subjected to some more mindless drivel by Yash Raj & Co.
But its the same case with Hollywood also nowadays. The 90’s was the decade that saw Hollywood comming up with classics like Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Reservoir Dogs, Schindlers List, Fight Club, Usual Suspects to name a few. Sadly this decade 90% of Hollywood movies have been crap, the really memorable flicks have been very few.
But yeah i agree with you, this year has been uniformly disappointing so far. The only decent worth watching flicks have been Jodha Akbar, Mithya, Aamir and Mumbai Meri Jaan. Not good at all. Hoping that second half of the year sees a much better output.
A good film is a good film no matter who makes it! It seems to me that the definition of excellent cinema for some people on this forum is that is must be “boring”.
Make movies which you define as meaningful but then don’t be disappointed when they only appeal to a niche audience.
If one is making movies which one feels passionate about then don’t be disappointed if they don’t make money! After all we are not all passionate about the same things. Why deny or denigrate other peoples choices?
If making money is your criteria than you will need to compromise with content in order for it to appeal to the wider audience. That is a truth. Only a handful of films and movie-makers have had the guts to go with their honest vision.
I also don’t like the current trend of movies finding favour with the audience but if a movie-maker’s primary concern is making money than why should it be held against him. Nobody is stopping anybody from making their type of movies but unfortunately business plays a big part in deciding the funding of particular projects.
It may be unpalatable but market trends DO determine who wants to fund what. Nobody wants to back a losing proposition. Or do they?
I also don’t like these producers making vast amounts of money churning out drivel but I and you don’t decide, the audience does.
To Rathnakar, I would say why pick on YRF. Are they sitting ducks and therefore easier targets? There are far more deserving candidates for censure! They make movies they understand. Let them.
Good post! It is sad indeed that inspite of having good original ideas and scripts, most producers are not willing to back the projects! Rajat Kapoor collected money on the net to produce one of his films! Due to multiplexes, the situation is slightly changing but definitely not to the adequate amount.
i belive money is not a charity so which is bad and good movie, what ppl like is good moive and another is bad movie. it maybe art, classy or mass movies. all the movie are made with same stuff and if few clicks and few not,
if you ppl think you are doing charity making moives it’s ur fault, instead of spending some one money and asking audiance to watch it’s waste.
no one has right to say they are dump bcoz they are not watching your type of moives.
sorry not money it’s movie
Mixed Doubles was a great film? I guess I missed that memo when I saw it.
Too many logical and factual inconsistencies in your argument. Too bored to list all of them.
Its not about whether hindi movie industry churns out senseless movies or not but whether it churns out entertaining senseless movies
We are all entitled to our share of fun. The trouble starts when we don’t get movies of various genre. Look at hollywood.U have all sort of movie coming out frm No country oldmen to dark knight, Transformers to Casino Royale, Tropic Thunder to Michael Clayton. I wish we could get the same variety here.
I hav no issues with Singh is King, Bachna aye haseeno being senseless as long as they are well made movies.Unfortunately that is hardly the case.
Does anyone remember the last senseless movie coming out of bollywood that u really enjoyed?