Sympathy for Mr Filmaker
Sympathy for Mr Filmaker – an Open Letter
There is a (kartik’s version) of a saying – “Hamburger and pork sausages – a day’s meal for a man, a lifetime for a pig”
The man is the audience.
And the pig, in bitter truth, is the filmmaker.
A filmmaker may believe in a value or an idea or a thought with his heart and soul. The thought needn’t be logically or politically correct. It could be abstract and irrational to many others, and even too fantastical/ridicoulous to some.
That thought may have taken days, months, may be even years of the filmmaker’s life; to acquire form….to make the transition from a vague intangible to a ‘No no that won’t work’ to a ‘hmmm Not on Bad !!’ and even perhaps to a ‘Eureka!!!’
That tangible idea (thankfully), is then written on paper and gains in proportion .. to a screenplay and eventually to a script. All because the filmmaker believes in that thought and gives it his best shot.
Mind you, this metamorphisis doesn’t happen overnight, or in some cases it is not even complete. But is always justified by that man’s blood, sweat and soul.
And then he starts selling his soul. Quite figuratively, he becomes a door to door salesman, waiting for someone to believe in his soul.. waiting for someone who will buy it… put money in it in the hope of making more money out of it.
Millions of such filmmakers are there on the streets outside and right as I write this or as you read this, someone, somewhere is trying to sell his soul to someone, who may or may not be buying.
Not many succeed.
Parents teach us – “Try try try till you succeed.”
Life teaches us – “Try coz unless you don’t, how will you fail, and unless you fail how will you realize that you are a goddamn loser”
Some lucky few get the customers.
And then begins the mammoth task of reverse engineering and engineering. Why so? Coz then you’re giving the soul a life. Camera, Actors, Locations, Props, Make up, Improvisations, Permissions, Budget Constraints, More Sweat and Blood… a million headaches, heart problems, long nights, contuniuty fuck ups, dubbing, editing, music, lights, sound design, cinematography – eventually a life form is created – The FILM.
Only the filmmaker knows what all he must’ve compromised on his ‘soul’ (Pun intended) to get his film made. How appealing the idea might’ve been and how much more/less appealing the film is. How much better or worse the original film that he saw in his mind was !!
Again, if he is lucky, the film is distributed properly and is screened all over the place. God and the media willing, people come and watch his creation, which by this time might’ve taken 1, 2, 5, 10 or may be even more years of his life.
Those many years of a filmmaker’s life and all it takes is mere 2-3 hours for any Tom Dick Harry walking on the road, a boy who might’ve bunked school/college, a group of friends out to have fun in the theater, a young man trying to impress his date, a middle aged man urged by his wife-children’s begging him, an old couple avoiding loneliness and monotony in their house, an ‘intellectual film student’ who can even fart foreign cinema, a fellow filmmaker and a million other people like you and me watch the film. 2-3 hours is all it takes to judge/dismiss or extol his baby. To pass it off as a piece of godly creation, or simply – human excertion
It’s like the hunk ignoring his blind date in a fraction of a second because she’s too fat. A woman dismissing off her’s because he smokes. An interviewer cannot stand the aspirant’s smelly – oiled hair. The last name of a stranger, for all our prejudices/biases to come and ‘brand’ him.
My point is not to say that all films should be respected or admired for the ‘struggle’ of the ‘effort’ gone in. Just know it, appreciate it.
Appreciate that even a bollywood commercial masala film, a clichéd to death Hollywood film, a creative camera mastrubative product, an ‘art’ film perhaps takes a lot of effort may be not in the league of a ‘City of God’, a ‘Cinema Paradiso’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Nayagan’, a ‘Citizen Kane’, an ‘Apu Trilogy’, a ‘Rashoman’.
A ‘trashy’ film like Kabhi alvida na kehna, or Fanaa is certainly not great cinema by any means, but it is well, a year of the filmmaker’s life. Trashy cinema too, IMO takes immense struggle to make.
3 hours is all it takes for you to get branded/rated on an effort of a few years.
How sad is that ??
My sympathies for you Mr Filmmaker …
3 hours is all that it takes for your name to go down the history books, or to go down the drain…
Indeed – Life is nothing but a four letter word.
P.S : for those doubting thomasses, I recommend writing, directing and editing a short film .. may be even a 5 min one or so. Multiply it by a million .. that is what the amount of effort a filmmaker goes through.
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
Dude, I will cite an example (from a friend). If a guy couldn’t afford a meal, he doesn’t have to work in a tunnel without a gas mask. So we can’t stop critiquing a movie just because of the pains the filmmaker took to make it. It’s like a product meant to be consumed. If I find it bad, I think I have every right to diss it.
But yeah, a very good post. One should appreciate the pains but that shouldn’t cloud the people’s mind from criticizing.
Even If I made the movie, I expect it to be analyzed and dissed (if it deserves). People’s appreciation for my efforts doesn’t count, Does it? So I don’t think I will care about that.
Great post…how true- but can’t help trashing films like Fanaa, Krrish etc- as for the hard work gone into them, the millions they make more than compensates…whotsay!?
KK…question urself…why u want to make a film ? why somebody wants to be a filmmaker only ? If you or someone else doesnt become a filmmaker,how much will the world change ? why ?
(n please dont console urself with the intellectual answer…i cant do anything else. i can only write n direct..so i want to become filmmaker.that is utter lie.)
Thilak – I’m not asking us or anyone to stop critiquing a movie buddy. Yes if it is bad, we have every right to criticise it.
I’m just for a minute, asking all to put ourselves in the other’s shoes
Jahaan – I know …
Hard work goes into them as much as it does in the ‘classics’ i mentioned (perhaps a little less, but whatever).
The point is that 2-3 hours is the barometer of the talent/hardwork of the filmmaker.
Pretty much like Cricket where one bad dismissal or a bad spell of bowling determines the fate of the bowler forever.
Phonix – im sorry i could not understand ur comment. Please explain a little more
Good post. Yes, I can see the work and the struggle and the pain and the compromises.
But of course, filmmakers know about it before they enter the field. As long as he is making it for himself, with his own money, and not selling seats, he faces no criticism. The moment you or I buy a ticket, we also buy the right to praise or criticise. Thats the fact of life.
A great example of art is Van Gogh. All his life he lived in poverty, and was even driven to insanity living amidst coal miners. He died a pauper. Today his paintings sell for millions and set records at auctions. Did he want praise, or did he want his paintings to fetch millions ? No. He had to express and he did. Some very rare people are like that. Most people enter movies for that chance to be big rich and famous, and only they can feel disturbed or elated by audiences.
The least I can say is that this was thought provoking Kartoos !
cheers
ravi
Hey KArthiK, what do you mean by respecting efforts of film-makers?
How about respecting KAran Johar, for giving us songs brimmed with color diarrhea, Plots that make no sense, Characters that beat every connotaiton of that word, and UTOPICALLY INSIPID Actors(god forgive me)…?
How about respecting Yash Chopra’s CREATIVE liberty that makes him show us that in ‘1970s’, Pakistani women used to wear “Low(Highly)-Neck-See-My-Cleavage-nA!” Kurtas/Corsets/cholis (or wahtever possible attire they wear)?
How about respecting Sanjay Gadhavi for showing us ASh’s Cleavage, Navel, Inner Thighs, and offcourse Bipasha’s INNERMOST THIGHS? (Pardon me, I didnt notice any other SPECIAL effects in that movie)and offcourse da most awaited (and equally disgusting)ASH’S FIrst (ON-Screen) KISS, where she gives brilliant expressions(of a rape victim)?
How about respecting Kunal Kohli for showing us …(well lemme think)…(still thinking)…(realizes not worth thinking )…
How about respecting ABBAS MASTAN for making CHINA TOWN (that too :o in GOA)?
How about respecting Rakesh Roshan, for showing us a SEXXY DADI MAaa..sss..ssSS !!!, with sultry voice and un-believable(pun…ahh no need to mention) make up, a superhero with a set of spontaneous(read any-fucking) powers (wish Krish wud have spun sugar balls with his powers in da movie..), and killing all the acting posibilities of a great actor by making him act like a CLOWN?
ohh the list goes on; pardon me for not mentioning all the maestros and their masterstrokes …
:d
KK…cant understand what u didnt understand.
BTW,I have no sympathy for a filmmaker who makes a bad film. Nothing in this world is easy, filmmaking or anything else. N when me or someone else is spending 150/200 rupees for it then i will always look for value for money. because i also dont get money for free.lot of effort goes into earning every penny.classic or shit…its personal. But sympathies only for struggle. but that doesnt justify the bad product, if it is.
good post kk.. this is a tricky one to analyze.. not your post, but the message behind it. ok, so i partly enjoyed k3g and even enjoyed hum tum.. (i’ll restrict myself to k-jo and kunal since you referred to them).. i have no shame in saying that. they both had good songs, and there’s no doubt about that.
k3g had typical (and expected) over-the-top performances with amitabh uttering every f*cking line twice for dramatic effect and SRK being SRK.. you could even count the number of twitches each hrithik nostril did in his dramatic moments.. but honestly, and i can’t stand kareena for the most part, but i stand behind k3g being one of her most brilliant performances. why you ask? because i can’t think of one damned actress who could’ve been more annoying and bitchy of a character than the way she played it. poo even became an icon and i’m not surprised either.
hum tum was just a simple, sweet movie with effective performances from the lead pair and good songs to match. plus rishi kapoor and kirron kher’s supporting roles were top-notch and fit to the T. the cartoons didn’t do anything for me really but that was made out to be one of the USPs i suppose. whatever works.
getting to your point.. having worked in bad films myself, i know that each bad film does take a lot of effort.. and i do appreciate the filmmaker’s efforts behind even a crappy dhoom. but my appreciation ends there. my criticism overtakes the sympathy for these guys simply because i know that these big shots can make a crappy film and still rake in the $$$$. i ask myself, why sympathize with them when they give us a below-average product with zero substance and STILL laugh their way to the bank? how is that fair to other filmmakers who have awesome stories, no big banners, and not enough money for publicity because they put in their breakfast and dinner money towards making their film? it’s not. so i choose to root for the underdog.
furthermore, i would think that someone like k-jo who already has the industry connection thru his family doesn’t need to struggle as much to get his first script made. i don’t know about kunal’s background, but if he doesn’t have an industry insider, then i fully respect him for “mujhse dosti karoge” because he did sell his soul to get that film made. and though i didn’t like the movie, at least it had good songs, so i can thank him for that if i ever do meet him.
Ok here is my reaction to the article I agree with KK. Film industry is not YRF or K-jo or any other big production houses, There are lot of people who dream of doing big and sell what ever they have and invest in films some of them succeed and some dont.Film industry dosent mean producers and production team the most important member of film industry are distributors who has to face good times and bad times and most of the times its bad.When u consider financial aspect of film making movies made by YRF or K-jo or movies of chiru or rajini they are all aimed at masses not towards intelligent movie goers. We have 1 billion people and out of that I guess atleast 80 million dont use there brains while watching movie they just want to have good time away from office,family and other tensions and most of then dont care if its a low neck blouse and sharukh khan is wearing jeans jacket and colored his hair for 1950’s movie. they just want to have good time. Keeping that in mind our filmmakers have to growup and experiment new things rather doing same old bullshit try something new and diff everytime so that audiences will not be stuck to one particular type of films.
KK Firstly great post, I guess that was right from the heart. It did be really clich
with you Phoenixnu …totally agree…
Ravi – “…he faces no criticism. The moment you or I buy a ticket, we also buy the right to praise or criticise. Thats the fact of life.” Bingo
Orange – I may never be a big fan of the films you are reffering to, but i just pondered over for a second about them. These films might have had different ’struggles’ or commercial considerations.
Struggle doesn’t just mean the struggle to fight for sanity/good quality in films. The fact is, even if you decide to put in commercial considerations in a film, there is a certain amount of fight involved.
Bhojpuri cinema might be trash, so might be Joginder’s cinema and the hundreds of mithunDa’s movies shot in the backyard of Monarch hotel in Ooty, but surely there is an element of struggle if you think about the director who is trying to make the film and satisy the ‘niche audience’ of that film.
These directors know that their audience isnt people like you and me, it is the middle class/ family audiences/ autorickshawalas (UP immigrants) in mumbai … and their struglle is to make a movie which satisfies THIS audience.
Film like Veer Zara, Krishh, KANK, play to their respective audience and that’s why other films by the same makers like Neal and Nikki, Karobar/Koyla, Kaal flopped.
Vasan/Phonix – Sympathies don’t justify the end product (bad). Completely agree . And the monetary angle is completly justified. However, that never was the point of the post.
The main point of the all thing is summed up as – “criticise the indian cricket team if only you have ever faced a shining leather ball !!!”
I reiterate – I recommend writing, directing and editing a short film .. may be even a 5 min one or so. Multiply it by a million .. that is what the amount of effort a filmmaker goes through !!! Whether he is making a Classic or whether he is making crap.
That will make u and us think the next time twice before we criticise any film … no matter how atrocious it is.
Heck i know that it is not possible for everyone to try their hands at short filmmaking, and that’s why this article is posted on PFC, and not TOI.
Striker, Varun – agree
Nik – Work for your own satisfaction – is what should be the motto. What if my satisfaction lies in creating ‘crappy cinema’ ?? then i will not bother about the ‘cinema intellectuals’.
What if my satisfaction lay in ‘arty arty’ cinema ?? then i will not care about the ‘commercial crowd’ !!
What the hell, this is soooooo complicated. (Fountainhead kab dey raha hai ??)
I just don’t get it.
I don’t get the fact that so many people (here an everywhere) are so harsh on some film makers and their movies.
So what if the movies r insipid!?
So what if they r shredding apart that last figment if your imagination?!
So what if the actor is hamming away to glory?!
So what if the movie is 3.5 hrs long?
Really, so what?
If you were to stand back and objectively even look at these movies and their run at box offices everywhere, it should be very obvious to you that they have something well in control. An thats the pulse of the so called audience, your consumers.
Cinema now a days at least mainstream cinema is a commodity. Pseudo intellectuals and (actual) intellectuals can argue till dawn that its all art and absolute form of expression. But the bottomline unfortunately wins, and the bottomline as in everywhere is $$.
How many people can boast of churning out one nonsense after another from his very first movie and still make the box office tingle ? Doesn’t that it self deserve some commendation here ? I mean forget the fact that he is a shrewd businessman. He also really believes in the ‘phiki’ story he is trying to convey.
And like Kartik says, its almost an year from his life.
I am sic of stereotyping and the absolute extremism of critiquing movies ever since we had medium of blogs. Movie is nonsense, aka the filmmaker is nonsense..The story is super bakwaas so the script writer an director obviously are total bakwas.
I mean what gives?? Again.. so what if the movie is bakwas, dekho ya mat dekho.. recommend karo ya na karo.. Bas.. keep it simple yaar
KK,
This post for some reasons reflects the views of changed KK.Some one, who used to rip apart so said commercial films has developed a soft corner. What u said and what ur saying are 2 diff POV but both true in a sense. What I am interested in is how this transition happened?
manjeet – im not defending commercial cinema.
Im just defending film makers thats all
I hate KANK as much as i hated it back then .. just that, I’ve realised that its quite easy to be an arm chair critic.
How does it matter Objectivism is wat should be the motto.
If you think its complicated Look at it this way man. what if you make a super duper all time hit. People want to watch the movie over and over for the next 100 years. But………But you see it and feel “Why did I waste all these years of my precious life on this piece of shit” How would you justify that to your own self(unless afcos your ultimate goal is public recognition no matter with what)
So now there are two alternative you make a movie you think will satisfy you or you make one which would make 100’s of thousands go mad but make you sick.
If ever i make a film ever ill prefer the first. How about you guys
@Rads,
Just like watching movies (time-killing activity), critiquing the stuff vents out of frustration. Eventually it becomes another frustration-venting brought out through different mediums/tools ranging from BlAAgs to PFC. It’s time-killing too.
“Pseudo intellectuals and (actual) intellectuals can argue till dawn that its all art and absolute form of expression.”
- precisely.
BTW, A bad product can’t justify itself. Neither can it expect recommendations. Some products ‘deserves’ to be condemned.
Thats good to know buddy.
The other thing which we did not directly talk about is our system, which does not allow the film makers to maintain their honesty and integrity.
Talking to our film makers on PFC, some very strange things came to light. If u remember Anurag sir told us about filmaker Kamal Swaroop, whose students films were appreciated at film festivals, but could not take on our system. Nobody knows about him. We lost a real talent. When I discussed the same topic with Pavan ji and Hiroo ji they said that,”we make talented directors at FTII and also have lot of talented people, but we do not teach them how to take on the system.” A lot goes into making a film. One might also need to know how to hustle a little bit to be a film maker.
@KK
“just that, I
KK…Very refreshing post dude…
Quite a few points that you bring out for discussion. Believe me their have been times when i have thought exactly the same. Why are we so harsh on Film-makers. Why do we shunt them so easily.
Have you been into “Swayam-madad” Ashram? lol Kidding!! Yeah. Wouldn’t world be such a great place if everything was appreciated not by the final product, but the process of achieving the final product? Ewww imagining that scenario in the film world, i would see millions of Guru Dutt’s, do you want that?
BTW I am no hypocrite (read armchair-critic) myself. I find it to be ‘one of the lowest form of life’. If I like a product, I would heap praise on it. But a critic, will watch it again and bring out its flaws.
Actually ‘Deconstruction’ of a movie is an art in itself. That I agree but saying what you dont mean like some critics, just ticks me off.
there is nothing wrong with good commercial cinema like: Lagaan, Swades, Socha Na Tha, Aahista Aahista, Iqbal, etc.
the films you guys are talking about are masala films or spoofs as anurag kashyap would say..
anyway, i do not buy this, he worked hard so give him a credit. even goondas work hard but we don’t get the credit for working hard do we, eh?;)
KK…Disagreement no.1
“criticise the indian cricket team if only you have ever faced a shining leather ball !!!
@ HG
“even goondas work hard but we don
nah, i am sure there were others like Full2Faltu, Jawalant, etc who liked the film as well.
ok jus clear one doubt for me…”RESPECTING” someone’s efforts means doing exactly what…is it like that i should keep in a mind that it took so many months/years for a certain film-maker (commercial/arty/crappy whatever) to make certain movie and it took so much efforts for him to convince the financer..so even i should sit back for a year or two and take into account all his efforts and then judge the movie???
common it takes lots of effort for lets say a software professional to code a software..but if its not working properly should i not thrash that s/w within no time…
also, believe it or not, but Omkara is a commercial film which is presented in a rustic package. So is Range De Basanti a commercial film. all good films.
imo, it would be better for the industry if people understood that films like Omkara, RDB, Lagaan, etc are decent commercial films, where as KANK, Hum Tum, Krrish etc are not pictures.
KK I want you to review ShakalakaBoom Boom next..infact first of all I want younto go to a cinema hall and see it……I am dying to read yor review….fir se rang badla to teri to…then it will be Sympathy for Mr.KK …hhehehhehhehhehehe…..hehhehehehhehee….hehhehhehehheehhehehe
and on Ahista Ahista ……count me in as a FAN….loved the movie.
Nice Article KK.
Totally agree with you. Infact this was one of the main points of my post too.
And, Well Said Rads.
KK…u hav lost it. what was the point of the post n what not…i hav also lost it now.:-w:-?
Vasan =))
KK you need to REVIEW SHAKA LAKA BOOM BOOM FOR SURE.
WE NEED TO SEE YOUR TRANSFORMATION =))
VASAN WILL GIVE U THE TICKET IF NEEDED:)=))
Interesting thoughts KK, but this is part of life sadly this is how the wheels of life turn. If you sell your soul you should be prepared for the criticism that will come with it.
I appreciate the fact that you burned up some of your neurons to come up with an idea like that. I appreciate that you spent sometime to put those thoughts to words. However, I certainly don
=)) over vinayak’s comment…
Jaane bhi do yaaro, we’re giving ourselves and our critics far too much importance. Right about now a guy like Vidhu Vinod Chopra is basking in the glory of his “Eklavya”
I highly doubt that it matters to VVC that Eklavya was at best an average grosser in most territories, or that overall it was very well reviewed. HE’S damn proud of his film, and he’s gained appreciation from the sources he was looking to (through his recent screening at UCLA for instance).
We can sit here and talk about how fantastic the cinematography was or how slow paced the film was for a 2-hour thriller, or how underdeveloped the characters were or how great the performances were. Whatever your take or mine is, the filmmaker is going to remain unaffected.
So let him do what he needs to do, and lets carry on doing what we enjoy doing.
Each filmmaker makes their film for their own reasons. Whether its to satisfy their creativity, to support their own ego, to create a pseudo-stature for themselves or, like most, to try and cash in at the box office, they have gone through the hoops, put in the work and thus earned the right to pursue their perogotive.
By paying $$$ to go to a theatre and investing 2-3 hours of our time to the film, purely for OUR OWN ENTERTAINMENT, we have paid for the right to have an opinion on the film. Whether we like it or not, whether we choose to talk about it positively or negatively is really for our own entertainment and satisfaction.
The other day I was bitching about how a certain film could’ve been so much better if it didn’t have such a useless screenplay. My buddy tells me off sayin “If its so fn useless why are you still fn talkin on and on about it???”
Yeah.
PS – Since “Ahista Ahista” has become a subplot for discussion in this post I wanted to add myself to the list of supporters for the film. I thought it was a really nice film, well-directed, except for a few drawbacks:
1 – Shayan Munshi was a complete miscast. If the intent was to create sympathy for this character (based on him being a victim of circumstance and of course the fact that he gets ends up with the girl at the end) then a better known/liked actor should’ve been cast. Its not like there’s a lack of Sanjay Suri’s or Priyanshu’s or Pravin Dabas’s out there.
2 – If the intent was for Soha’s character to go back to her first love, despite spending the bulk of screentime devoted to her “moving on”, then there should’ve been more build-up for Shayan’s character both before and after his re-introductions. The audience should have been divided over which guy she should walk away with. But because the screenplay and especially the character development was completely lopsided in favour of Abhay Deol’s character (and the fact that he comes across so natural, down to earth and likeable) the majority of the audience was on his side and so against Shayan. This is why the climax was such a let down.
3 – Point of view. Why not tell the story from Soha’s point of view, since the film essentially becomes her conflict (whether to move on or go back to her past love). Let the audience see things from her perspective. Being stranded in a the big bad city, meeting this stranger, having no other choice but to trust him, readjusting her life, trying to move on, then one day her past catches up to her…
But I digress.
Overall the films mood, the realistic characters, the setting, the music, and direction was good.
@tony
yaar its the diros vision, which probably we cant question(about the point of view)…
though havent seen the movie, but saw bits and pieces of it… just dint like Abhay Deol’s dialogue delivery, which to me seemed a bit feminine/angliscised (sumthing about it which probably i am not able to explain properly)… but liked the little bits of the movie i saw.