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The 3 Missing C’s in Commercial Cinema…
As an avid, loyal fan of hindi films, as well as being a lifelong student of cinema, I’ve wondered for several years why the most basic elements of narrative and storytelling are missing from so many prolific commercial hindi movies.
Barardwaj Ranjan had alluded to this topic in one of his recent, insightfully entertaining “between reviews” blogs. Here he quite accurately points out that hindi film songs, for the most part, have lost all situational value. They’ve lost their meaning, or as he puts it, their “motivation”. I’d like to take this argument a few steps further by applying this theory to many a scene and sequence, sometimes almost the entire film. The priority of writing strong scenes has quite apparently been replaced with gimickry, gratuitous gags, and senseless plot twists all in the name of entertainment. Oh, and they try way way to hard to “be cool” and “fit in with the west”.
Look, I’m taking nothing away from the indi-film movement and growing support for smaller budget films with fantastic concepts and equally excellent execution, producing some awesome films such as Khosla Ka Ghosla, Manorama SFU, Johnny Gaddar and Mithya to name just a few. But I do sincerely believe that any significant changes will need to come from the top and work their way down. The top production houses, the big budget backers and the marquee writers/directors of this industry need to get back to basics. They need to see that the current slate of commercial cinema is suffering immensely and its because the filmmakers are failing to build their stories, and thus their films, from a solid fundamental foundation.
I could compile a massive lists of culprits, the length dependent only on how far back we want to take this, but then the examples are unfortunately everywhere and for all to see. I will, however, refrain from dissecting any particular films if only to maintain my sanity and avoid going off on a rant. Cuz I don’t want to rant anymore. And I don’t want to bitch anymore. I just want some good movies to watch and enjoy, to be entertained by and to takes something away from them, something to remember. Suffice to say that, with the exception of maybe a half dozen or so films, the rest of the major commercial releases in the past 3-4 years have been not been able to do that. And that is severely, severely disappointing, especially considering the history and great lineage this industry has.
It’s bad enough that this has been an ongoing trend in the comic genre, though had it been limited to just that it would have perhaps been somewhat bearable. But it didn’t stop there. Every damn genre of films, from action to thriller to romance to drama to those pseudo masala films that try to incorporate all of the above in the name of ultimate entertainment, they all royally ignore these damn fundamentals.
I duly recognize that all cinema is in essence an amalgamation, a coming together of many basic “C’s”, including at random: concept, creativity, character, conflict, connection, consistency, conclusion, casting, crew, commerce, cinematography, camera angles, continuity, cutting, close-ups, and composition (yeah I’ve read that book too… though as rightly pointed out by one of my film profs, useful “coverage” should also be on that list.) I acknowledge the importance of all of these C’s, and adhere to most of them most of the time. (As a side-note, I do understand that “breaking the rules” is an important gateway to achieve true creativity and innovativeness, but then I firmly believe that if you are going to break the rules, it is important to understand them. After-all, its good to know the tricks of the trade, but its imperative first that you know the trade. I digress…)
Getting back to hindi cinema, those most-basic, fundamental elements that no story should be told without are as follows:
Context: The set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc. That which surrounds, and gives meaning to, something else.
Consequence: Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition. The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.
By adding these 2 elements to the narrative mix, a filmmaker is well on the way to achieving the 3rd fundamentally important “C”.
Conviction: The unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence.
A film can be packed with characters and conflict, can have a big-time A-list cast or even a great ensemble one, it can prettied up with crazy camera angles and eye-catching cinematography.. hell, it can even be a commercial success (which unfortunately too many of these films have gone on to become thus perpetuating this mindless trend). Despite all of this, these film will still outright suck. Some are terrible, some can be classified (by those with great patience and perhaps great boredom on their side) as “passable” or “one-time watch”, but they will never rise above mediocre, and thus are utterly forgettable. If they are remember, it’s always for all the wrong reasons.
The main reason for this being they fail miserably at getting into the viewers heads, their minds, and capturing their imaginations. And it is and will remain impossible for such films to do so for as long as they continue to ignore the damn basics.
So, let’s get back to basics. Basics. Basics basics freaking basics. Please tell me that someone, somewhere is getting this.
A filmmakers job is to successfully manipulate the audiences’ perceptions, both on an individual and collective basis. For their part, audiences are willing participants, ready to be manipulated, have ride that emotional roller coaster, to “suspend their disbelief” as is famously said in hindi film circles, and to even go as far as let go of their logic… as long as the filmmaker and his team can convince them to do so.
This conviction comes from how the story is set up, and a good set up comes from creating a strong context from which you can understand the central characters and their motivations.
Again, I’d love to give examples (good, bad and damn ugly, but I’ll refrain from doing so to stop myself from going overboard).
How many times have you seen a film where you see a character involved in a scene, which is either supposed to be entertaining or important, and yet you don’t really connect. I mean your watching and you understanding what’s going on and all, but the scene has no impact because you don’t really know why the character is doing that, or worse, why its supposed to be so important or entertaining in the first place.
Whether its a comedy scene, a dramatic one or an action piece, it doesn’t have value or meaning to it without… ~sigh~ … context.
So the film will go on, a series of pretty much random events and unexplainable coincidences connected by thin strands of character and haphazardly developed excuses for any real motivation.
And then something else will happen, some twist in the tale which was is somehow supposed to be in place of an important plot point. And yet audiences will miss the point, though again not necessarily because they don’t know what’s happening but more so because they just don’t care. And why would they care? Why would bother to invest anything above the minimal emotional investment required to just watch the damn film, as opposed to being involved in it? They would only be involved if they cared about the consequence attached to the twist or the shocking/dramatic development. There has to be a build up to it, a lead in. It’s okay if the audience may see it coming for as long as it makes sense and there’s anticipation for how it’s all going to play out.
These two elements, context and consequence, go hand in hand to create conviction. That right there is the foundation upon which you can build your story, almost any story, and then you can add all that cool technique and those big stars and wonderful scenery and special effects and songs and all that other important stuff. As long as its not mostly fluff and filler, we’ll be fine with it I’m sure.
For those of you who are saying “No shit” or wondering out loud “what the fuck is this guy saying that we don’t already know?” … I know you know all this. Every one who is associated creatively with film should. In case you missed it I did mention that its really basic, fundamental stuff.
In fact its so basic that the makes of Dus and Race and Heyy Babbyy and Salaam-E-Ishq and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Dhoom 2 and Krazzy 4 and Cash and Welcome and Sunday and Partner and Naqaab and Kaal and My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves and Aaja Nachle and Apne and Saawariya and Dhol and RGV Ki Aag and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and freaking Tashan (just to name a few…), its so damn basic that they felt that they didn’t need to bother with it. Who needs context with you got kick ass songs like “Is Kaal Kaal Mein Hum Tum Kare Dhamaal.. move it to the beat …” and “Soni De Nakhre Sone Lagde… Oh Kehndi Po Poppy Jam Kehndi Eh Shava Shava” and they got all the big stars and they got big budgets and all that… so… so…
~Sigh~… So now that most of these films are not working with the audience, do you think we can just go back to basics and get some of these fundamental things right? Kind of what worked for “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, “Cheeni Kum”, “Chak De India”, “Rang De Basanti”, “Jodhaa Akhbar”, “Jab We Met” and… and there’s you half dozen films… I just wish the most prolific commercial filmmakers of our country wouldn’t lose sight of this, because many a potentially good film could be saved…
14 Responses to “The 3 Missing C’s in Commercial Cinema…”
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what about C for ‘Cash’? So when movies like ‘Hey Baby’ make crores, who gives a shit about friggin’ basics…
Ok Dazed so you’re saying as long as the film is a hit, YOU don’t care about it being a good film? Right now this is a question posed to you, not to Sajid Khan. He doesn’t have to bother with such questions until the day audiences reject one of his films…
Look, I understand that certain films like Heyy Babyy do become hits, but then that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have been much better films. We as the audience have to start demanding better… and obviously that’s been happening… for every Heyy Babby thankfully there’s a big-budget JBJ or a Cash that flops and at least those filmmakers are forced to re-think where they went wrong, where they failed to make a connection.
To Tony - can you please tell what went wrong with SAAWARIYA. I Am curious.
Shashank, I’m of the opinion that Saawariya was too lost in its own cinematic dream world to really bother with telling a solid story. There was very little the average person watching the film could relate to. Having fabulous sets and a definitive color-palette and some amazingly cinematography is all great, but then those are “filmmaking techniques”, not “story-telling” techniques. Somewhere in all that I personally lost interest, I stopped caring. There was very little there in how the narrative unfolded to grip the audience. Again, maybe some backstory into where Ranbir Kapoor had come from, who he was, what his circumstances are, and then a little more meat to Sonam’s character so we could relate to her and her situation a little better. Also, I think the story lacked a “reason” why these Ranbir connected so deeply with Sonam in such a short time. He just did, and we were supposed to accept that because he’s the hero and she’s the heroine.
Compare this to let’s say a film like “Socha Na Tha”, where you get to know the characters and their personalities and their thought process and their situations so well, again, giving us some context. Then they set up a situation where he Abhay rejects Ayesha, because he’s got a girlfriend, but then the audience already feels that their connection is stronger. So we have consequences. And thus, we’re now convinced of the story Imtiaz Ali was telling. We bought happily bought into it, because we could relate and the way it was told made sense to us.
So, that’s where I feel SLB and his team may have gone wrong. If the story and its characters would have been the main folcus , and all those other elements were there to enhance the presentation of the story, then I believe he could have had a better response with his audience. Again, just my opinion. And he had much much more hype and budget and star-power working in his favor, comparatively to what Imtiaz Ali had. So I think employing some fundamentals in his story-telling should have been more of a priority for SLB, who had more at stake.
Mind you, the point of this post is not to deconstruct Saawariya or any other film. Perhaps it was my lack of restraint to go against better judgement and name certain films.
The point is that, from the point of view of a person who loves films, I feel that there is a something common missing in many of todays films, and so I’ve expressed that here.
Trust me when I tell you that I love commercial cinema. Many people may have other opinions, which is fine, but I actually really enjoyed films like Hum Tum and Main Hoon Na and Salaam Namaste and others just as much as I enjoyed an Socha Na Tha or Khosla Ka Ghosla or a Company.
But then, in my own humble opinion, even that level of quality is missing today. Today it seems films have been rushed in their development, or that these really basic story-telling elements have been completely overlooked and overshadowed by filmmakng techniques. Its important to connect one part of the story to another, or at least it should be.
By the way, what did you think of Saawariya?
A Sanjay Leela Bhansali obsessed fan can never give you the right and unbiased opinion. Actually I am highly impressed by his earlier works too an extent with Saawariya too. But I completely agree with you on the storytelling defect in the film. SLB missed that in making a picture perfect love story.
As far as your love for commercial cinema is concerned I am impressed the way you have admit it. Actually we all love commercial cinema but then you comparing Saawariya wth Socha na Tha doesn’t seems to do justice. You know i i compare khamoshi with Socha na tha then it will be a different story so comparison for me does not works. As far your saying about elements missing in commercial cinema is considered - to an extent I agree with you but all film are not like that.
Yaar Shashank tum to aise bol rahe jo jaise me admitting I like a good commercial film is bade himmat waala kaam… lol…
I can see you point with respect to comparing Saawariya and Socha Na Tha. It was just what came to mind at the time… yes they are 2 different films but then the comparison is based on establishing character on context in a young love story, with the point being how one film did it well and the other failed to do so. Trust me, I wished Saawariya would have been a much better film.. good films only give back to the industry and us as an audience…
There are some elements I feel that are essential to all stories. Cinema is a different medium with a different language than the written form, so it requires these fundamentals a bit more as the maker must tell his stories in a layered, compressed form (telling more in less). The doses may change though, as one film may rely more or less on these things, but you can’t do without them.
I too am impressed with SLB’s Khamoshi.. not all that impressed per se with his later efforts though…
Yupp Khamoshi is his most genuine and sincere effort. Its true and direct from his heart. A Classic what I feel.
Excellent write up mate. i am not an expert in movies (i’m hardly an expert in anything, but we’ll leave that for some other comment), but i agree with you. i was just watching Golmaal (Amol Palekar, Utpal Dutt etc) and i definitely connected to it. Maybe it’s because just like Amol Palekar in that movie, I was looking for a job, so I wanted some interview tips….but anyway, the important point (as you make and I concur) is that I connected to it. Contrast it with say Tashan….i sat on my sofa and just wondered WTF….need i say more?
Cheers,
PK
Shawshank… I would love to see SLB apply that sincere, genuine style to his future films. He’s so damn talented… but then he looses himself in grandeur.. Imagine if Saawaariya was handled in that fashion, how much better a film it could’ve been…
Thanks PK… Yes, the old Golmaal (and many films back then) would connect with us because we could understand the characters, what motivates them, and what’s happening with them and why… and this applies to film ranging from the simple and subtle (like those classic Hrishikesh Mukherjee films) and the out and out masala films (like those by Prakash Mehra, Shakti Samanta and Ramesh Sippy, to name a few). They all connected with us because, regardless of how over-the-top some of the stories may have been, the story-telling was always solid…
In fact films which we cannot relate to may become hits on the basis of starpower,music,items numbers but they dont have shelf life.Just imagine would you like to buy dvds of Welcome,Hey Baby for your collection(even though they earned crores).On the other hand you may have dvds of Angoor,Golmaal(old one),Chupke chupke,Lamhe and watch them again and again(even though none of them were blockbusters).In fact small films like Choti si baat has more shelf life than say an Amitabh blockbuster like Zameer or Suhaag.This is where good storytelling scores.
That’s precisely my point Anindya. Making memorable movies requires solid storytelling. Don’t you wish more filmmakers would adhere to this?
a very very nice write up…now some one please go and read it out to all the top shot shit head producers
Thanks Vivek :)
I admit I wrote this out of frustration.. had just come back from the video store, but found nothing worth renting (on a night we really wanted to watch a good, new hindi film we had not seen before)…
Just think it would be great if we had a regular flow of good movies to watch…