We love to create stars, don’t we?
the editorial in today’s edition of the Times of India lauds modernity for being able to open itself up for ridicule and criticism. despite attacks on the very soul of modernity over the years, the churning has gone on and never stopped. every creation of the human universe puts itself up for praise and ridicule at the same time. should it be different for cinema? it is not. art that does not elicit a response is not art at all. a film without the characteristic ayes and nays is nothing short of dead wood. but cinema is not dead wood and hence there are reactions in favour of or against films.
stories are often ripped apart by critiques who pose difficult questions to the filmmaker wanting him/her to respond. the cast is sometimes at the recieving end of even greater comment. but natural considering that the Bombay film industry does not take ‘actors’ seriously. it cultivates false icons…i have said this before and want to say it again. it regurgitates stars and presents them to us repackaged and remodelled in the modern form…ready for the market forces to devour them. only that these plastic icons are the offspring of those that were (or still are in certain cases). they quickly fill the vaccum created by the deliberate short shrift given to ‘actors’. these method men and women often resort to commercializing the sheer talent they possess, in the process destroying the motive behind making films.
there are instances where ‘actors’ become part of films that do justice to their calibre and capability. it is a pity that we can count such films on our fingers. hazaron khwahishein aisi is one. but the superb shiney ahuja has graduated to greater heights. absolutely fair. one needs to survive and survive well in the industry. so what is wrong in doing commercials that sell? nothing, absolutely nothing. my comment is on the system of creating ’stars’. commercialization establishes structures that ostracise those who do not make it big in the obvious sense of the term. there is a straightjacketed definition of success and everyone needs to conform. those who do not are again confined and typecast as ‘method actors’ or ‘those who only do arty farty films and do not fit into the commercial mould’. realist films perhaps present scope to actors who find it difficult to belong. the same is true for filmmakers, musicians, the works.
a singular definition governs the system of ’star-making’ and ‘actor-typecasting’. maybe more realist cinema being made in Bombay would be a good thing. the shackles are breaking slowly but surely. the next thing for realist filmmakers (and actors) would be to emerge from the shadows, make films they believe in, not conform to set patterns and practices and rebel in the true sense of the term. as for censorship, we have seen what happened to Parzania in Gujarat and what is being threatened agianst Black Friday in Bombay. do we need to feel afraid?
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
Definitely we shouldn’t be afraid.
But yes, wut i feel is that when
you r not doin the regular song n dance,
give the audience something worthwhile.
We need to up the audience expectation.
If we bore them, they won’t come back to
sensible cinema. ever.
Roshni
I bet a lot of people here in PFC are falling in love with u. Its not hard.
You have a tremendous optimism in you…some of it I have lost over the years of struggle.
I hate the star system as much as u. But what i hate more than that is that Bollywood (even Hollywood) has become a family dhanda. Half the successful people here have some kind of connection. Even our Pavan Kaul belonds to the Rajkumar family.
And the club is getting even more harder to break into. Its very frustrating to see.
“Even our Pavan Kaul belonds to the Rajkumar family.”
So..? How has that made it any easier for him?
Where is the connection? What are you trying to say..
Talent is not something handed down to you ‘viraasat mein’..you either have it or dont. In the case of actors belonging to star families, its a tad different. But for the others its an arduous task.
dear mainak,
optimism is what one needs to survive in a star-obsessed country. you’ve been around, you would know. and so would those actors who have held their own and resisted the temptations of commercial profit. more power to them!
well thats the way the cookie crumbles , roshni
Kaveeta u missed my point.
And u must be kidding me by saying it didnt make it easier for pavan.
And i didnt say anything about their talents. Thats a different issue. Some of them are the most talented people…thanks to growing up among some really creative minds… one example that comes to me is FARHAN AKHTAR…man what genes that kid has got…. And it last for 2 films…after that bollywood took over in the form of DON.
So please don’t take things personally & read what i have said. I said its easier for them to make it…. but to make good films is a diff matter….that will not come in virasat…
Incomplete information is often a dangerous thing..
I dont believe in kidding either..
It would have been prudent if you for starters had read Pavans articles here..Although they do not depict the story, yet one thing gets amply clear..It did NOT make it any easier..He started from scratch and made his way.. just like millions of asst directors do all over the world!It was not an aditya chopra getting his break in the Yashraj camp, or Karan Johar, or Farhan Akhtar..that would have been the apt example of having got it easy.
In any case I cannot find relevance of your example with the article, or the article for that matter.
and to frame sentences in the manner you have chosen to do so is if I may add ..objectionable..
e.g.
“But what i hate more than that is that Bollywood (even Hollywood) has become a family dhanda.”
PFC is about those who feel passionately about cinema..and not who prefer to allude to it as a dhanda.
But of course you are free to hold on to your opinions. My effort was to sift out the reality from a false perception.
I desist from endless arguments on the net, especially if the tone and inference to begin with has been tangentially opposite to ones perspective.
All the best.. Mainak..It would have been better if your identity was also in full view.
Ajay Devgan was a clapper in harry Baweja films. Asst Director.
Now would we consider that struggle?
Do you think Ajay struggled the hard way? Even hritick was a AD for his father?
Anyways I dunno why u r getting so annoyed with my comments.
I never said anything about Pavan’s creativity or talent or anything. I’m sure he is a very talented filmmaker.
Are you threatening me? Are u gonna ban me from Bollywood? what do u mean by my identity being not in full view?
Should i paste my CV in here?
This will be my last response here to this silly fight. This is not the right place to have such arguements. Lets get back to cinema.
All the best to you too.