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‘Aur tu kya kar raha hai aaj kal.’
‘Bas kat rahi hai Airtel waale ki tarah.’
‘Tere uss projekt ka kya hua’
‘Pata nahin yaar, kab shuru hoga,uparwaala jaane.’
‘Toh phir ho kya raha hai?’
‘Struggle.’

‘Kal ki picture dekhi?’
‘Haan, mast thhi.’
‘Pakka saala koi na koi issey copy karneywaala hai.’
‘Main bhi yehi soch raha thha.’
‘Ye copy karkey hit ho jayenge aur hum strugglers yunhi festivals dekhte reh jayenge.’

‘hi boss,wassup’.
‘Nothing much.’
‘When are you going on floor.’
‘Trying to get funding yaar.’
‘Are you trying corporates or private producers?’
‘I am looking for corporate funds man. This private ones are so filmy.’

These were few of the comments overheard by me at a recently concluded French Film Festival held at Fun Republic,Andheri,Mumbai. Just because the passes for the day’s film were strictly on first-cum-first-served basis, the serpentine queues started forming almost two hours before the show timings and provided enough masala worthy of many short films.

This post is not about the review of the films screened or the chaos at the booking window.It is about us. Our subconcious responses and the language used to express our work and milieu.

If you have just completed your management or medicine how you describe yourself and your career at present and its future prospects? That I am into medicine and doing specialisation to move up in my profession. Or I am a management executive looking out for avenues for promotion. Or I am climbing the corporate ladder in finance.

Watch what a guy in film industry has to say. I am struggling. Or about others? Arey yaar ye strugglers dimaag ka dahi kar dete hain. Uski baat mat kar yaar, he is a struggler.

No doubt when one strikes pot of gold at the end of journey pebbled with heartbreaks and numerous ups and downs, hits and misses the word struggle gets a halo and inspirational ring to it in glamour world. There is no harm in using struggling as a verb to describe ones situation that is temporary. But struggler! In my opinion the very word is defeatist.And definitely attracts situations,people and events that reinforce struggle and more struggle.

If you are into medicine and someone mentions about your profession, the natural inclinaiton will be ‘So he is a doctor! What he specialises in?’ And it will be a matter of pride.
Same goes with other professionals whether CAs,lawyers,bankers or ITians. IT industry’s techies are a respectable lot.

Now come to our film industry. As such it has been baptised with a hand-me-down tag Bollywood. When you mention anyone of your fraternity watch the comment–Oh that guy is very filmy. What connotations you have? What kind of image you form? What personality traits are visualised? Filmy is no encomium or appellation. It represents all that is gross,crude,gaudy,manipulative,brash,brazen and blatant.

I think ours is the only profession where one can’t say with one’s head held high ‘ I am into films and I am filmy–and I am like this only.’

What to do? Accept the status quo saying ‘ye toh bada toiiiing hai’ or initiate change by dumping ‘yeh toh bada filmy hai’.

And is it a norm peculiar to our industry or a world-wide phenomenon?