Make a wish come true!
No guys I am not offering any genie-like services, which I know many people would want. But no!
However the subject is not that different though. I am sure all of us have seen either the lord of the rings trilogy or the dhaapnya boy wizard stories. Mind you I have said SEEN, not READ. (Although I know how most of you like reading such stories; I, personally, prefer being lazy and someone else visualizing it for me!) Anyway, that’s not the point; I mean all of us have seen the way the films are visually presented in the west! The huge big budget films, to say the least, are done very clinically, at least in terms of production and technological usage. And the simple reason for this is that they have been doing it for a long time, and they have got better and better at it. As a result, fantasy as a genre has become popular and appreciated and now filmmakers are taking that risk and making films that have a budget equivalent to that of our politicians ghar kharcha! Now that’s a huge thing!!! I mean look at Avatar – 350 million dollars! Whoever would have dreamt that one day someone would make something so expensive or rather someone will give him the money to make something so expensive. But it has been done; and the reason for this is the faith of the audience in a genre that is expensive!
How many of us think that a lord of the rings, or harry potter or Narnia series can be made here successfully?
Trust me, the answer is not many. And not because we don’t have the talent, its because no one will put in the money to make something so huge; and you want to know why…its simple, because they don’t know if the audience will come and see the film. The Indian film audiences (including film critics and us) are very cynical. We love to trash a film; we think it makes us sound intellectual and smart! Don’t worry; we all do it, no matter how much we deny…we all do it! (Now please don’t sit back and think what you said about the last film you saw).
Classic example is that of recently released huge budget films – Blue and Aladin. Both films huge budget… and both films tanked! Tanked because of poor audience response; and that was not because people didn’t like it (some of them did like it), it was purely because the “critics” ravaged it, right at the beginning. Nobody likes to go and watch a film that is bad, or rather that is drilled into your senses!
These films were not bad, yes I am sure they were lacking in certain basic areas, but those were not their USP, those aspects were not aimed at the audiences. The USP of the films was something else, in Blue it was the under-water filming, and in Aladin it was the sheer magnitude of the GFX used and creation of a fantasy world, which didn’t exist. Both these aspects were something that was not tried earlier in Indian cinema. And although they cost a fortune, the risk was taken not only to make it work for the respective films, but also for the future films to come.
I don’t know much about Blue, as I haven’t seen it, but Aladin (yes there is a certain amount of bias attached to it) one can see the effort put into it. And the GFX, which was the USP of the film, was not a downer by any means!
No one said Sujoy Ghosh is an extra-ordinary director (we have seen that in jhankaar beats / home delivery). But he is someone who actually visualized a world like Khwaish and made it grand…give him credit for that. Anthony D’souza is a debutant director… but he did those underwater sequences and they looked good (at least in the promos)… give him credit for that!
My point is, if we as lovers of Indian cinema do not support the cause of fantasy films in India, then no Indian filmmaker will take the chance again to stand up and make a film which has a never before seen USP. We still will be stuck with the mindless comedies that have the same plot as the other; or thrillers and dramas, which are stolen frame to frame from films around the world. Lets be a little loose, lets give us a chance, because most of us dream about making a never-before-seen blockbuster. If you don’t support these now, there won’t be anyone who will put in the money for you… because I don’t think anyone of us will earn so much, even if we do we won’t risk our own money with it. So think about the future, preserve your financers, go watch these films and make them a hit! So we can make one more tomorrow!
However the subject is not that different though. I am sure all of us have seen either the lord of the rings trilogy or the dhaapnya boy wizard stories. Mind you I have said SEEN, not READ. (Although I know how most of you like reading such stories; I, personally, prefer being lazy and someone else visualizing it for me!) Anyway, that’s not the point; I mean all of us have seen the way the films are visually presented in the west! The huge big budget films, to say the least, are done very clinically, at least in terms of production and technological usage. And the simple reason for this is that they have been doing it for a long time, and they have got better and better at it. As a result, fantasy as a genre has become popular and appreciated and now filmmakers are taking that risk and making films that have a budget equivalent to that of our politicians ghar kharcha! Now that’s a huge thing!!! I mean look at Avatar – 350 million dollars! Whoever would have dreamt that one day someone would make something so expensive or rather someone will give him the money to make something so expensive. But it has been done; and the reason for this is the faith of the audience in a genre that is expensive!
How many of us think that a lord of the rings, or harry potter or Narnia series can be made here successfully?
Trust me, the answer is not many. And not because we don’t have the talent, its because no one will put in the money to make something so huge; and you want to know why…its simple, because they don’t know if the audience will come and see the film. The Indian film audiences (including film critics and us) are very cynical. We love to trash a film; we think it makes us sound intellectual and smart! Don’t worry; we all do it, no matter how much we deny…we all do it! (Now please don’t sit back and think what you said about the last film you saw).
Classic example is that of recently released huge budget films – Blue and Aladin. Both films huge budget… and both films tanked! Tanked because of poor audience response; and that was not because people didn’t like it (some of them did like it), it was purely because the “critics” ravaged it, right at the beginning. Nobody likes to go and watch a film that is bad, or rather that is drilled into your senses!
These films were not bad, yes I am sure they were lacking in certain basic areas, but those were not their USP, those aspects were not aimed at the audiences. The USP of the films was something else, in Blue it was the under-water filming, and in Aladin it was the sheer magnitude of the GFX used and creation of a fantasy world, which didn’t exist. Both these aspects were something that was not tried earlier in Indian cinema. And although they cost a fortune, the risk was taken not only to make it work for the respective films, but also for the future films to come.
I don’t know much about Blue, as I haven’t seen it, but Aladin (yes there is a certain amount of bias attached to it) one can see the effort put into it. And the GFX, which was the USP of the film, was not a downer by any means!
No one said Sujoy Ghosh is an extra-ordinary director (we have seen that in jhankaar beats / home delivery). But he is someone who actually visualized a world like Khwaish and made it grand…give him credit for that. Anthony D’souza is a debutant director… but he did those underwater sequences and they looked good (at least in the promos)… give him credit for that!
My point is, if we as lovers of Indian cinema do not support the cause of fantasy films in India, then no Indian filmmaker will take the chance again to stand up and make a film which has a never before seen USP. We still will be stuck with the mindless comedies that have the same plot as the other; or thrillers and dramas, which are stolen frame to frame from films around the world. Lets be a little loose, lets give us a chance, because most of us dream about making a never-before-seen blockbuster. If you don’t support these now, there won’t be anyone who will put in the money for you… because I don’t think anyone of us will earn so much, even if we do we won’t risk our own money with it. So think about the future, preserve your financers, go watch these films and make them a hit! So we can make one more tomorrow!
I totally agree. Lets go out, watch a film, and decide for ourselves what works and what doesn't work in the film.
ReplyDeleteAnd when it comes to fantasy films, yes, lets not be eager to discourage. We have a long way to go, maybe,but like you said, we should appreciate the efforts these filmmakers are putting to trod the less traveled road and give us something new. :)
wow! that's some perspective...never thought about the situation from that angle...you are right about our own decisions riding piggy back on the critics' view of things. May be we only try to sniff out the story, and not bother about the actual USP of a film...then again, i feel that film makers need to highlight the USPs instead of telling us that such-and-such film is a love story, or a crime thriller...may be they need to harp on the bit that is a first in Indian cinema...may be that could help in driving the point home. I might be wrong, but that's what i think.
ReplyDeletehonestly thats what i thought they harped on.. especially these two fellows
ReplyDeletei think in India its often the form that dictates the content and not the other way round. We have the expertise, the FX, [maybe not so much money], but do we have the thought in place? Again I'm not trying to be the proverbial cynic here..look at some overly edited films like a Kaante or Ghajini[can't remember good eg.]..but say a Matrix trilogy came up with a brilliant screenplay and developed an entire new way of visualization..not the other way round. We on the other hand tend to go overboard at times with the gimmickry we have at hand. So let's restrain that use..come up with a good script and then conceive the brilliance in its execution. Before an Alladin or a Blue, really shoddy films have left their indelible blotch with tacky gfx which has set a very prejudiced perspective about Hindi fantasy stuff..so as filmmakers we need to do a balancing act and as viewers we should appreciate the effort.
ReplyDeleteHere's my 2 pence:
ReplyDeleteIn Bollywood, drama & comedy (mindless or otherwise) have always ruled the roost. There have also been instances of movies that are 'hatke' for their time, arriving and taking the Box office by storm. So I dont thinks its only about audience appreciation of movies that tread a different path - in fact its about whats up on screen at the end of the day that makes or breaks a movie.
I personally dont think (call me a cynic) we've reached a level where we can compare the Lord of The Rings trilogy to any movie made in Bollywood just yet. To base the success of a movie only on GFX or camerawork, may not be prudent.
Yes, the impetus to watch LOTR was the GFX but what I left with was the mesmerising manner in which an interesting tale was unravelled. The success of LOTR (or any such succesful fantasy movie) was due to the seamless combination of a great tale, top-of-the-line GFX and directorial artistry among others. It wouldn't have worked if only one of the factors was excellent and the others, pedestrian.
So, my view is that there is no debate about the fact that we should support film-making efforts that are new and path-breaking. We should all make the effort of watching them and then deciding for ourselves whether it was worth the effort - rather than making judgements based on heresay. However, no matter what we debate about, a movie's success/failure depends on what it finally serves up - the entire package.
Ok - i admit! that was more than just 2 pence ! :)
I agree with Advait's point that most of us base our opinions about the movie by reading what the critics have to say or review it online before watching it ourselves. But, given the choice of 10 films per month and having the time to watch only a couple, that would be the way one would go. People only want to watch the best the industry has to offer and while it isn't necessary that what critics say is the best would be the best, there aren't other options to find out either.
ReplyDeleteI do think that Indian fantasy films have a long way to go and by long way I don't mean long time. For all you know, tomorrow there might be an oscar winning fantasy film by an Indian director and I look forward to "that" tomorrow!
A very compassionate view Adi!
ReplyDeleteWould you forgive a murderer if his USP were to be the only Indian to eat a hundred hamburgers at one sitting, simply because he has got closest to an American who can eat a hundred and fifty? Would you set him free so that others are not discouraged from eating more burgers? Wouldn't you be encouraging more murders because now there is a way to escape the punishment?
No. I assume.
Let us not endorse a film only because of a novel USP. It has to be liked in entirety.
Aladin did not do badly because of its GFX and I don’t think Blue sank because of its underwater scenes. The reasons for their bad performance were different and maybe justified. And thank God these gimmicks, though impressive, could not sway people else we would have been flooded with fifteen similar films next year wanting to cash-in on the formula. Blue 2 and Aladin Returns!
The flop show of these two films has sent a message to Bollywood that is clear, positive and encouraging. Make a fantasy that is better than Aladin in all aspects and then we’ll see it twenty times. Buy merchandise worth millions of rupees. Flaunt the logo on our t-shirts. As ‘lovers of Indian cinema’ we are ready to overlook the difference of quality between Aladin and LOTR provided the rest of the content is worthy of appreciation. We will do more harm to Bollywood if we endorse a film which maybe brilliant in one aspect but flawed in most of the others. Let’s not create a false sense of achievement among filmmakers. As Bollywood fans who pay as much to see an English film, we are seeking a film that is as good as LOTR, Harry Potter 3 (only) or Narnia, if not better. And after seeing the magnitude of Aladin and the technical brilliance of Blue, I have a feeling that day is not too far.
As we wait, let us not create another set of formula films find respite from the existing set of formula films.
PS: I love Aladin even though I haven't watched it yet. I have double bias attached to it :)