Cinema Cinema !!!

Being a movie buff, I manage to watch atleast one movie every weekend. Though films are meant primarily for entertainment, I feel that they can be used as an effective medium to reach out to the people and convey something. When I watch a film, I try to analyze how identifiable is it to the real life. But its quite disappointing that most of the Indian films these days are far from reality.

The telugu movies are worse when it comes to the identification with real life. Here the protagonist is a person who bashes upto 50 people in a single go, romances with heroines half his age and yet walks away preaching something towards the climax of the film. Sometimes the message looks very forced in the film, its just there to maintain the image of the star. To add to the irony, the stars who act in the so called message oriented films, are actually criminals in real life. There is one thing which I dont understand about our telugu films: why should a protagonist of a story be an ideal person when no one in this world is perfect. Also even more hilarious is the characterization of the antagonists. No matter how powerful he is, at some point he has to be defeated by our ideal hero. This is what they call the truimph of good over bad.

I have noted one more interesting point in the telugu films, mostly the ones targeted at the college going audiences. The hero of the film starts of as a fit for nothing guy. Suddenly one transformation song (like the Travelling Soldier song in the movie 'Thammudu') towards the climax makes him responsible, rich or whatever he wants to become. Everything with only one song. God, how I wish such songs happen in my life.

Another notable thing is the potrayal of women in Telugu films. The heroines are just meant to fall in love with the hero, no matter how he is, what he is. The only expectation from the female lead in the movies of top stars is to wear skimpy outfits and woo the hero. I wonder how a teenage girl falls in love with a person thrice her age. There is no particular characterisation for heroines in telugu movies. One exception to this trend was the character of the heroine in the movie 'Anand'. She was portrayed as an independent person who takes her own decisions and very much in control of her life. Now that was something close to the concept of a modern woman.

Coming to the hindi movies, there is a lot of variety atleast. Each production house has its own trend. The Chopras and Johars stick to their 'feel-good' kind of films. The effect is that you just feel good watching the movie without much relevance to the normal life. I feel these kind of stories have relevance only in an utopian world. But amazingly, these films have a high success rate. Probably this is becoz most of us want to live in an utopian world.

I have to admit the fact that I am a great fan of Ram Gopal Varma coz everytime he tries to do something different. But I feel his films trigger the people in the society to take a wrong path rather than the right path. His film 'D' glorified an underworld Don and made it look how easy it was to become a Don. Most of his underworld films have a tragic finale with a message describing the miserable end of those entering the underworld. But the message thats actually getting conveyed is totally different.

One production house I hate is that of the Bhatts'. In the name of thrillers, all one gets to see in their films is the heroine shedding her clothes without any inhibitions. They publicize these movies as bold ones representing the changing society. Oh really! gimme a break. But there was one recent film which was a bit different from a normal Bhatt film. It's 'Kalyug' starring Kunal Khemu. I thought it would be another sleazy Bhatt fair. But a sensitive theme was handled with extreme dexterity. Making such a film is like walking on the edge of a sword coz the theme might look sleazy if not handled properly.

I find films by Nagesh Kuknoor more identifiable with the life of a common man. All the characters in his films are straight out of life. Starting from Hyderabad Blues to his recent Iqbal, almost all his films are worth a watch. There are a few films which really stand out when it comes to the identification with the real life. In the recent times, I have seen this movie called 'Apharan'. The protagonist of the story is a normal middle class person who succumbs to the situations and takes the wrong path. His helplessness in certain situations and remorseful feelings towards the end are depicted very well. A lot of sensitive issues were handled very deftly. Here the protagonist is no superman who has a solution for everything. However, the film didnt fare well at the box office, reason: the entertainment factor being too low. Another thought provoking movie was 'Swades'. But even the star power of SRK couldnt affect the fate of the film at the box office. A lot of such good films have failed at the box office. I feel that these kind of films should be encouraged by the audiences.

Having said all this, I don't mean to say that all films should necessarily carry a message. A movie is basically meant for entertainment, so as long as it entertains you, its good. But atleast the filmmakers should make films closer to the normal life and bridge the gap between reel-life and real-life. As viewers, I feel its our responsibility to encourage movies which are realistic and close to life.