This past Tuesday night, I witnessed a glimmer of maturity and intelligence in the Indian film industry. Yes, Rang De Basanti has struck all the right notes, and delivers a strong and awakening message. I am very critical when it comes to films, especially Hindi ones, but this one was pure class.
From the introductory scene to the very last shot, every scene was well thought out and brilliantly directed. Every shot was either an emotional punch or a gut-wrenching laugh. The first half of the movie was truly commendable, extremely funny, and beautifully set up for the finale. But as I absorbed the second half, I felt a sense of unrealism. The unrealistic nature of Hindi films is what I hate the most, so before the movie ended, I almost made up my mind about it - it had a good start, but then it became too unreal. But only after the movie got over, did I realize the genius of the film. The extreme nature of the end was the reason why, the message, that the film wanted to deliver, came out so strong. So even after I got a feeling of 'what the hell' in the middle, I have to appreciate the brilliance of how the movie got out its message. It was strong and hard-hitting. It affected me and most others. I laud the effort of the makers of the film and hope that more movies of similar nature are produced.
I find Bollywood quite shameful, because even though it produces the most number of movies, it produces the crapiest ones. Only a few have stood out to me, like Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and now Rang De Basanti. Unrealistic, unoriginal and not satisfying are the three adjectives I normally use to describe any Hindi movie. Bollywood is plagued with the worst sickness. Its sole aim is to earn money, and now it has found another way to earn more ‘cash’– sex! And then they say, look the Indian film industry is maturing. Indian producers produce movies to please the general public, which clearly does not include the intelligent or well-educated class, and feel that producing serious or thought-provoking films will not give them enough money. But what they are unknowingly doing is throwing the fickle-minded into an unreal world, a world where they start to believe that impossible miracles can take place, like ‘Jadoo’ crash-landing on earth, or ‘Shaktiman will save me’! This just continues to highlight India’s backwardness, and instead of using media to, in some way or the other, help the country grow, they are contributing to its stagnation. Yes some films are taking steps to incorporate both aspects – please the public and also leave them with a sense of reality. But it’s rare, and let us hope it doesn’t stay that way. In that sense, Rang De Basanti was quite uplifting. In its own way it has made Bollywood more colourful. Its high time Bollywood produces more films like that.
And about the Television industry of India, don’t even get me started. I think that they spent the most amount of their time on sound effects.
It is a very open topic, so please feel free to give me your opinions.
24 comments:
Hindi films aren't THAT bad. Yes, the new 'formula' ones and the dumb Govinda comedies are unbearable, but the rest aren't quite bad. The problem may be that once a film is successful, the mantra is repeated until people get bored of it. But overall, I believe hindi cinema is unique .. in a good way.
It does not compare with Hollywood in terms of sound effects and action .. but the emotion involved is often profound .. only ofcourse in the right movies.
People consider English movies better is that, unlike Hindi movies, they are not based entirely on family matters, etc.
Even in Hollywood, there are loads of crappy movies .. and now there are too many bad remakes and sequels to once good movies.
As regards hindi cinemas .. they may not appeal to you, but many indians do like them.
Yes, Hindi films are unique. They are unique because no other industry produces such melodramtic, overly emotional, unrealistic films. Yeah people may debate, stuff like King Kong etc are very unreal too, but the difference between King Kong and lets say Paheli is that King Kong is supposed to be unreal, and after considering it to be unreal, how realistic it appears is the genius of Hollywood.
And hell there are English movies which are based on family matters, but that should not even be a debatable point, because the very fact that Indian films are only on family matters, shows its lack of innovativeness.
Yeah true, hollywood does have some crappy movies, but the crappy movies of hollywood are much better than crappy movies of bollywood - and that says a lot.
And when it comes to genuine emotion, realisation and variety, Hollywood outclasses bollywood. Good english movies have always had more of an impact on me than good Hindi ones.
Another point to deride, 'Koi Mil Gaya' was considered one of the best Hindi movies of 2003 or 2004. To me, it was so unreal, that even when I knew it was not supposed to be real, I couldnt relate or enjoy it. Because it was so bloody fake.
And the 'greatness' of Indian movies can be further proved by their inability to win an oscars, or even get nominated this year.
This is totally my opinion.
Thanks for ur comments though Govind, a healthy debate is always good!
First of all, Paheli was as realistic as King Kong was.
Secondly, if King Kong was better than Paheli at all, all that this shows is that Hollywood producers have more money to pump into their films.
Lastly, it is impossible to compare the two films - King Kong is nowhere near being a folk tale.
Western culture is completely different from eastern (indian) culture. To compare emotion related and family matters related movies of the two and declare one as better is more a reflection of your preference of one culture over the other.
Hindi movies aren't totally based on family matters ... movies on war, history, friendship, ambition and patriotism are also common and famous.
Koi Mil Gaya was considered a good movie because of the acting and because it was new territory for Indian cinema ... aliens and all. The script may not have been good.
The oscars are more a recognition of english films from around the world than of films of all languages. There is only ONE category for foreign films ... in other words, non-english films from around the world, compete for five nominations and one prize. It isn't very easy. Moreover, the results in this category don't prove which is the best film. To decide on a fair winner, we require a person who understands all languages (subtitles, translations don't provide the same effect), all cultures and does not favour any one genre of movies. It is obviously impossible to identify such a person.
I have never stated that Hindi films are better than English films. All I have said is that your criticism of Indian cinema and telivision was totally unjust and that hindi films have been and are 'good'.
This again is my opinion.
Keep up the good work .. your blog is very interesting to read.
If you believe that ghost babies are real, than thats your belief. As I said before, King Kong transfers you in this world of fantasy, and when you get transferred, everything in that seems real. Thats the beauty of the movie. I compared it to Paheli, because the idea of Ghost-babies was really ridiculous to me, whereas however ridiculous King Kong is, we tend to relate and appreciate the finer aspects of the film. The unrealism is drowned, and this is totally NOT the case of Hindi movies. If you found my comparison of King Kong and Paheli inappropriate, maybe I can compare the movie to Koi Mil Gaya. Now to me, Koi Mil Gaya was one of the lamest movies ever. I found the acting terrible. Hrithik Roshan wasn't acting, he was overacting, and the portrayal of the story was ridiculous.
About the oscars, even other foreign language films face the same problems, so all is fair! And also, the Foreign Film award is judged by "special screening committees – and since members of those committees must view the films at Academy screenings in order to be able to vote – any regulations having to do with video screeners in particular do not apply." (http://www.oscars.org/regulations/index.html)
And about the family genre, we were arguing about, I took that from you earlier post - "People consider English movies better is that, unlike Hindi movies, they are not based entirely on family matters, etc" I am not saying all bollywood movies are family related, but most are, well not most, more than most - widen your horizons bollywood!
I still maintain that the level of films in bollywood is very low. It still needs to mature a lot, and its high time we see better quality hindi films.
I must disagree. Though eloquently expressed and well supported, your argument itself is “unrealistic.” You ask that the Indian film industry change its “unrealistic, unoriginal and not satisfying” ways and begin appealing to the “intelligent or well-educated class.” Sadly, the majority of Indians are neither intelligent nor well-educated. Movies are designed to entertain - that is their primary purpose - be it using the element of comedy, emotional issues, family drama or even that of unrealism. You say Indian producers’ sole aim is to make money – isn’t that the case with most producers in almost every part of the globe – you don’t mean to suggest that Hollywood producers are attempting to culturally enlighten their audiences rather than earning big at the box office!? Not to mention Hollywood selling sex!? And I truly believe that if films such as Koi Mil Gaya have entertained a nation of people, us “well-educated classes” need not complain.
Moreover, what exactly is so wrong about unrealism?! If we wanted a true portrayal of life, why would we need films at all? They are MEANT to foster hope in miracles (there are hardly any “impossible miracles”) and pique our curiosity about implausible experiences. The directors do not expect us to “realistically” believe that aliens have invaded Earth; they have simply created a character, fake or otherwise, that is able to entertain us for three hours – and if children begin to believe that space-invasion could possibly occur (and it could), I see nothing so appalling about that – who can honestly say that they never believed in the tooth-fairy or Santa Claus?! And consequently, should we disparage nursery rhymes, with eggs falling from walls and Jack jumping over a candlestick, which once again throw the “fickle-minded into an unreal world”? My point is that true, most Hindi movies are the height of craziness, unbelievable scenarios and kids dancing on the streets of Mumbai; nevertheless, if they are enjoyed by most of the country, we don’t need to deride them.
And by the way, Rang de Basanti was a wonderful movie – absolutely delightful and inspirational – and I myself disliked the movie Koi Mil Gaya intensely – so sorry for playing the Devil’s advocate here!
Mr. Anonymus, whoever you may be, well said!!
Anish, look, give it a break. You are just trying to criticise without being willing to accept the fact that Indian cinema is going places. You may not like it, but LOTS of people do, and LOTS of people are not dumb enough to waste their time and hard earned money watching these movies. Mind you, these very people have access to English movies as well. Why then do they prefer hindi over english? Probably because there is something in them that you don't see.
At the end of it all, do we assess the quality of acting, the relevance of the script, the message delivered, the direction, choreography, etc. and then decide whether or not we enjoyed a movie? NO. As long as we enjoy watching, the movie is good.
PS: I never said Koi Mil Gaya was good. I just provided reasons for why it was considered good. Check above.
theres a picture i saw the other day
A brilliant debate...waiting for Anish's reply to this. Looking forward to reading more.
ps - i do not understand hindi and dont watch many movies so i have no say in this although some of "anonomyous's" points seem pretty good especially with the "unreal " comparisons.
waiting for the next comment....keep going !
- gomezzz
I personally felt that the only good thing about koi mil gaya was the acting by hrithik roshan...yes anish i know that you thought his character potrayal was medically inaccurate...but otherwise i dint think that RDB was spectacular like dil chahta hai, but it is definately a step in the right direction for indian cinema.Now, i felt that "waqt" was a well made movie. i recommend it to those people who dont think that india can produce a good flick. i know romit did not like the movie, but then romit chooses debs over big fish.
it was a big picture in a museam of art
raised eyebrow expression to last comment.
im pretty sure it was modern art.
hmm interesting...not really...
the art depicted people not being themselves. people TRYING to be funny. people TRYING to be smart.
dear Tejas, waqt was not a good movie. it was over dramatic, amitabh didn't act very well. i didn't like the script and dialogues and the story. I chose DEBS just to see Jennifer brewster. she is quite hot! choosing Closer over Big Fish was a mistake. i am sorry, i should have listened to you. my apologies.
Romit is a dope
He has no hope
He eats soap
And worships the pope
In this world ,he cannot cope
For he does not understand the use of a spectroscope
With Beckham some day he will elope
Till then, all day he will mope
He should hang himself with a rope
Preferrably on a slope,
for Romit is a dooooooppppeee!!
Just kidding romit;)
For Romit is a dope!!
great come back dude.
sigh
hahahahahahaha omg!u freaks
Cool it Romit, I was just joking ... and Waqt was good.
i dun care it was a cool rap. srry but... i just wanted to write a rap like this. thanx 4 bringing it out. Really srry... no hard feelings ... so dun take it personally.
and waqt sucked
Thanks govind coz waqt was good...romit sorry im changing sides!
minions!! i am your master! bow to me.
its ok karan...
Yea.. The first part of the movie was great, and I mean I normally don't go nuts over a Hindi movie, but this one was preety good. However it was the ending that I really disliked. Donno bout wht Anish said, but I found the ending preety sad like as if it was hastily tought up and just put up cause they overran the budget or something. But otherwise I think it was a great movie and it really put a message forward. It truly showed the true corruption in India, and for that matter everywhere.
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