On watching a ceremony as magnificient as the Oscar awards, one can seldom do anything else other than wonder in awe.And i don't mean awe because of the majestic sets or the fancy lights or even the gorgeous women(well that does help a bit!)
The reason for this feeling of wonder and fascination is this -
How does an industry churn out films of such high quality year after year, ceaselessly, in the process ensuring the entire world's attention is drawn to them-in respect and amazement?
The sweeping range of emotions and stories told on the Hollywood screens is something our movies can only dream to portray.So why do Hollywood film makers decide to risk millions of dollars to make a film that does not exactly appeal to the mainstream( e.g "Sideways" or even this years "Capote" for that matter)
I can only assume but my conjecture is that Western audiences have reached such a level of maturity that they can see through films like The Rock or The Hulk or Pearl Harbour and identify and avoid them for their terrible cliches,hackneyed script and
over the top(by their standards) acting
Forget Hollywood. Take world cinema. Why would independant film makers from Serbia(No Man's Land) and Rwanda(Hotel Rwanda, God sleeps in Rwanda) risk the same with thier shoe-string budget?
It just shows that the world is ready for experimental cinema contributed by all countries. If only the Johar's and the Ram Gopal Verma's and the Chopra's would step out of their stereotyped views about Indian sensibilities and greed for the NRI crowd yearning for Indian Sanskar.
And in case they present the argument that Indian people just want to see fantasy, well, the rest of the world is surely welcoming you with their willingness to give Indian cinema a shot. If you overlook the need for only Indian people to watch your films, you open your minds to a far wider and tolerant audience.
7 comments:
The wave of experimentation is also sweeping India off late & the top 5 movies of 2005 are ample proof of the same.
In Hollywood, movies which have raised the current day issue have always done well at Oscars and Brokeback Mountain is an example of that.
Well i agree that Yash Chopra shud start reorienting his view on Indian sensibilities but that will happen only when sensibilities of large section of Indian public actually change.
Maybe Indian directors ought to broaden their perspectives then..and not just appeal to Indian sensibilities.
Speaking of which,they arent as "sanskaari" as we might think
e.g Page 3,RDB
The point you missed is that good movies are usually not box-office hits. You will see the point if you see this year's oscar winners. Also the movies pointed out by you (Rwanda) etc did poorly or average at box office. There are very few mature audiences even across the whole world. We make good movies in India too. But they are made in parallel or art films. Mainstream Hindi movies are made for box-office collections. Good never meant money in movie-making anywhere in the world. People just wanna watch fantasy or what they cannot achieve in real world.
@Devendra
So why cant a good movie be a box office hit as well?
Godfather..Few good men..shawshank redemption..DCH..Lagaan..RDB?
Truth is script writers seldom have the guts or the talent to come up with a credible story..
And if an independant film maker does make a movie in a small budget..the return on investment he gets is also commensurate..
Also,wouldnt u agree that the chances for a small budget movie with a good storyline to make a reasonable profit has increased in India?
Why then do we still have Malamaal Weekly?
I kind of disagree with this whole idea that somehow Hollywod makes more meaningful cinema than India. For instance, all the 5 Best Picture nominees this year as well last year were films that had struggled to find financiers because they were deemed too unsafe. Mind you, Deuce Bigalow - Male Gigolo -Part 2, White Chicks, Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc were made without any hesitation. The ratio of godawful to good movies is approximately the same. Its just that more 'acclaimed' movies find overseas distributors and so we think that a majority of the movies are good.
This doesn't in anyway excuse the big studios in Bollywood. But if regional/non-hindi cinema were to be marketed better I see no reason why Indian movies couldn't command the same respect as other countries
ps. Guess who this is? :-/
hi.. i kinda accept your argument. But basically if we take a broader perspective, we can say that a few good and out of the box movies have been made in last 5 years or so even in bollywood. And I think the audiences are getting more receptive towards better movies but it wont help until new blood enters BOLLYWOOD. Coz frankly, johar and even RG verma can't really match the craziness that's required for brilliant creativity. You just need flawlessly weird thoughts for that! So lets wait and watch! or get in and do it!
We have some of the most brilliant minds in the country .. Highly imaginative and creative ..
But I always find myself wondering , why do our writers churn out the same,overused scripts day in and day out .. Even if we end up creating a movie worthy enough to be praised , we realise that the idea behind it hasn't been original , has been 'inspired' by someone else's works.
Talking about lack of finances or technical know-how .. How much did genuinely good movies like Swades or RDB cost ?
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