The famous American author John C. Maxwell said “ A lack of realism in the vision today costs credibility tomorrow”. This could very well apply to the Indian film industry where most of the scripts celebrate the make believe and maintaining the semblance of reality is essentially an afterthought.
Suspension of disbelief is a term that is not only missing from the lexicon not because realism has been suspended but because what we have been seeing has gradually become an ersatz reality or our version of reality. While this in itself is no reason for heartache if we had been blissful in our unique cine world, and celebrated our distinctness, the tragedy persists because even in this scenario there remain those hopefuls who aspire to accolades from the European Film Academy (inconceivable in the extreme) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (highly ambitious but relatively plausible).
With the passing of time there has been a slow and gradual progress of the Indian filmmaking fraternity towards meeting the ‘international’ standards but the aspirants are still some distance away from finding the golden mean. A recent article carried a story about how the Big B during one of his visits to Cannes had queried “So what does it take to get one of our films to compete at Cannes?”, “A serious theme and plenty of marketing” replied an associate. This is a relatively simplistic answer to answer for the rejection that Indian entries, for all their prolificity, face at the international film festivals. The answer however starts in the reply, but goes beyond.
A serious theme could help attract initial attention but Indian films with their simplistic outlines do not summon enough velocity to storm past the finishing line. Should we be concerned ? Yes and no. While the desire to achieve the laudable objective of ‘higher’ standards is appreciable, the continued ‘lack of success’ is a cause for worry. Surely years of study with detailed and assiduous examination of the best that the world has to offer would have offered sufficient preparation to clear the boards and launch into the sea of celluloid success.
Apparently not, if the unoccupied trophy cabinets and medal boxes are any indication. This, one suspects, is due to the very different creative diet that the Indian filmmaker is raised on, and despite honest efforts hinder their spirited march towards global shores. That the burning cauldron of ‘commercial viability’ is where all ventures originate is a no brainer but having cleared that crucial hurdle the relief that a filmmaker experiences probably suppresses any feeling of overwhelming creativity that he might have been nursing all along.
Two recent hindi films offer perspectives as to why the focus sometimes goes wrong and the possibilities had the movies been astutely crafted and marketed or indeed cleverly cast. Let’s start with ‘Kesari’, a fantastic story if there ever was one, which tells the true story of a band of 21 Sikh Soldiers (stationed in a fort at the Afghan Frontier during the British Raj), and their attempt to stop 10,000 hardy Afghan warriors from overrunning the post. The story requires few embellishments as the plot itself promises all the right doses of valor, adventure in a challenging terrain and a duel between 2 worthy opponents who are fierce fighters in their own right. But as the commercial considerations demand – some market-oriented, some star-oriented – reality goes for a toss, not least in the opening scene when a ‘heroic’ Akshay singlehandedly rescues a woman from the barbaric justice of the ‘jirga’.
This sets the trend for all that follows and the heroism of the 20 others does not get quite the screen space they deserve. While one has acclimatized to the all too familiar Bollywood dampener, there is nevertheless the sense of regret regarding potential possibilities, especially when the story is firmly grounded in gospel reality. Would the 2010 ‘Robin Hood’ toplined by Russell Crowe have been such a riveting watch had the supporting cast – Little John, Friar Tuck et al. not been given due space ? or would the climactic war scene in ‘Braveheart’ have been as engaging had the opponents been depicted as caricaturish brutes ! An absolute gem in a different context was ‘Mard ko dard nahin hota’ (released on the same date as ‘Kesari’). This movie had possibly everything going for it, including a lovely story and great performances. While there was nothing in the movie which was radically different in terms of content, it was the irreverence that made it stand out, mocking tradition and all the clichés typical of Bollywood, as if daring us to do it better.
Both films however stand at opposite ends of the pole one standing in deference to tradition, the other totally unmindful of it. ‘Kesari’ managed to send the cash registers jingling, the other barely crawled at the box office. Anurag Singh of Kesari might already have signed up as helmsman for his next blockbuster, but no surprises if ‘Mard’ Vasan Bala (director of Mard…) has had to trudge up to Mr. Moneybags’ arena to parade his skills once gain. So while the prescription of a ““A serious theme and plenty of marketing” is part of the remedy for the international circuit it has to be supplemented by the art of crafting a story.
The panacea for the home grown audience (for the offbeat film) one suspects would also require adding the right dose of star appeal to it if the road to success is not intended to be a long-drawn-out affair.
Article By :Shantanu Sharma
Leave a reply