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Indian cinema – getting bigger! Better?
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Everyone
seems to be going bonkers over the opening that
Endhiran has got and rightly so. No other Tamil
movie has created such a giant impact as this
one. While it is indeed a proud feeling to know
that our Superstar’s movie has outdone many
of the Hindi blockbusters in terms of box office
collections, both in India and overseas, there
is also a feeling that we are perhaps losing sight
of the more important thing for something that
is peripheral. Simply put, the emphasis seems
to be more on the numbers than the movie itself.
There is talk of per screen averages, net collections,
tax deductions, gross revenue and regional trends,
but somewhere in the midst of all this, no one
seems to be actually talking about how good the
movie is! By no one, I mean the bulk of the media.
Is that really wrong, you might think? Going by
the rules of cinema, only a good movie can translate
into good collections and therefore if there is
a lot of talk about fantastic box office performance,
it is directly implied that the movie is a good
one. Yes, generally, this does hold |
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true.
But the recent years have seen a slight distortion of
this rule. Box office collections, especially initials
(the first three days to one week) may not be the best
indicators of a film’s quality. The reason here
once again being the role played by the media in hyping
a film and thus boosting its chances at the box office.
The louder one blows the trumpet, the more attention
one gets – that is the simple logic that seems
to be at work here. Huge publicity and widespread release
of movies have ensured that the ‘trumpet’
is as aloud as it can get, not sparing anyone and thus
holding everyone’s attention for a short but effective
period of time, until someone louder comes along.
Remember those days, not too long back, when a film’s
success was determined by how long it ran at the main
centers, not how well it did during its first week at
the box office. There used to be a waiting period of
at least 50 days after a film’s release before
it was confidently proclaimed a hit. Nowadays, films
become hits even before they are released owing to tremendous
pre-release hype and advanced bookings.
Is this good for cinema? Yes, in certain terms. There
is confidence in producers and distributors about the
ability of the market to return their investments in
a very short period which encourages them to pump more
money into cinema. It is this confidence and resulting
investment that has catalyzed the exponential growth
of Indian cinema (at least in terms of budgets) over
the years. Plainly speaking, a movie like Endhiran was
possible because of the extrapolation of huge possibilities
and guarantees that were offered by whirlwind marketing
and global releases. Plainly speaking, if homework is
done well, then one can ensure that profits start coming
in even before ‘word of mouth’ starts getting
around.
Of course, it goes without saying that Endhiran is an
absolutely spectacular movie and it deserves every bit
of success that it is getting. But, this is not just
about Endhiran. The trend of marketing and strategizing
upstaging the actual quality of a film in determining
its success or otherwise is catching on. In simple words,
even a mediocre film can be turned into a success. Is
this good for cinema? Certainly not!
There are certain very good examples that can be cited
to prove this. All of you will be aware of Dabbang and
the huge success that it is reportedly having. It is
being called the biggest opener in Hindi cinema’s
history and is being touted as capable of dethroning
Three Idiots from the position of biggest ever grosser.
Yes, Dabbang is an enjoyable brand of pop corn entertainment
which you can enjoy if you leave your brains behind
at home, don’t bother about logic and love to
see the hero play to the galleries. But, is this kind
of cinema really worth taking the all time top spot
in terms of gross collections? Is it worthy of replacing
a witty and sensible film like Three Idiots? Three Idiots
too was a commercial outing, with lots of colors and
fun. But, it was by no means a no-brainer. In fact,
it had some very serious messages to deliver, foremost
of which was the standard and purpose of technical education
in our country. Dabbang’s masala filled content,
coupled with massive release strategies upstaged films
like 3 Idiots and Raajneeti in terms of initials and
if it does manage to overthrow the final gross figures,
it will only be a victory of marketing and strategizing
rather than content.
Smart promotion, huge releases and guaranteed returns
are all fine for cinema. But, the ultimate factor in
deciding a film’s victory at the box office should
be its content more than anything else. These are days
when all spheres of our life are overridden with hype;
days when even a collapsed false ceiling is portrayed
as national shame! It is difficult for cinema to play
down hype and go for content and substance in such times.
But, if marketing and strategizing keep growing in importance,
there will soon come a time when the lines between great,
good, average and mediocre cinema (in terms of content)
will blur beyond recognition. There will be one thing
that matters in cinema – SIZE! Going by current
trends, Indian cinema is all set to get bigger; but
does that essentially mean getting better? We have to
remain alert.
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