If ever you want to create a product that could cater to the masses and make you rich, create one that will appeal to any of the five senses that we are blessed with. Movies primarily provide us with visual gratification it’s the reason why the movie business is lucrative as hell.
The Indian cinema audience is divided in such a way that most would fall more or less into these two, discrete categories: the purists and the entertainment seekers. For the purists, the story and execution are of utmost importance. They believe that a movie should make an individual think, without which the purpose of making the film itself is lost. The execution – the narration, the way stories come together, etc – should be credible and art should in fact quite literally mimic life in this case. Extravagant set designs, lavish costumes and melodrama account for nothing here. If it’s not plausible then it’s not worth watching. Situations and characters that seem contrived and seem to have no purpose in the bigger picture are discarded from consideration without a second thought about their entertainment value. For the purists, the stories that need to be told are almost always bigger than the stars themselves.
The entertainment seekers on the other hand are a relatively easier lot to please. They often come to the cinemas looking for popcorn entertainment; a movie that will let them leave their brains and thinking capacity at home for a change and just enjoy. Now this particular type of audience either chooses not to think, and ergo opts for such a genre of movie on purpose or they are simply enamoured by the stars and are effectively drawn to them like moths to a flame. In this case, bigger the film and everything in it, more the value placed on it. Characters, dialogues, slapstick comedy, sets, songs, etc are more important than the story itself. Tunes leave much more of an impression on their minds than a critical issue. The concept of plausibility doesn’t exist.
And then there is me. Call me a traitor, call me tasteless but I enjoy both types of movies – the ones that are made for pure entertainment purposes and the ones that tell a story of relevance. I do enjoy and appreciate movies that make me think, movies that deal with a social issue or an international concern; basically movies that tell a story that’s real. But I also love the other ones. I enjoy a slapstick comedy which, by the way, is not a comment on my sense of humour. I enjoy the songs; they let me see these places, giving them a memory even if it’s not entirely mine. Most of all, I love the fact that each emotion or feeling has a song or music to it. It gives life a context because it makes so many things so much more intense and the experiences so much more memorable. There are so many times that I’ve wished the life itself would have a soundtrack. Come on, wouldn’t you want songs that play only for you in different situations, say for example, ‘4 minutes to save the world’ when you enter a club? Or ‘White Flag’ when you are thinking about someone? No? Then how about you exchanging looks with someone when a song that both of you have labelled ‘Our Song’ plays somewhere? How do you explain that?
Anyway, most of all, regardless of what I’m watching, I love going to a theatre and getting lost in the dark for a few hours where reality is what is playing before my eyes. It gives me a kind of hope; watching people do the most extraordinary of things, say the most difficult of things when everything is on the line for them to loose, making the toughest of choices and heart-breaking decisions in situations; situations in which you have pictured or imagined yourself a thousand times. After all is over, when I walk out of that theatre, I feel rejuvenated. I’m walking with a bounce in my step, thinking about how everything seems so much more possible.
