Back to the future...?

We have reached a point in time now, when everyone’s doing realistic cinema or adaptations of books. Seems like we’re done learning from the movies & they are beginning to take things back from us.

So, do we make movies or do they make us?

The lines have blurred. Fantasy & reality walk hand in hand on screen, that too in 3D. Expectations rise every Friday. Few live up to it, others don’t. Production houses are in a fix. Unable to decide as to what may please a movie-goer, trends have bifurcated. Yet, some age-old formulae work; it’s a sure shot cash-back policy - more like a continuum of the past. Of course, we’re not going to let them get away with that, are we? Probably that’s one of the reasons why creativity in filmdom is subject to much criticism these days. Clouds of controversy hover over various aspects of film-making, much before the film’s released. Comparisons are being drawn in, minute by minute. Probably, they’re not just publicity gimmicks.

People don’t like being kept in the dark anymore (unless inside a theatre, of course!). Also adding to it is the audience’s eye for details. Interestingly, a few of us movie-buffs discuss aspects of film-making which is subject to analysis, like what film-makers try to say without actually ‘saying.’ As a result of such critical thinking, people have begun to recognise movies as something that is much more than this actor’s or that director’s. I’ve been on a retro-American high for a month now. I’ve had back-to-back sessions of Hitchcock, Kubrick, Chaplin & Howard Hawks. Each of them represent starkly different approaches to movie-making – some keep the thrill & twists intact while scripting, some have a keen-eye for details & cinematography, yet others communicate without dialogue & few others bank solely on the cast.

This understanding has led to the recognising of the background effort that goes into what a movie looks & feels like eventually. Focus is shifting to production houses, art directors, graphics & animation studios – most of those departments that never received appreciation even at famed award functions; leave alone amongst people. Technically speaking, new wave cinema is like an ode to this understanding. Acknowledging efforts that go into making a good movie, aiming at making the end product greater than the sum of all its parts, and reflecting the life and times of people today.

But in India, change (in entertainment) as much as it’s wanted, is resisted because unlike the west where history isn’t old; story-telling can move on without the baggage of the past. We still hold a grip over family values & culture, festivals & folklore – it’s like a brightly coloured fabric wrapped across our eyes & thoughts – anything new, is seen in hues of those colours. As means of social change, the fabric has grown thinner over the years, yet its presence is undoubtedly felt. So, the new breeds of directors aren’t trying to say different things, but differently; like a fresher perspective. Remakes, adaptations & sequels were born, thus.

When film-makers undertake tasks like these, they have a pre-defined box; the story, characters, setting, genre etc. This box, of constraints is all that a resourceful individual yearns for. It heightens the creative potential of the team by disregarding elements that are obsolete. Whether the outcome is out-of-the-box or safe-within-the-box is subjective. The need to fool or spoon-feed the audience doesn’t exist. It is a layered movie experience that awaits the audience, all this and much more begins much before the film’s opening night. 

The Big Picture

Maya is a movie freak. Period. Cinema, ever since childhood has been one of her weaknesses. Something so phony, larger than life, away from reality is a very dangerous weakness, she was told. But the many who’d advised her themselves were neck-deep addicted to movies. You see... born into a family of movie buffs, conversations began and ended with cinema. She used to believe that those relatives were undercover agents – they never really worked or discussed it. Occasionally, news was discussed – that was the informative part – but as children, she & cousins understood them to be Greek & Latin. And also, news was sad – fraud, killings, scheming politicians – arrey, why talk about such things that can only re-instate the fact that the world is doomed. Sports had many takers – but once it became a money-making business, people lost their sportive spirit. ‘No religious talk for us, it’s only meant for the expiry-dated!’ said the many young (at heart). So ruling out those possibilities, movies became the crowd favourite.

So much said & done, they still taught the kids to believe that life was not movies – dance & drama, showbiz. There was a line between reel & real – which showed itself quite too often, in the form of a stick. Maya, off all her cousins – was the No.1 dram-e-baz. Dressing up like heroines, collecting their photographs from magazines, trying on make-up, acting – above all this – faking sickness, crocodile tears to get things done and even the occasional ‘Main ghar chodke ja rahi hoon’ dialogue. Phattak – the stick would appear out of nowhere and land on her arm. Back to reality.

Then slowly things changed – they grew (tall & wide), some became ‘serious’ & few others curious (about other things...obviously! :) We are talking about the early 2000’s, when Maya was in high school - the phase when film genres became judging criteria among peers. No one would admit the fact that they watch regional films. It became a prestige issue. I love Alcappuccino, do you...?

They taught her to dream, sing, dance....romance the rain, fight for love, cry for a dead friend...and to believe that all stories had happy endings. Yet ‘movies are fake’ kept ringing in her head all throughout. It kept her head on her shoulders and life’s trying situations passed by like a motion picture in front of her eyes. She maintained this attitude in things that she was consciously in control of. Fair enough. She believed that her decisions, her outlook, in fact even her appearance should never be filmy. But everything else could be...or most probably will be like the movies. That’s when life’s fun, she thought.

High school went by in dejection – apart from a few classmates & common scenarios – nothing was like the way they showed it in the movies. Not fair! All those campus movies/ chick flicks, she’d seen didn’t come close to her college hiatus.

For all those who know me too well, Maya is not me! :) She is a part of me. She is a latent element of a lot of people in my generation. Realization has dawned on me, on how important a part, movies have played in the growing-up years of my generation. To begin with, from this side of the world, being part of someone else’s life, was impossible then. Movies made that happen. We knew beaches in Miami, snow-clad Alps, ghats of Benaras & slums of Dharavi, before National Geographic. In India, actors as mythological characters brought Gods closer to the masses. Ghosts weren't visible in mirrors or photographs, but they were on the big screen. 

Movies defined beauty & manliness, chivalry & grace, bad & good...it still does without a trace. Since the 1900’s, cinema has sculpted people and the society, at large in many, many ways. In particular, as Indian Cinema celebrates 100 years – this is an undeniable homage. We are what we are because of the movies we see, that our parents saw and what our children will see in the future. Its power cannot be underestimated...