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Journalism of Courage
Criticism, it appears, is becoming increasingly difficult to digest, as far as film folk are concerned. In a recent issue of some women’s magazine, Meghna Gulzar has grumbled about all the scathing reviews she received for her ‘‘labour of love’’ Filhaal. The debutant director complains that critics were harsh on her ‘‘sensitive’’ film, and that they simply didn’t get what she was trying to say. As one of those critics who was dissatisfied with her film, I’ll take it upon myself to speak for my lot… Filhaal may have been intended to be a sensitive film about a sensitive issue. The manner in which the narrative was treated, however, was far from delicate. You would think that an intelligent young lady like Meghna Gulzar would encourage options like adoption, instead of harping on the fact that ‘‘the character wanted a child of her own, so she chose surrogate motherhood’’.
Script holes aside, even the direction wasn’t exactly top of the pops. So what’s all the fuss about? She was credited for extracting commendable performances out of her female protagonists (particularly Sushmita Sen), so it’s not like critics were completely merciless.
Other filmmakers have other ways of reacting to adverse reviews. Like direct attack. Vidhu Vinod Chopra is alleged to have smacked one leading critic after reading a particularly diabolical critique of his film. To quote an incident from my own diary, filmmaker Tanuja Chandra went on television and launched into a bitter diatribe against yours truly in response to a particularly harsh review of her last film, Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar. Insisting that the review wasn’t to be taken seriously as the critic was ‘‘out of his mind’’, Ms Chandra encouraged movie-goers to embrace her picture. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. The film was declared a complete washout in less than a week after its release, and the filmmaker received much flak for the totally insensitive manner in which she tackled the highly sensitive subject of rape and its repercussions.
The least tactful ones employ the most tactless approaches. Raj Kanwar sends a death threat when you savage his Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke, Satish Kaushik says critics aren’t ‘‘mature’’ enough to understand his abysmal Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, and Vashu Bhagnani insists that critics attacked Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein and Deewanapan (both insufferable films, also box-office disasters) for personal reasons.
To think that these are the same guys who talk about taking criticism in their stride. The same guys who say filmmaking is a roller-coaster ride where you sometimes go wrong and you sometimes go right. The same fellows who say adverse criticism can’t put a good film down.
Credit then must go to the guys who really do take criticism in their stride. And the one name that comes to mind here is Karan Johar. Amidst the hoards of mostly positive reviews for his box-office smash, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, there were at least a handful of reviews that knocked Johar’s star-studded opus, and dubbed it a trite family weepie. No threats, no rude SMS messages, no nasty comments, nothing. As Johar has gone on to explain since: ‘‘My film has spoken for itself. Not only did it make money, it also seems to have touched many hearts. What’s a few bad reviews compared to that?’’
