Opinion Will you watch this film?

Dear(!?) Cinema-goers. So what are you scared of?

Feeling? Caring? Hurting? Thinking,for a change?

I think you are. The numbers prove it. The ticket sales numbers,of course. Isn’t that what cinema is about now? Sales. Who cares about movies that would make one think,provoke one to feel. What sells is the cinema that precisely doesn’t provoke you,the movies that proudly provide,”mindless entertainment”. It’s a “market” now,not an art. The product is what? A dose of inanity to shield you from reality. Isn’t that your weekend movie-viewing experience? A cosy blanket of feel-good-ness to numb your senses so you can forget about your sucky week.

Sure,there’s lots that you want to forget about. Your boss hates you,your parents want you married,your boyfriend doesn’t. Your girlfriend hates cricket. She hates you (you never get what ‘mauve’ is). You hate her (she actually said,”Who’s Don Bradman?”). Damn it,this angst! It seems to be “Battle of the Sexes” time. Hmm,this four-stars review says ‘Kambakht Ishq’ – A Movie about the Battle of the Sexes. The trailers prove it. Kareena is being chased by Akshay viciously in Venice. She’s hating it. Her face is visibly the most unhappy and uncomfortable that is possible.

The ‘hero’ character is doing stuff that in most countries will amount to criminal molestation (it’s still U-rated,of course,big money at work). What a battle! You just have to go see it.

And all of Akshay’s tricks work. Despite logic,he gets the girl (true love needs no logic,you say) so you come out all happy and say “Aah. How nice. Hmm,I feel good. Hey,by the way I’m in a mall aren’t I? Let me go shopping to complete the great wholesome feeling of goodness”.

After all,your neighbour got a MANGO shirt,so you can’t stay behind,can you. Perfect. “What a good weekend. What a nice movie. I saw a guy win over a girl by being a total obnoxious jerk. Which is great news for me,coz aren’t I a jerk too? Plus lots of micro-miniskirts and Viagra jokes. Wow. And to wrap it all up,a new MANGO shirt”.

You just love this Bollywood,don’t you? What an awesome product. It’s served you well hasn’t it? Helped you decide what saree to wear for your cousin’s wedding. It helped you with steps for your power-dancing aerobics class. ‘Neal and Nikki’ explained love and modern relationships to you. You just had a baby “accidentally” and really felt great that ‘Heyy Baby’ resonated with your life.

Isn’t that why you see all those films? To be stimulated. So you won’t want to see Piyush Jha’s ‘Sikandar’,would you? Coz,darn it’s set in Kashmir. That must be a serious film,you think,about a serious problem,but it’s not your problem. Serious is the same as ‘bad’ isn’t it? You’re guessing. It might actually be interesting. But no,can anything serious be thrilling,really? Hmm,you say it doesn’t have any really big stars? Only that guy from ‘Jhankaar Beats’ but wasn’t that an “offbeat” film,and the little girl from ‘Black’,or the boy who did the Dhara “Jalebi” ad. They might be talented but they are child-artists! The other dude,Arun-something,he’s a newcomer so who cares,yaar! Or Madhavan,but he’s a south star,isn’t he? You don’t really want to see any good acting after all,really,do you?

I’m sure of it. Good acting is not something you care about,so don’t delude yourself. After all,good acting generally hangs out with good cinema. And good cinema “might” be serious cinema,and that for you,could (heaven forbid) mean the possibility of correlation with something that is realistic,perhaps a sad ending,a real ending,which might not be goody-goody-happy-happy. Twisted logic? I only wish,but it seems that’s what you follow. Good acting? Nope. All you care about are item numbers,so you can learn about the latest gyrations that your boyfriend depends on for his entertainment.

You’re getting me? I think not. Getting me would be to challenge your thinking,to challenge yourself. To think about the world you live in. To be affected by it. And isn’t that what art was meant for? Cinema is an art-form isn’t it? It has the potential to make you feel. That’s it. Feel something different. Not just the same pattern of happiness-to-clichéd-conflict- to-happy-ending that you have mugged from the formulaic films which are all you want to see. But complex emotion as Juliette Binoche feels in ‘Blue’,trying to find her freedom,after an accident where she lost her husband,and then finding that he had a mistress. Or Rituparno’s ‘Dosar’.

Or the insurmountable lack of hope for the drug addicts in ‘Requiem for a Dream’. Or the sense of un-fairness in the lives of French immigrants in Indigenes,a movie that actually resulted in legislation change. But you might say that these are “sad” films,as everything complex in a non-happy-happy-goody-goody way is “sad” for you isn’t it,and sad is bad? But then,will you even try to look at the beauty of the quality of love-in-transience in ‘Lost in Translation’. “What!?” you exclaim,”He doesn’t get the girl,yet this is a ‘happy’ ending? Is it really an ending?”

So nowadays,will we see a ‘Blue’,a ‘Dosar’,a ‘Requiem for a Dream’,a ‘Lost in Translation’,or even a ‘Sahib,Bibi & Ghulam’ in Bollywood? No we won’t. It’s because of what I said. You,the viewer,are afraid of feeling,of thinking,of caring. Why is this? I don’t understand,honestly. I can’t believe that the best way to forget your woes on weekends is by laughing at juvenile jokes. You can,actually,see a film that might make you cry and feel for something bigger or different than your problems.

Maybe even help you deal with those problems,by giving you a new perspective. You might see a film that makes you question your own life,so you actually take that step you had been hesitating at for a long time — leaving your boyfriend,marrying your girlfriend,leaving a cushy job to start a company. A film that provokes you to act,to change,provokes you to dream a different dream. Or you might not do anything different,yet still be able to go on a complex emotional excursion,the reason for which art exists. If art disappears,balance disappears.

But film-as-art is a bad concept for you. An Indian filmmaker would hate for the title of “art-film” being attached to his work,as then the audience will disappear. Why is that? Because YOU don’t want to go there. The market provides what the viewer wants. The viewer wants inanity,not art. Ironically,it’s the same everywhere. “Kitna pyara hai yeh pyaar,pyaara pyaara” buzzes on ringtones and playlists,while Bismillah Khan or even Coltrane are being forgotten. The sad thing is that art being swept into the fringes,the word is becoming almost something “extreme” — but it should not. ‘Munnabhai’ is art,‘Dil Chahta Hai’ is art,‘Mughal-e-Azam’ is art,‘Anand’ is art. But there is much more too. And you need to want to go there.

Sure,you argue that it’s not really your fault. The financiers decide what runs. But YOU are also responsible. You,with your fear of feeling,have exacerbated this vicious circle. Audiences not going out to see films which are non-formulaic,and hence distributors putting money just into formulaic films. The whole nature of the market (due to the scales of money involved) is such that it amplifies this vicious cycle,so that the formulaic films are so rich that they can outpace all the smaller ones on the promos,and so,no one goes to see the small ones- and so,distributors support them less,and so less viewership,etc. and so on and so forth… the vicious circle grows.

Only you can break this circle. Go see these films so you can support them. Be a patron of this art-form. It’s not hard. Go see films without the Khans,see films without Ranbir or Imran or Katrina. See a film about something you know nothing about. See an art film. Just see films. You may or may not like them — be open to this. Did you really know before you went to Chandni Chowk to China whether you would like it? You just went as Akshay was there. You took a leap of faith. Take a bigger leap of faith. In yourself. In the fact that you will survive being provoked. You will be the better for it. And because of that,Indian Cinema will be the better for it.