Movies and Emotions

Every movie that you watch is actually a two and half hour affair with your emotions. It depends on the film-maker how impassioned that affair turns out to be. When a movie hits the theater, a diverse audience watches it and each one of them comes out with a different opinion. If someone likes the direction, someone finds flaws with it. If someone finds the acting good, someone will compliment the cinematography. This is beacuse no two people think alike. And that, is the beauty of humanity. 

 
The other day, I saw INCEPTION. When the  climax scene ended and the credit ''Story -Screenplay - Direction - Christopher Nolan' was shown, involuntarily, I had tears in my eyes and my hands went up in the air offering a 'Grand Namaskara' to the brilliant man. A large section of the theater including me, gave a standing ovation at the end credits. I don't remember when that happened last time.My friend Varun told me that the last time he noticed such a thing was for 'A Wednesday' - a classic indeed.We whistle, dance, throw papers, rockets, scream and create a ruckus. But standing ovation? That's what is called class. B-grade directors like Karan Johar, Sajid Khan, Farha Khan, Harry Baweja etc. may never be able to make such a movie in their lifetime. I don't think they will be able to even copy such movies properly. 

When I was watching 3 dumbfucks, sorry 3 idiots with my friend, I was pissed with that scene where Amir Khan delivers a baby. It was a hideous unnecessary scene which went wrong pathetically and to my surprise, two young guys sitting beside me started crying and tears rolled out uncontrollably. Neither was there any class in that scene, nor was there any directorial talent. It was just misused freedom of creativity. Also, my film-maker friend  Pavan Atukuri rightly pointed out, what were the girls of that college doing when that delivery took place? It just played around with emotions of the cannot-think-for-myself Indian viewer - 'Kamyaab nahi, Kaabil banne ke liye padho' and 'if you pursue excellence, success is bound to follow' were the two things that made the movie run. Just the way a Shiv Khera or a Robin Sharma's self-help book becomes popular. 

When I was in the IXth Standard, a movie called Prema Desam released and it had brilliant music by A R Rahman. I know of people who watched that movie in theater for over 70 times. When the 'Mustafa Mustafa' song came, college students in the theater would form a train and go around the balcony in Sangeet theater. It captured the emotions of the entire school and college going population of AP and TN.  Boys and Girls started falling in love more than ever. Even more than  they did after Ek Duje Ke Liye released. Every guy wanted to get a Abbas-haircut or a Mushroom cut. The number of smokers in high schools and colleges increased by over 50%. Jeans officially became the dress-code of the young generation and  for the next five years, farewell parties across AP, wouldn't end without playing 'Mustafa Mustafa' and lighting candles. The movie, again is a play on the minds of the until-then conservative youngsters and glorified smoking, girlfriends, platonic relationships and so on. It released and suddenly, we all were one generation ahead. This was what the film-maker, I'm sure had imagined while making this movie. And was he successful? He sure was. 

Well these were just few examples.

Also, 70% of the people have no opinion of their own and hence, are most vulnerable to external influence and this vulnerability is exploited by smart directors like Raju Hirani, Vishal Bharadwaj, S S Rajamouli and a few others. But they are nowhere near being called great. Greatness  lies  in for creating a character like Don Corleone in The Godfather and show him stare at his son for a mistake, a stare that could induce suicide. It lies in showing  a blind Al Pacino make that  climax speech in Scent of a Woman. It lies in showing an old man obsessed with music die by it  in Sankarabharanam. It lies in showing the chemistry between a couple who have agreed to divorce but can't live separately in Mounaraagam. It is what takes to show Clint Eastwood as Blondie in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It lies in accentuating Morgan Freeman's class and showing him as Nelson Mandela. And greatness also lies in these actors who perform just the way the director wants them to. 

It is up to us to decide whether we want to watch mediocrity and douchebaggery from third rate undeserving movie makers or we want to relish some real class and let the film maker have a blast while they're, like i said, having an affair with our emotions. 

- Deepak Karamungikar