The Film industry is a slippery place. It takes just one friday release for a Superstar to become a Flopstar. Talent, creativity and integrity is traded for Glamour, fake fame and huge bank balance. I always wanted to be a scriptwriter (i have some 50-60 stories written in an old book) like Salim-Javed, but I was sure of one thing, I would never sweet-talk myself into the industry. I would never compromise (in whatsoever manner) for selling my story. This thumb rule of mine was more than enough to discourage me from joining the big, supposedly beautiful world of Filmdom. I happily settled for the corporate world (which does not have ethics but atleast values your hardwork and talent).
Anyways bollywood is filled up with shitty, money-minded fools I said to myself, until one day I saw my bestest friend Haresh's projectwork. As a part of our curriculum, we were told to shoot ads, short films and documentaries for almost every subject. As I had given up on my dreams, I never took the pains of putting my greycells into good use. But Haresh who has always been the creative blacksheep of my class had taken real efforts to prove all his detractors (namely the professors) wrong by making some of those really awesome ads. At first glance, the ads looked a bit amateur to us, but his sincerity was reflected through those ads and the concept was liked by everybody. Making an ad like the one's below without any professional training is commendable. Or atleast that's what I would like to believe.
Here are his sample ads:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6810634846283686511
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5505602168101724398
(sorry I could not paste the embedding code of the last two videos due to some error, so pasted the link)
There are many more and they look awesome but I could not find them anywhere, so sticking to these 3 videos. It's not that I am promoting my friend's talent or anything. Infact, I am the last one to do that. The reason why I wrote all this was because, I wanted to prove some points:
a)Creativity and Sincerity is NOT appreciated in Filmdom. Film-making is now equivalent to producing some FMCG products. Otherwise why on the earth did RGV call his film production house a factory???
b)You either find a godfather for yourself or compromise on everything (integrity, creativity) to enter this big, bad world.
c)Pay a huge sum and do a course from Whistling Woods or FTII (their course feee ranges from anything between 1lakh- 2 lakhs) and be assured of getting not much of returns for a loooooooooooooooong time.
d)Assist some idiot director or anybody for some good old 10 years, massage their ego and there you are...you will get to direct a movie when you are in your late 30's.
I know I am sounding like a huge pessimist or a sadist or any ist. But when I see some fool like Nikhil Advani making a crap named 'Chandni Chowk to China' and when I see Haresh's works...I wonder: What is it that Filmdom needs? A good for nothing storyteller endlessly torturing us poor souls to useless movies (Read my current man on Hate-list Nikhil Advani) or a genuine storyteller like Haresh who is passionate about the art (who is ethically too strong)? Why is it that the 'I call spade a spade' person has to compete with thousands, while a person with a saccharine tongue gets away with everything?
My conclusion: If Bollywood wishes to be considered on par with Hollywood or if it wishes to win that big OSCARS, then it has to recognize the right kind of talent and encourage them to make good movies. World Cinema would take notice of us only if we take the art of film-making seriously.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Things that make me ANGRY
Anger is one word short of danger, so said my dad. People's attitude, recession fever, my own idle mind everything and I mean everything must be held responsible for my surging anger. My friend told me to sit down and enlist things that makes me go grrrrrrrrrrrrr...and this is exactly what I am going to do now.
Things that make me ANGRY:
1) Retired uncles asking me why am I not going to work. They read the newspapers but still they are of opinion that getting sacked is equivalent to performing badly. Recession according to them is a mere bahana.
2) Gossip hungry aunties asking me when am I going to marry. Worse they ask me this in someone else's marriage. And yes I hate their fav pastime too: Grabbing your neck, scrutinizing your necklace and asking you if the necklace that you have worn is asli or nakli.
3) Rickshawalas not ready to take you to your destination is something which makes me go maaaaaaaad. Is it not their duty to take the passengers to their preferred destinations? The kind of nakhras they do is something I cease to tolerate now. They are people who are responsible for me reaching late for my interviews (though even I am at fault, but why should i take the blame naa :) )
4) People not giving seats to sit for senior citizens be it in buses or trains is something that makes me go wild. How can you be so insensitive. I have seen people not even bothering to sacrifice their seats for a senior citizen who is gasping for breath in a jam-packed BEST bus. No matter how tired you are after a hectic day, you need to have this basic manners.
5) People spitting, blowing their nose and littering the roads is another thing that irritates me. No matter how highly qualified you are, if you do not know have these basic civic sense, you are as good as illiterate...coz u have forgotten that by spitting, blowing your nose or even littering the roads; you are just contributing towards spreading several air-borne, water-borne and all kind of diseases and infections.
6) Self-praisers...How I wish I could slap them right, left and centre. I just donno how to handle these self-obsessed creatures.
7) Ghaatis for maharashtrians, Thambis for south indians, bhaiyye for UP people and Biharis...these words may be widely accepted among us but I seriously find them demeaning.
8) Sadistic Moral Police...won't say more.
There are still more...but at 1.30 am with mosquitoes and cockroaches giving me company, I am really not in a mood to write anymore. Will come back on this again later.
Things that make me ANGRY:
1) Retired uncles asking me why am I not going to work. They read the newspapers but still they are of opinion that getting sacked is equivalent to performing badly. Recession according to them is a mere bahana.
2) Gossip hungry aunties asking me when am I going to marry. Worse they ask me this in someone else's marriage. And yes I hate their fav pastime too: Grabbing your neck, scrutinizing your necklace and asking you if the necklace that you have worn is asli or nakli.
3) Rickshawalas not ready to take you to your destination is something which makes me go maaaaaaaad. Is it not their duty to take the passengers to their preferred destinations? The kind of nakhras they do is something I cease to tolerate now. They are people who are responsible for me reaching late for my interviews (though even I am at fault, but why should i take the blame naa :) )
4) People not giving seats to sit for senior citizens be it in buses or trains is something that makes me go wild. How can you be so insensitive. I have seen people not even bothering to sacrifice their seats for a senior citizen who is gasping for breath in a jam-packed BEST bus. No matter how tired you are after a hectic day, you need to have this basic manners.
5) People spitting, blowing their nose and littering the roads is another thing that irritates me. No matter how highly qualified you are, if you do not know have these basic civic sense, you are as good as illiterate...coz u have forgotten that by spitting, blowing your nose or even littering the roads; you are just contributing towards spreading several air-borne, water-borne and all kind of diseases and infections.
6) Self-praisers...How I wish I could slap them right, left and centre. I just donno how to handle these self-obsessed creatures.
7) Ghaatis for maharashtrians, Thambis for south indians, bhaiyye for UP people and Biharis...these words may be widely accepted among us but I seriously find them demeaning.
8) Sadistic Moral Police...won't say more.
There are still more...but at 1.30 am with mosquitoes and cockroaches giving me company, I am really not in a mood to write anymore. Will come back on this again later.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)