Let’s talk movies. One of the few things which unite Indians as cricket does must be movies. I have grown on a staple diet of movies from Tamil to Malayalam to Hindi to English and very recently even Telugu. This medium is the ultimate benchmark for many in terms of culture, art, literature, pretty much any art you could think of with its mix of songs, dances, images captured during photography, illustrious sets, dialogues that may sound as speeches and dictums. Having intruded and conquered other avenues of art exhibition like theatre, Music concerts and many other forms, movies is the go-to medium for today’s younger art lover. TV copies movies wherever possible to ensure viewer loyalty. There are movies, songs from movies, reality shows which glorify movies songs and dances. Lately there have been reality shows where aspirants get to make their own movies too.
No wonder this is one of the biggest industries and one of the best exports India has got other than IT. There are movies that appear to be crap but rake in enough moolah to make sure producers are happy. Recently, I was speaking to a friend who has some good contacts in the film industry. He was saying that all the producers needed was a 15 day run to make sure that the movie recovers its costs. distributor rights, overseas rights and so many other options make sure that a movie can fetch good returns to all stake holders be it the director, producer, the crew and of course the stars. The risk in this industry has been considerably reduced over the years. when I was a kid, I used to read news of how the producers went bust due to the movie being a flop but today the producers are much more diversified and have many more options and tools to mitigate this risk.
Script was of paramount importance when I was a kid. I used to hear many top notch guys in the industry delivering this line. Characters and a good and relevant subject was thought to be a success story. Remember Jo Jeeta wohi Sikander, Roja, Nayakan, Krantiveer, Bombay, Satya, Vaali, Aasai, His Highness Abdullah, Bharatham, Kamaladalam, Oru Vadakkan veergatha. They all romped home with Box office success in spite of star value of the actors. Star value however is the “biggest” factor in Indian movies irrespective of the region. Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachan, Dharmendra, Aamir Khan, Shah rukh Khan to name a few in Hindi cinema while Tamil cinema worships its Rajni Kanth, Vijay Kanth, Sarath Kumar, Kamal Hassan, Surya, Ajit, Vijay, Vikram. Malayalam has depended in the past and continues to depend on Mohan Lal, Mamootty, Suresh Gobi, Jayaram to deliver hits. Chiranjeevi, Nagarjun are 2 big names I am able to recall from Telugu movies.
These stars are brands who ensure success of a movie. With their immaculate penetration, they don’t need to create marketing campaigns for their movies. The media is hungry to enter their professional and private lives at the drop of the hat. Fan clubs ensure their movies have a grand opening and have a good run in the first week.
Movie theaters have come up with innovative ways to keep the Indian customer hooked. Theaters are better places for socializing today than a family get-together or a party. There are multiplexes where you get food, entertainment, games, anything you could ask for to wile away time. No wonder that the only thing that strikes one who has some free time is movies. So you meet your girl/boyfriend at the theater, you have fun with your family watching the latest “family entertainer” movie (although I doubt that claim in any of the movies of today), you get to spend some time with your friends at movie theater with a couple of bowling games or over a hogging session.
When TV started to explode in the 90s with cable television and all those 100s of channels, there was a small scare for the movie industry. I still remember, my dad telling me how during the ending episodes of Mahabharath the whole country came to a standstill during that one hour of serial time. It was quite a feat for the idiot box. English channels like CNN, Star and many more came in with much fanfare. Then began the great tussle between the big brother i.e Movies and younger brother i.e. TV. It was thought TV was going to soon eat up a great share of the entertainment pie. TV did progress at a great pace those days. I still remember my friends telling me of the various channels and the programs they watched in those channels. I continued to watch Doordarshan even during the cable tv boom. The first time I got to watch all those channels was when I was in college. I became a fan of Star Movies and used to spend nights together watching all those English movies trying to imitate the great stars from the west from Arnie to Sly to Bruce Willis to Will Smith. I became addicted to TV.
Coming back to the topic, I don’t think the big and young brothers have lost any of their shares. While TV has grown immensely but the mode of growth has been interestingly dependant on movies. If there are news channels, they need to air some news on movies and stars’ lives to make sure that they balance it out with their other portfolio of news on world, finances and sports and others. If it’s a curry channel ( a channel like Doordarshan would be my curry channel as they need to bring in news, movies, soaps, reality shows and any other thing that’s airable) you better make sure that you air the latest movies for the next festival to stay good in the race of rating points. Advertisements also have a sizeable portion of movie stars to make sure the brands have a relatable face for the audience. If it’s a song on demand channel, well movies are its bread and butter. Kids channels have to bank upon kids movies for its ratings.
I have always dreamed of being a movie maker at some point of time in my life. A good percentage of India’s young population thinks so too. The influence movies have had on our lives is just immense by any scales. There are not many places in the world where the audience is so crazy about movies. Although Hollywood remains a benchmark for many movie makers, there isn’t as crazy a follower junta there. Our guys pray for our stars and in some places even pray to stars. Young guys commit suicide when they lose their love because their favorite hero did the same in the latest movie. The latest fashion trends are set by Movies. I still remember hunting for a boot-cut jean in my college days as Hrithik Roshan wore the same when he danced his way to glory in “Kaho na Pyaar Hai”. Every Indian has a view about the erstwhile generation of actors/actresses, the current generation and the forthcoming generation too. Guys yearn to earn the six packs while ladies are fixated with the “Size Zero”. Movie making is still a risky affair but there are many more who aspire to be one in the industry.
The best part I guess today is that there are people in the industry ready to experiment with diverse themes. While commercial cinema remains the backbone and ultimate test for a movie maker, there are movies which try to balance our commercial cinema with realism.
It was so very refreshing to watch Dil Chahta Hai. The screen just exploded with luxury and opulence. Usually we get to see a rich lady romance a poor guy and then a struggle ensues. Here I was watching a group of friends coming to terms to life and its realities. There was a struggle here too, but the themes dealt were different and a few notches higher than the usual stories of deprivation, poverty and struggle for survival. Survival was no longer a theme for the audience. Opulence was considered a taboo once upon a time. Most of our heroes were poor guys struggling to survive as thieves, unemployed lovers and many more. We struggle today too, but the struggle is to achieve something, not for the basic amenities. Well that statement just undermined the huge percentage of our population that live below the great POVERTY LINE, but isn’t that the truth? Anyways, that just digressed from the main topic. So, coming back to themes, some taboos have been upturned. KANK explored search for a partner outside one’s marriage (although in the worst possible manner), Omkara & Maqbool were odes to Shakespeare, RDB explored the option of a second revolution, Lagaan did a historical with aplomb, Anbe Sivam rediscovered Socialism in a novel manner, Happy Days (telugu) was one of the best teenager movies I have seen, Iqbal/ Dor had very earnest themes, Jab we met was very heart warming.
It would be interesting how this industry grows from here. A R Rahman, Resul Pookutty brought Oscar closer this year. Hope one day we win an Oscar for the Best movie and Best direction and hope that director be me. Touchwood!!!!!!!!! J
No wonder this is one of the biggest industries and one of the best exports India has got other than IT. There are movies that appear to be crap but rake in enough moolah to make sure producers are happy. Recently, I was speaking to a friend who has some good contacts in the film industry. He was saying that all the producers needed was a 15 day run to make sure that the movie recovers its costs. distributor rights, overseas rights and so many other options make sure that a movie can fetch good returns to all stake holders be it the director, producer, the crew and of course the stars. The risk in this industry has been considerably reduced over the years. when I was a kid, I used to read news of how the producers went bust due to the movie being a flop but today the producers are much more diversified and have many more options and tools to mitigate this risk.
Script was of paramount importance when I was a kid. I used to hear many top notch guys in the industry delivering this line. Characters and a good and relevant subject was thought to be a success story. Remember Jo Jeeta wohi Sikander, Roja, Nayakan, Krantiveer, Bombay, Satya, Vaali, Aasai, His Highness Abdullah, Bharatham, Kamaladalam, Oru Vadakkan veergatha. They all romped home with Box office success in spite of star value of the actors. Star value however is the “biggest” factor in Indian movies irrespective of the region. Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachan, Dharmendra, Aamir Khan, Shah rukh Khan to name a few in Hindi cinema while Tamil cinema worships its Rajni Kanth, Vijay Kanth, Sarath Kumar, Kamal Hassan, Surya, Ajit, Vijay, Vikram. Malayalam has depended in the past and continues to depend on Mohan Lal, Mamootty, Suresh Gobi, Jayaram to deliver hits. Chiranjeevi, Nagarjun are 2 big names I am able to recall from Telugu movies.
These stars are brands who ensure success of a movie. With their immaculate penetration, they don’t need to create marketing campaigns for their movies. The media is hungry to enter their professional and private lives at the drop of the hat. Fan clubs ensure their movies have a grand opening and have a good run in the first week.
Movie theaters have come up with innovative ways to keep the Indian customer hooked. Theaters are better places for socializing today than a family get-together or a party. There are multiplexes where you get food, entertainment, games, anything you could ask for to wile away time. No wonder that the only thing that strikes one who has some free time is movies. So you meet your girl/boyfriend at the theater, you have fun with your family watching the latest “family entertainer” movie (although I doubt that claim in any of the movies of today), you get to spend some time with your friends at movie theater with a couple of bowling games or over a hogging session.
When TV started to explode in the 90s with cable television and all those 100s of channels, there was a small scare for the movie industry. I still remember, my dad telling me how during the ending episodes of Mahabharath the whole country came to a standstill during that one hour of serial time. It was quite a feat for the idiot box. English channels like CNN, Star and many more came in with much fanfare. Then began the great tussle between the big brother i.e Movies and younger brother i.e. TV. It was thought TV was going to soon eat up a great share of the entertainment pie. TV did progress at a great pace those days. I still remember my friends telling me of the various channels and the programs they watched in those channels. I continued to watch Doordarshan even during the cable tv boom. The first time I got to watch all those channels was when I was in college. I became a fan of Star Movies and used to spend nights together watching all those English movies trying to imitate the great stars from the west from Arnie to Sly to Bruce Willis to Will Smith. I became addicted to TV.
Coming back to the topic, I don’t think the big and young brothers have lost any of their shares. While TV has grown immensely but the mode of growth has been interestingly dependant on movies. If there are news channels, they need to air some news on movies and stars’ lives to make sure that they balance it out with their other portfolio of news on world, finances and sports and others. If it’s a curry channel ( a channel like Doordarshan would be my curry channel as they need to bring in news, movies, soaps, reality shows and any other thing that’s airable) you better make sure that you air the latest movies for the next festival to stay good in the race of rating points. Advertisements also have a sizeable portion of movie stars to make sure the brands have a relatable face for the audience. If it’s a song on demand channel, well movies are its bread and butter. Kids channels have to bank upon kids movies for its ratings.
I have always dreamed of being a movie maker at some point of time in my life. A good percentage of India’s young population thinks so too. The influence movies have had on our lives is just immense by any scales. There are not many places in the world where the audience is so crazy about movies. Although Hollywood remains a benchmark for many movie makers, there isn’t as crazy a follower junta there. Our guys pray for our stars and in some places even pray to stars. Young guys commit suicide when they lose their love because their favorite hero did the same in the latest movie. The latest fashion trends are set by Movies. I still remember hunting for a boot-cut jean in my college days as Hrithik Roshan wore the same when he danced his way to glory in “Kaho na Pyaar Hai”. Every Indian has a view about the erstwhile generation of actors/actresses, the current generation and the forthcoming generation too. Guys yearn to earn the six packs while ladies are fixated with the “Size Zero”. Movie making is still a risky affair but there are many more who aspire to be one in the industry.
The best part I guess today is that there are people in the industry ready to experiment with diverse themes. While commercial cinema remains the backbone and ultimate test for a movie maker, there are movies which try to balance our commercial cinema with realism.
It was so very refreshing to watch Dil Chahta Hai. The screen just exploded with luxury and opulence. Usually we get to see a rich lady romance a poor guy and then a struggle ensues. Here I was watching a group of friends coming to terms to life and its realities. There was a struggle here too, but the themes dealt were different and a few notches higher than the usual stories of deprivation, poverty and struggle for survival. Survival was no longer a theme for the audience. Opulence was considered a taboo once upon a time. Most of our heroes were poor guys struggling to survive as thieves, unemployed lovers and many more. We struggle today too, but the struggle is to achieve something, not for the basic amenities. Well that statement just undermined the huge percentage of our population that live below the great POVERTY LINE, but isn’t that the truth? Anyways, that just digressed from the main topic. So, coming back to themes, some taboos have been upturned. KANK explored search for a partner outside one’s marriage (although in the worst possible manner), Omkara & Maqbool were odes to Shakespeare, RDB explored the option of a second revolution, Lagaan did a historical with aplomb, Anbe Sivam rediscovered Socialism in a novel manner, Happy Days (telugu) was one of the best teenager movies I have seen, Iqbal/ Dor had very earnest themes, Jab we met was very heart warming.
It would be interesting how this industry grows from here. A R Rahman, Resul Pookutty brought Oscar closer this year. Hope one day we win an Oscar for the Best movie and Best direction and hope that director be me. Touchwood!!!!!!!!! J
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