What will need to happen for Ashutosh to make...

a shorter film? I am dead serious when I ask this question. All of his films are longer than 3 hours that I can think of: Lagaan, Swades, Jodha Akbar, etc. Some say, he is one of the best directors in Hindi films. Though I find his films way too long in terms of length. It seems like he is too love in his work and can't bare any of it to be cut. His editors are probably not allowed much leeway or so it seems. The ego was on full display at the Star Screen Awards for everyone to see. So I guess my question is what will it take you think for him to realize that things need to change. I didn't see WYR, but will the box-office failure, allow him to be more open to cuts or will we have to suffer in boredom?

Any suggestions from you all, as to what an editor should do? This might be a dumb topic, but it popped into my head.

Nimmi have you ever seen the gibberish shiz posted in this forum?? that you are doubting this topic.. This is a breath of fresh air... Seriously.. I think JODHA AKBAR is the biggest SHAM pulled off in The HISTory of film industry.. Lagaan was made by Aamir.. Swades was an average movie.. they just payed the critics to save Ashu's sinking reputation.. and now that he has run out of money to buy awards and pay critics he has Delivered a clear dud.. WYR.. on his own merits.. Congo Ashu u did it!

adios i agree with u. i m nt hugely impressed by his work other than lagaan.. the man is hugely overrated as far as i m concerned!

This is sort of a tangent but bear with me. I remember reading an article on PFC and this guy who I assume is an editor wrote about what an editor's job is and how they work. He said that most editors would like to be involved in the scripting stages of a film so they can tell the director what will and won't work for a film "cut-wise". One of the contributions an editor makes is to the "pace" of the film. But he or she can't really do a whole lot once the film has been shot. The editor can delete all those extra lingering shots that Ashutosh seems to be fond of, but if the plot of the film makes it super long the editor can't do much in post-production.

What I think Ashutosh Gowariker needs is a ruthless editor during the scripting of his film. He also needs to let his ego go, so that when someone tells him "this sub-plot about the cheating marriage broker makes no sense in the film" he actually abandons it. Part of the problem is that the guys is too in love with his own work to let someone else change his "vision". Rajeev Masand on twitter said he asked AG about the length of WYR and he responded by saying that the film is as long as it needs to be. The guy also got upset when Rock On got some awards (mostly technical) over Jodha Akbar at Star Screen. He comes off as a guy who doesn't take criticism too well.

This actually made me think of those Anurag Kashyap blogs about Black Friday, Gulaal etc. where he talked about how he discussed the script with his friends like Imtiaz. For instance in Black Friday the film was supposed to begin with a long chase sequence with Gullu (I think), but after Imtiaz's suggestion he decided to start straight away from the interrogation scene because "beginning thodi phaili hui si lag rahi thi". That is what AG needs to do - get friends/editors/anyone to look at his script and take out all that is unneccesary.

^Haha, thanks. That is nice of you to say. Lagaan was the one movie I liked the most. He also made Baazi, but not many remember that one. Swades did have some heart to it. His production values are good; there is no doubting that, but he does need to realize that he is not infallible. JA was way too long, and to call it historically accurate, would be foolhardy to say the least. Other than the Hrithik-Aish scenes, there was not much to really like for me at least.

Like some of u said, Lagaan was made by Amir

Oh yeah, I remember that Rock On comment. "Quite surprised by the awards, personally, I loved Rock On." Hrithik laughed but Farru's face was like "whatever betch."😆

SLB can also be added to the list of a person too in love with his own work. The fantasy part of Saawariya didn't bother me, but for the most part the film just went around in circles. Sakina and Raj meet, a song happens, she realizes she has to run away. It wasn't even that long but I was bored out of my mind. And the Eman-Sakina love-story wasn't very convincing. I just couldn't care about any of the characters to feel anything at the end. That is why I was laughing at the final scene.

SLB needs to not make a magnum opus for once. Try taking out the oppulence and the varnish and focus on the story for once.

And Madhur Bhandarkar needs to stop calling himself a "realistic filmmaker".

He's too full of himself. The Jodha Akbar promos said, "by Academy Award nominated director, Ashutosh Gowarikar." Errm, when was he nominated for the Oscars? Lagaan, the movie, was nominated in the Foreign films category, not him.