BAR BAR DEKHO! TOI

BAR BAR DEKHO!

While the government has been trying to give out anti-smoking and anti-drinking messages by insisting that filmmakers carry statutory warnings in their films, it is bar songs that are turning into runaway hits

M Suganth

If one were to come up with the Top 10 songs of the year so far, almost half of them will be ones either sung by drunken heroes or set in a bar. From the pan-Indian (and even global) hit that was Why This Kolaveri Di… to local chartbusters like Oru Kal Oru Kannadi's Venaam Machaan… and Ivaluga Imsai… from Kalakalappu, it is drunken revelry that is the toast of the season. The latest in the list is Bar Anthem…, that features in the upcoming Mugamoodi, directed by Mysskin whose films regularly feature such numbers.

WHAT FILMMAKERS SAY


Says Rajesh, director of Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, "Venaam Machaan… is not set in a bar but the scene leading to it has the characters drinking. Generally, people get philosophical when drunk and that was the logic behind having such a set-up. If you listen to the lyrics, it is all about telling the heartbroken hero that friendship is better than love." The director feels that shooting in a bar or having a drunken character will not turn a song into a chartbuster. "The song has to go with the mood of the script," he adds.
Rajesh feels that the Censor Board being strict about smoking and drinking scenes is a good thing and that he plans to avoid smoking and drinking scenes as much as possible in his future films.
Meanwhile, director Kamalakannan, who has made Madhubanakkadai, a film that is set inside a
bar for its entire duration, says that he didn't have any problems with the censors. "Even a topic like sex can be used to talk about issues or just for commercial reasons. My film narrates a set of events that happen inside a wine shop a day before Gandhi Jayanthi and is neither prodrinking nor anti-drinking, unlike commercial films, most of which use bar scenes and songs to glorify drinking," he says. He feels that Censor Board officials are quite open-minded about smoking and drinking scenes if they are relevant to the script. "Since the film is about drinking and drunkards, they told us straightaway that it will be rated 'A'. And, in addition to statutory warning before the movie begins and post interval, they wanted scrolls only for the smoking scenes. And, they praised the film saying that it was a different attempt. Barring a few dialogues that they wanted to be muted, they passed our film without a single visual cut," he says.

THE CENSOR BOARD'S VIEW


Censor Board member T G Thyagarajan spells out the guidelines that the officials follow in this regard. "It has been decided that if a film has a shot, scene or song that glorifies smoking or drinking in a bar or nightclub, it is mandatory that the makers have statutory warnings before the title credits and also repeat it after the interval. These films will be certified 'U/A', which means it requires parental guidance so that minors understand that smoking and drinking are bad for health. Also, we decided that we will not insist on warning scrolls during a scene so that they don't disturb the narrative," he says.
Pakkirisamy, regional censor officer, says that while there is no separate notification for drinking scenes, it also comes as a part of the general guidelines. "In such cases, it depends on the number of drinking scenes in the film. If the film is good and if it has very few drinking scenes, we allow such shots sparingly while rating it as 'U/A'. But, we don't allow songs or promos featuring drinking to be screened on television. If any broadcaster is telecasting it, then it is a definite violation of the rule and people can lodge a complaint with us," he says.
"There is a big lobby for promoting smoking and drinking and we have to take on the problem at the grassroot level to create awareness. And that is why, if people have a proper forum to complain, the censors can do an even better job in enforcing the guidelines," he adds.

SOME POPULAR BAR ANTHEMS IN K'WOOD


• Why This Kolaveri Di – 3

• Come On Girls – 3

• Venaam Machaan – Oru Kal Oru Kannadi

• Ivaluga Imsai – Kalakalappu

• Pottadhu Pathala – Saguni

• Bar Anthem – Mugamoodi

• TASMAC Anthem – Madhubaanakadai

A still from Kalakalappu

A still from Saguni