A dual point-of-view:Cinema&reality-gaur

A dual point-of-view: Cinema and reality
By: A Mid Day Correspondent
February 17, 2007

Gaurav Chopraa These days, I have been going through a dual point of view in my mind. I recently watched Parzania and Black Friday and got my brain ticking about cinema. I've had a few arguments with friends over this too. I don't know why people have idealistic expectations from cinema. After watching Parzania, I realised how easy it is to manipulate the audience easily. I thought it was an attempt to create controversy and get attention. I mean why just Parzania, other films do that as well. Is it that easy to get the audience to shed a tear or two on an issue based on communal issues? Why would you make a Parzania in English if it wasn't to sell it to the foreign audience. Also, enough research was not done on the film. On the other hand, I am totally impressed by Black Friday. I mean, imagine a film made four years back that still looks so fresh and is technically sound. I really loved the passion with which the director Anurag Kashyap has made the film. I think Parzania and Black Friday are two extreme examples of how cinema can depict what's happening in society. They are two different genres and have been made with different agendas. I think Parzania could be a film made to cater to the festival circuit , but Black Friday on the other hand, was an attempt to make an authentic film.

CHEERS

RESH

Hey Rosewood thanks for sharing.
What Gaurav is saying may be specifically true for Parzania and Black Friday. (haven't seen either so cant comment on them per se). However, personally i do fall in the category of people who have idealistic expectations from cinema.
Any kind of creative process is always subject to the demands of the market... and thats true not just for today but has been around forever.... for example earlier art was tied up with religious and then secular patronage (The Sistine Chapel is a commissioned masterpiece, remember?).... and Shakespeare is pretty much the Manmohan Desai of his time. So i wouldnt say that aaj kal everything has become commercialised... no, in its own way, creative processes almost always work with an eye on the commercial.
At the same time, a text (a book, a painting, a film, an ad, a show) reflects certain ideologies of the world around. Certain texts make it very obvious what ideologies they reflect whereas other texts work in a multilayered way. And these ideologies and structures of power are reflected not just in a Parzania or a Black Friday but also in seemingly non political texts like Vivaah and Kal Ho Na Ho.
My argument is that while working within its own framework, cinema can still make you stop and think, unfamiliarise the familiar or create that one moment that an audience can take away with them. It is this that i expect from my cinema. And its not that difficult to do it.... the one example that leaps to my mind is of Modern Times.... the scene when Chaplin falls into the machine is so powerful that one cant be rid of it.... and its coming from a very successful actor director.
Anyway, have to rush now so will try and sum this up by saying: i dont know what Parzania and Black Friday are good or bad, i just will continue to demand from my cinema that it be exciting, challenging... even when made for the market. If thats too idealistic, so am I.

I don't watch many movies( neither I have seen Parzania and Black Friday)...so I can't comment on whether they are made for commercial use or depicting the reality in true sense.....but I would love to have reality cinema doing good research work before designing a creative structure which will speak for its times for many years to come....But seeing the constraints ...that its going to be a business at the end....wooing the audience, getting to the audience nerves overtakes the reality in most of the cases....Reality is moulded, edited and presented in a way to attract audience....and major audience is emotional about cinema..... Here I can think of superhit movie "Black" which was able to make everybody cry due to obvious reasons.....but only a few people could find out that everything what was shown there about challenged people and their life... was moulded drastically.....still the movie was very good in terms of direction and performances ....but cinema is cinema....I think cinema can't depict complete reality.... , neither do I think its possible 😊

Thanks Rosewood for sharing this news... 😊

Hey Teena agree with what you're saying... just wanted to tell you that i think you've addressed the issue that Gaurav is talking about in the article. i went off on a tangent because i was discussing something else with a friend recently and so was continuing that conversation rather than picking up the threads of the article and responding to them.Good job. 😊

Hmm.......cinema it's always been controversial. I will not comment on the above mentioned movies becuz I haven't seen any yet. As for adressing the issue of commercial and real I believe there are a handful of ppl left who actually want to uncover the atrocities and drama of real life. Those who possess a passion for it and are ready to face criticism and rejection alone venture on such unstable grounds. For the rest cinema is just a money minting idea or source. They expect the double of what they have invested and so do full justice to heighten the glamour and unrealistic probabilitiesof commercial cinema. I believe the audience plays a major part in identifying with both the categories. The world today considers cinema as a means of get away from the harsh realities of life. 3 hours of entertainment the reason they hardly go for realistic sorta movies. Teena I agree Black was a good movie and I too believe the creator did a good job . On the other hand Devdas too was major hit with nothing notable about it.Both movies were made by Sanjay I suppose . So I guess what matters the most is the way the subject is dealt. The entire set up, cast, crew, the finance, the presentation. You wanna do something do it properly else dun start with it at all that's what I think applies to modern cinema.