The future of Tollywood is most certainly not in my hands alone, but together we can revolutionize Telugu cinema by simply asking for better cinema! It’s a sad state of affairs in terms of what the TFI has been *bestowing* on us for some years now. Below are my comments on this subject I wrote on a blog, concatenated.
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I liked the part where you called the film-makers to action, to live in the present and not indulge in scripts which is rightly today’s Tollywood cliche, if you will. This essay/review circumvents PVC, but I guess Tollaywood really needs to come out of slumber and look beyond *formula films*.
A friend once remarked, its almost like they (financers) found a formula to make 4 Rs out of 2 Rs., and lage pade hain. Most of the top actors do cinema with no script to have a firm footing on! Predictable stories, actress presence (only), song-dance sequences, Sumo bomb blasts, action scenes and Bramhi getting slapped on his head by the hero. The problem is the formula itself. If you make movies with conviction, there will be takers. Find talented script-writers, take a risk! Everything else falls into line too. If the film-maker really cares about good cinema, they would not care as much about branding (read big-league actors). The cost goes down too, don’t they see?!! Happy Days, Prasthanam anyone?
If there is any creativity surge, it genuinely is with humour elements. We sure have a come a long way, so to say – too many examples to name. But how about other departments?! Just look around, bound by *culture* there are other regional movies with profound subjects, intelligent treatment and catering much more. Too much masala has led to acidity, need something as prisitine as milk now.
To which, a fellow-reader responded:
“Though I largely agree with you, I think branding, as you put it, is still (sadly) a vital factor for our movies to succeed. You mention Happy Days and Prasthanam. Happy Days arrived with a lot of hype, good music, and importantly was the only big release at its time. Prasthanam, which I believe was the best movie of 2010, did not do really well at the box-office inspite of a very good word of mouth. When a strictly average movie like Kick can be a success, and a terrific movie like Prasthanam does not do well, we know where the problem lies. The fault also lies with the audience for not accepting all kinds of movies.
Might seem a little out of context, but I’d draw an analogy with Apple. They do not make phenomenal hardware/software. They just package/market what they have like no one else does. And you still find millions of people buying Apple products, never mind even if there are far superior products around for a much cheaper price. Same applies to our movies. Our audience needs to be more aware.”
My response:
Thanks for seeing through my viewpoint overall. Just to clarify, I wasn’t ostracizing cinema branding or meaning to undermine its value proposition. Promotions and word-of-mouth are bigger than ever today, no questioning absolutely! But when a movie’s USP is the actor himself, sure enough you attract crowds, and we see how this whole money-recovery cycle works even with a bad script at hand. But where is the innovation that brings on the next wave? It begins with a good script and better screenplay without so much stating of the obvious. I’ll use your example of Apple – sure the products seem like everyone else is doing it too. But they remain the real pioneers – iPod, iPhone, MacBook, iPad, etc. Each time they roll something out, the advertising is huge, and product matches up both in terms of innovation and quality – right from look and feel to functionality. But you must observe they are the first to deliver to market, and at an affordable price. Value for money coupled with value for many..what a terrific combo!
I agree with you the audiences need to be aware what’s OK, good or better. Some of us do, and thankfully are having this discussion but it needs to stretch beyond, and reach out to those who can make it happen! I reckon film-makers think audiences are interested only in certain type of cinema!
It’s really not about what cinema should be about; art cannot be constrained by subject. Film-makers create cinema for many reasons – entertainment, ego-massaging, to turn a profit, creative satisfaction. Potentially all these goals could be confused with each other/lost very easily depending on who’s calling the shots in the process. But the makers must realize that the audience watches cinema to get entertained mainly! Any which case, it’s difficult to strike a chord with every single section of the audience, cinema is like that. I’m trying to represent and speak to that section of the audience which is enthu about good Telugu cinema, much more intelligent cinema, which appeals in a more cerebral manner. Tollywood cinema has come to be recognized by the ‘masala’ factor, and potentially losing out on audience which is disgruntled by same dimwit content being churned out shamelessly, year after another albeit a few exceptions. So I guess its upto the financiers to think intelligently and actually evaluate some more options available. It’s not so much about winning awards or Oscars anymore as much it is about regaining lost respect.
The blogpost, comments et al can be found here: http://goo.gl/q6mNz
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