One stark reality of Hindi “masala” films is that they are divorced from reality. Crime, sex, violence, stunts, melodrama and synthetic sentiment are their components.
With practically no commitment to the community, these films shirk from the problems of the present resurgent society where traditional values are either dead or are dying. A new order is taking shape but the new order is seldom treated seriously in these films.
Brides are burnt for bringing insufficient dowry, we kill kids to appease deities, murders are committed in the name of religion, religious places are demolished, and norms of public life are made to touch the nadir. Our leaders are discovered They have feet of black clay morally and financially.
They are tainted politically, spiritually, yet, we cannot boast of genuine films on these subjects. In the fake-glamour world of the Hindi film, reality is dull and unattractive.
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The masses are thus being converted into mindless “addicts”. Hindi “masala” films produce auto-intoxication at a massive scale. The poison goes on brewing slowly into the nation’s psyche.
Drinking scenes in current crop of Hindi films provide one example. The villain (the hero too) take the bottle to their mouth and pour down its contents in one go. Yet the sensibilities are intact to sing a lusty song but they slur when they talk.
While the length of the average (most are not even that) “masala” film is increasing, its quality is declining. These “mega” entertainers given three or four-star ratings by film critics are heaps of illogicalities and stupidities wrapped up in colour.
The reviews by critics “which are often reproduction of the credits are garnished with “Hi folks.” “Believe me.””I tell you.” This heroine has fantastic leg’s”. “This film is going to be a smashing hit.” Pray! When did film reviewers become astrologers?
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The present crop of film-makers (and critics) is blissfully ignorant of basic Unities of Time, Place and Action. You see an action taking place at noon, the next moment it is midnight. You see the hero in a Bombay street, next bit of action is in London.
The hero jumps into a river in a suit, shoes, and necktie but comes out in white kurta pyjama. Do the critics point these out? No. They tell us that the heroine has stunning legs.
Even when a relevant theme is undertaken, the treatment is mawkish, unconvincing and slipshod. There is more stress on synthetic melodrama than on intrinsic values. Most of these films are remembered as bad dreams. An angry Amitabh shoots down cabinet ministers at a meeting.
How many criminals and delinquents our films are invisibly nursing or have already nursed is not the concern of the “critic” who writes a review in 100 words and calls the film outstanding. The mainstream Hindi cinema is unrealistic and unprofessional and mostly idiotic.
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Feroz Rangoonwalla, historian, has called it “a cinema” in which anything goes. The argument given by votaries is that it is meant for the masses. Hence, the film-maker must give what the masses want.
This is a perversity of logic. Masses comprise an amorphous bulk of mankind, including classes. It is here the film reviewer (critic is a misnomer) fails the society, his profession and his newspaper. The very purpose of good cinema is defeated because it does not reach the masses thanks to the, film critic dusted to “legs.” “Raj Kapoor has said, “I don’t claim to be anything else but the man of the masses. I make films not to satisfy myself but my audiences.”
The same Raj Kapoor candidly confesses: “I am equally opposed to the so-called commercial cinema which lacks aesthetic taste and panders to the lowest denomination of public crazes.”
Who should one blame? It is the job of the film critic to raise his voice (if he has any), use his professional knowledge and understanding against the tyranny of a single idea of low commitment and lower sensibilities. The cult of mediocrity in films as well as in reviews has to be broken.
A critic (he is actually an impressionistic reporter) has a responsibility to the reader that buys the newspaper. This is to tell the truth without fear or favour. The message is instructed in the medium. He has to establish a consciousness about where film images come from and why.
He has the responsibility to keep himself informed not of senseless snippets. He has to educate himself everyday so that he could bring to his work an awareness of the cinematic art.
He has to denounce the half-truth, the stereotype, the cliche and the money-grab mentality. For this, the society needs men and women steeped in cinema, not snippets.