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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Taare Zameen Par Brought Down To Earth At Oscars

Taare Zameen Par and Aamir Khan have been brought down to earth at the Oscars. Critically acclaimed, whatever it means, in India, the film and Aamir Khan were showered with accolades here in India but could not make it even to the last nine in the foreign langauge film category of the Oscars, out of 65 entries. That it made it to the 65 itself was possible because India was supposed to nominate one film and the wise men selected Taare Zameen par and any film nominated by India would be in the 65. So, no points for making it to the 65.

The rejection of the film at the first level itself signifies the standard of films made here in India. There are a lot of technical factors involved in making a film and I can say, without being in the Industry, that the Indian movies are a lot of unadulterated but sweet bullshit with lots of pretty faces going through the motions. Technicalities, if any, beyond the ones required for shooting the film are something which are dug up by the critics after the movie has been made. The critics themselves are totally clueless about what to look for in a film. If you pick up all the dailies in the country which carry reviews of the films, you will find atrocious differences in the ratings and reviews of the same film, which only substantiates my claim that the qualitative highs of a movie are picked up after the movie is released. If a movie had a particular strong point, wouldn't everyone notice it? In short more often than not the movie reviews in India are a bigger bullshit that the films themselves.

Read a sample review of the film Taare Zameen Par at
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/13306/index.html
Lots of adjectives and high sounding words and one small paragraph on the quality. And this by Taran Adarsh, one of the more noted critics in India. If some one wants only a good story, he/she would read a book from a library for a Rupee a day rather than spend Rs 250/- for three hours of watching a story.

After the news reached India, veteran film maker Subahsh Ghai says, "Dyslexia is well known in USA, so there is no issue for them not to select Taare Zameen Par." Hello! Just because a film's subject is good, it is not selected for awards. Okay, maybe it happpens in India, but not elsewhere. Coming from Subhash Ghai who has been in this industry for decades, it is evident what our film makers know about making films.

A film is a package deal. It has to be good on all fronts. A good face, semi-naked bodies, item numbers, rapes, slap-stick humour or just a good subject do not make a good film. Unfortunately, in India, since all films are trash, some succeed better than others for lack of choice. One billion people have to spend time and have some entertainment, so they go and watch a movie. The collections and grand openings do not have any meaning in such a scenario.

In a way it is good that Taare Zameen Par has not been short listed. It is a tight slap on the face of the incompetent industry and equally incompetent critics.

2 comments:

  1. ... from your outburst it seems as if you yourself are somebody from the film industry ... it seems as if we a country of billion ppl are all fools .. and u r the one with an intelliigent mind and awakened soul .. all ready to lead us .. with ur gentle taps and hard knocks ...

    U need a break dude! .. or better still in ur words............ a gentle tap...but it isn't going to wake u up from ur slumber .. so a hrad knock .. or a whack on ur temple is going to make u realise that ur no one to belittle the efforts of a complete film making crew, that worked for months together ...

    .. Go make a film .. just a 5 minute film and u'll realise the pain u experience in ur ass while making it ...

    Loser!!

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  2. Thanks for your comment Andy. I am glad that the post has achieved it's purpose and shaken you out of your slumber. I did not say that the country of billion people are all fools. I said that they are deprived of good cinema.

    Look at what you are saying; should I appreciate the effort of people just because they have worked for months, the proof of the pudding is in eating, in it's taste. Going by your logic, we should appreciate the efforts of Mr Ramalinga Raju, who toiled for eight years to defraud this country of billion people of Rs 7000 crores, the efforts of Lashkar who toiled for months together to plan and execute the Mumbai attacks, the efforts of our politicians who toil endlessly to loot this country. Wake up dude...

    You seem to be from the Industry, since I seemed to have touched a nerve there. Tell you what, if making a film is a pain in your ass, you are obviously in the wrong profession and that would explain the kind of trash we are being served. And it goes for all professions. People doing what they don't enjoy doing, the results are never going to be happy.

    Thanks anyways.

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