There has been immense
hullabaloo about how mesmerizing the box office collections of Chennai
Expressare. While a section of the audiences are celebrating the triumph of
their favorite star’s box office victory, the intelligentsia has been mourning
the celebration of moronic film replete in gags. I had maintained the safe way
out by deciding to abandon my brains just before I entered the theater to watch Chennai
Express and I managed to scrape out with a passable entertaining time.
However, the ‘hate’ comments of our loyal readers haven’t stopped coming in
ever since. And with Chennai Express surpassing the box office
records created by 3 Idiots, the looming question remains – do good content
films get their due value from box office?
Let’s direct our
attention to the much touted 100 crore club of box office. With 22 films in the
club, there is a real dearth of impressive concepts in the club that epitomizes
success of films. What exactly is a successful film – a content rich,
refreshing film that is hard to forget or a blunder like Aashiqui
2 which dishes out the same old wine in a new bottle? The reason why I
cared to mention Aashiqui 2 is because the film has recorded the
highest profit this year, without entering the “100 crore club”. Personally,
business prospects and cinematic aspects are distinctly different, cinema these
days focus exceedingly on business rather than on content.
In many of my columns
I’ve pointed out to the distinction between a thorough commercial film and
decadent intelligent film. But it is only recently that the gulf between these
films have become more apparent. I have been fed on the pedigree of Bollywood
and respecting commercialism is inherently in me. As Neo realist pioneer of
India, Satyajit Ray pointed out, “Film is the highest form of commercial art!”
Bollywood has literally personified commercial cinema for years. Be it films
like Sholay or Don, there is a visible presence of effervescent
writing and refreshing ideas.
But the problem with
commercial films these days is slack and stale writing that has nothing new to
offer in terms of content. Stories more or less settle on similar plots and
commercial films work mainly either for their stunts or their star value.
Amongst the 22 entrants in the 100 crore club, 6 are either completely
lifted or rehashed versions of South flicks – namely Singham, Ghajini, Son
Of Sardaar, Rowdy
Rathore, Ready, Bodyguard.
While Race 2, Don 2, Housefull
2 and Golmaal 3 are franchises which rely mostly on their
successful predecessors to work into hits! Bol
Bachchan and Agneepath are
both remakes of old Hindi films which we might end up watching simply for the
nostalgic feel. And in the end, there are those films which work mostly because
of its star value. Be it Yash
Chopra’s last film Jab
Tak Hai Jaan or old flames coming back together in Ek
Tha Tiger or Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, the reason why these films worked
despite the lack of a fresh script is simply because of star value and sleek
direction.
There are rather few
films in the 100 crore list which really have made a place on the basis strong
plot.Anurag
Basu’s Barfi!, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milha Bhaag and
mostly Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots have claimed the place more for the plot of
their films and less for the star value of it.
Even if Chennai
Express has managed to surpass the box office numbers of 3 Idiots, it
is indeed not a cue for people to thrash 3 Idiots saying how Aamir Khan is
a lesser star than Shah Rukh Khan. Though hero-worship is quite a trend
in our industry, it would be better if script looms as the hero in the larger
picture of cinema. And as for box office numbers, they have never been
indicative of good films.
The most celebrated
films of Bollywood have been underrated at box office. In the end, it is the
films that linger on in our memories. Chennai Express might rake up
way more than 3 Idiots in the domestic circuit, but when one has to
name the most memorable films of the decade, it wouldn’t even stand a chance.
Human brain is thus, in the long run it manages to dissipate the fragile and
remember the strong. When it comes to cinema, the best of films are the only
ones that sustain over the content drained, quick hefty earners, that fail to
carve a place!
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