The sorry tale of Bollywood

Cinema in India is quite underrated, under-utilised and has always been below par. There is a huge disparity in what it could amount to be and what it has actually come to being. A medium of such enormous potential and far reaching implications has been reduced to a self indulgent, self righteous and an abominable caricature.

Great cinema, like all great art, can be a lot of things. It can be incisive,penetrating, thought provoking, insightful and even disturbing.It can be both, a representation as well as a reflection of us and the society we inhabit. A tool for improvement, a tool for improvisation but all only in the hands of an able maker.

Even if not so, it surely can be a stressbuster to our everyday chores and chaos: an entertainment entity which is both acceptable and easily accesible.

But the present scenario in bollywood is far from appealing, infact it is appalling. The current movies hitting the screens are puerile and abysmal. So much money at stake, so much propaganda and promotions , but so little to comprehend, and even so little to applaud.

They say, everything evolves for the better, but then what happened to our very own bollywood? Why is it still stuck? Worse, why on the wrong side of the curve?

Whom to blame? Us or them? The makers or the viewers? Are the Indian filmmakers really so non-cerebral and insensitive?Don't they know their audience? Don't they trust them and their intellect? Have they become so arrogant, nonsensical and have lost all moral obligations to the society?Have they hit a dead end? Loss of ideas, or just loss of intent? Is the apathy towards the viewer justified?

Or is there a different story?  Do they really know the viewers and are absolutely certain of their sentiments and urges. They know for sure what keeps the mass and the money flowing. They are more than happy to keep selling the same old, clichéd combinations, no matter how pungent and toxic it has become, because we keep on buying, over and over again. Demand still exists in abundance, why alter the supply? Why act if there is no complain? What to correct, if nothing seems wrong?

Vicious circle it has become? Tough to transform and even tougher to reform?

But something needs to be done. If not now, then when; If not you, then who?
To spare us from the dreaded Fridays, we need to participate and participate collectively. Look into the book, beyond its cover and apply sense and rationality before going to the movies next time.
Read the reviews and boycott bad films, even if it means missing out on your favourite stars.
Small is the new big, low and medium budget films are plenty and in most probability won't disappoint. Avoid hysteria,  celebritymaniasm and mass flow.

In the end, There will still be average and below average films, there will always be a time when the implementation and execution of certain ideas will go awry, there will always be stories which might not engage a major section of the public, but then let there be an intent and a genuine motive to make something good.
Nonsense that inevitably keeps happening every friday or so in the name and disguise of money spinners have to go. We don't need coming off age movies every friday, all we need is an entertaining enterprise that can keep our mood upbeat and our faith restored.