This article is really a good insight to the way media fails to give due respect to real acheivements and bring into light or exagerates undeserving work. Thanks for sharing the thoughts Deepa Gehlot!
We have been giving unwanted importance to this movie "Devdas". It is just a gaudy show. The movie is painstakingly lengthy and unnecessary melodrama. I fail to understand why this film is applauded and praised so much. It does not carry any kind of orginality or brilliance. The garish sets no way can certify it as a great movie.
It is really ridiculous to see media being ignorant to genuine talent of Indian Cinema and going only for the showbiz. India mainstream cinema seemed to lack the potential to get those such international awards. Such offbeat movies giving India some pride should be highlighted.
Bollywood is really the shame of India. It's a mix of rich spoilt kids and 'beauties' who have absolutely no clue how to lead lives. Cinema is a beautiful medium. It's art. This is so powerfully evident in Satyagit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' or Akira Kurosawa's 'Dreams' or in a hollywood 'American Beauty'. And all that bollywood manages is a 'Devdas' or 'Ek aur ek gyara' or a 'Hero' with so much of pomp and show that invariably is too loud to bear. What a waste! And they'll send these for oscars too!! These entertainers (bollywood film makers) are jokers. Regional cinema has some life.
That Bollywood is on the brink of a diaster is attributed by the fact that the film makers are totally clueless of what they are doing. I have been watching hindi films for quite some time and i could so easily see that most of the films have POOR script, Mulitiple heroes/heroiens in a film have created so much pressure among them that they tend to overact too much. songs are so bad that you cant listen to them the second time. WIth all these discredits, there is no way that bollywood can match or attempt to compete South Indian movies. I hope the industry understands that on the long run, it requires quality and commitment to win.
Well said. But kind of missed the point at heart of the topic. Media is not going to talk about things that are not popular in the mainstream. Thats the truth. Its pointless to argue that everyone should write and talk about Kabaddi because we won a gold medal once, and not cricket because we haven't won the gold in 20 years. People should have a choice to see what they want to inspite of what critics think. Aishwarya interests millions and media writes about it. So be it. The offbeat movies have their own audience and get the appreciation of a select section of people and media. Its true everywhere.
I agree with the fact that alternative/non-mainstream cinema does not get the exposure it deserves. However I find the tone of your article condescending. What do you mean by "uninitiated"? Dont tell me that in your article you rattled off all the information without doing some kind of research.
Mainstream ventures get more media exposure than alternative. I think people who step into the alternative genre have this understanding.
I am so glad that Ms.Deepa gehlot did her homework.You are right about having to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff for ourselves. Even when Lagaan was nominated and finally lost, the indian media made it out as if Lagaan lost by a whisker.I couldn't help but laugh bcoz it was always Amelie that was an outstanding movie that year and in contention for Best Foreign Movie.The other day i was watching IIFA awards and i couldnt help myself noticing it was all but Hindi movies nominated.If it is just Hindi movies, then call it Bollywood Awards not Indian Film Awards. As an Indian, i would like to believe Indian movies is inclusive of all regional language movies. One of the main reasons why we, as a country have not realized its full potential is because we dont give due respect to CONTENT,QUALITY and TALENT and instead glorify MEDIOCRITY.The biggest shock was that last year 5 movies competed to be nominated for Oscars as Indian Entry. That is pathetic.Hope the current trend of flops will make producers to make movies without mother Sentiment,Family-opposing Love story and other themes that we have watched all our lives.
there is no argument of these films not being as popular as the bollywood movies because of simple reason, hindi is the most and widely known and understood language in India, as most of the people don't understand malayalam, Tamil, Bangali etc but they do understand Hindi, I don't have much idea of realistic movies made in india, but if i give a small exapmle that the serial like 'malguri days' (apologise for spelling mistake) were very polular throughout the India. I still think to people yah the masala movies give them worth of their money and do give them entertainment for 3 hours but still its really the story, performance, direction that matters to them most irrespective of starcast. We (Indians) do value the efforst and realism in movies.
