Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Love Na Aaj Na Kal !

Bollywood has done it again. I feel duped again. Not once, twice but for umpteenth time it has promised the moon and then crash-landed me with a thud. I feel like a kid who was lured to go to a Birth day party by boxes of chocolates but was sent back with a lollipop!
I am not gonna write a review of the film here, just vent out my frustration 

I have started hating this big budgeted all hype, all hoopla and no content flicks. Give me a DevD, A Wednesday, Manorma Six Feet Under or any other movie which falls under the category of what I call a "good story well told". And I am not averse to the singing and dancing, that’s the soul of Bollywood and that’s what keeps us refreshingly different from Hollywood. But there certainly has to be more to a movie than just those. And this ‘All Marketing Bad Product” big budgeted movies are suddenly becoming a norm rather than an exception.

It all started with Om Shanti Om. And then there were many more. Tashan, Singh is King, and lately Kambhaqt Ishq.

Why can’t we make a Last Samurai, a Notting Hill, a Lost in Translation at our own Bollywood ?

I know, none of the heavily marketed movies I talked about were flop and all of them made great money. They say “Its make business sense and audience approves of it”.
Give me a break. We don’t approve it, its just that we don’t have a choice most of the times and there is no way we can know how good or bad the movie is until we have paid for it.

If only, buying movie tickets were like buying dresses, with trial rooms and exchanges!

8 comments:

  1. Great post, Karan..

    LOVE AAJ KAL is just about okay. I found it illogical and nonsensical. But it wasn’t as bad as SHORTKUT or CHANDNI CHOWK…

    Low budget films like A WEDNESDAY, DASVIDANIYA, BHEJA FRY, MANORAMA…, KHOSLA KA GHOSLA are not marketed extensively due to budget constraints.. Sadly, they don’t get a great opening and raking in the moolah becomes difficult for them…Vinay Pathak deserves accolades for his performance in DASVIDANIYA..Sadly, how many of us are even aware of a film like that?

    Big stars don’t always guarantee Box Office success.. …A case in point is CHANDI CHOWK TO CHINA..

    You can’t hoodwink the audience now..U need to rope in ‘performers’ as opposed to ‘stars’ to sell a film these days…

    Prestigious big banner productions like YRF, Dharma are not enough to pull in the audience to cinema halls..

    But Bollywood is pushing the envelope at some level..I mean u cant ignore substantial films like MY BROTHER NIKHIL, BLACK, KHUDA KE LIYE, LUCK BY CHANCE…etc.. JODHA AKBAR is a brilliant work of cinematic excellence… So is A WEDNESDAY..

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  2. Whaa heyy woahh no!!
    I really REALLY liked Om Shanti Om! SO nice and ... dramatic :P

    I'm giving LoveAajKal a skip, following all the glorious reviews...

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  3. Movie makers target huge crowd & not a bunch of people. I think large number of movie watchers are still inclined to such a stuff. Also the kind of marketing they do to attract public (like u got attracted) and some rocking numbers they put in so that music records could make up the losses. A good sensible movie attracts only the bunch and hence less on returns. The point is what Ram Gopal Verma is doing.. he is making movies keeping some unknown factors in mind :)

    BTW, I haven't watched any of them, Om Shanti Om, Tashan, Singh is King and Love Aaj Kal (I guess I'll watch this one, as I want to see Deepika's performance for the first time)

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  4. I agree with Unsung, I LOVED OSO. It was such a vibrant, colorful, beautifully nonsensical movie. A movie doesn't have to make sense to entertain. Come to think of it, a 'Terminator' (or any other over the top, sci-fi movie) doesn't make sense either, but it is an awesome movie.
    Love Aajkal wasn't as good as OSO, but it wasn't very bad either. I liked it as a one-time watch.

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  5. Swats, how could i miss Chandni Chowk to China ...
    While writing the post I had this feeling that I am missing one more Akshay Kumar flick in the list which I had tolerated!
    And yes My Brother Nikhil was beautiful,I loved Purab Kohli's character in it.
    And I think you are a movie buff too, I mean when the length of comment is longer than the post, the person is really into the subject :)

    Unsung,take my word, save your 2.5 hours :)

    Varun, Deepika's performance ??? You wont find that. She is all candy floss barbie doll. An eye treat for sure, but no acting skills, but who is complaining :)

    Nikki,Nikki,Nikki ... You are NOT suppose to compare TERMINATOR with OSO and Love Aajkal. The creators of movie deserve better than this!

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  6. hehehhehe...yeah..i am...but i dont watch every film..and nw my work does not involve anything 'bollywood' :(

    lol@the length of my comment

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  7. Whoa! I love this post.
    I feel like a kid who was lured to go to a Birth day party by boxes of chocolates but was sent back with a lollipop!
    I don't know since how many days I've been trying to express the same :P

    The last line is so cool :)

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  8. Hey, thanks Sugar Cube and welcome to the blog :)

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