Naachne Gaane wali Industry

While standing in the queue to buy tickets for 'A Quiet Place', I noticed a pattern in our audiences. I was third in the queue and it still took me 10 minutes to get to the ticket counter and hence, was late for the show.

I went in the next day and saw the same pattern. The audiences lined up actually were deciding on what movie to watch after they reached the counter. The lady, who I first noticed, brought up every film that was playing and just kept wondering what film should she and her husband be watching. The same thing happened to a couple that was standing right in front of me who until reaching the counter did not care about the movie they were going to watch. I eavesdropped a bit and heard the boy asking 'Baaghi 2 kaisi hai?' to which the girl replied 'Action accha hai, story kharaab hai' and they then discussed each and every film from Peter Rabbit to Blackmail and ended up buying the tickets for Baaghi 2. Same movie for the lady before them and the same thing happened the day after. What struck me was the casualness in the audience towards our cinema.

I have always been vocal about the need for films like Baaghi 2 and how they bring in the money in the industry. The films are causal in nature but a consequence of it that evaded my understanding until that day was how much of a 'Chalta Hai' attitude it has generated within the audience towards movies.

I read this article where Sajid Nadiadwala says how he wants the audience to get their each and every penny worth. But what he is missing out is the impact that the films of his create on the cine-goer, which is negligible. I heard my uncle saying once as to how Akshay Kumar is doing wonderful cinema by bringing out the social issues in the films. I was happy to see a positive reaction to our films and a certain sense of respect in his tone. And to be honest, I do not mind Akshay doing such transitional films (I like to call them that) that at least leaves our audiences with a question to ponder upon although the films in itself are not well crafted. But a film like Baaghi 2 only creates this sense of 'Blah' in them which is a highly convenient option for a country that compromises on a lot of fronts (Please do not get offended). Singing is an art, composing music is an art but Cinema, cinema toh humaara timepass hai. A film like Dangal or a Barfi or even a PK can mint the same amount of money that a Baaghi 2 can. They too give their audiences the worth of the money they have spent and alongside, create an impact that lasts longer and sometimes give them a perspective.

Baaghi 2 just drops the level of the industry to the conventional 'Naachne Gaane wali' place. The actors aren't taken seriously. Some of the films are just bypassed because they are movies. There are horrendous comments on the filmmakers by equally horrendous politicians even after their death. The reason, we simply do not respect our films and do not know the reason to why they should exist in the first place.