Culture Curry :

                                                         "Cultural Veggies" over "Junkies" 

Few days before, I happened to watch a recent box-office dazzler of one of the most sought after hotshots of Indian film Industry – Salman Khan in ‘Ready’- the film that promises endless ‘Dhinka-chikas’ to the audiences India-wide if not, worldwide Indians.

Aneez Bazmee , the director with 39 titles as a writer and 11 titles as a director, came out with a movie that evidently contradicts the recent trend of ‘intelligent’ cinema in India. The audiences flung the theatre to get rained by dialogues that will keep them away from the prosaic insecurities – so that they can keep their brains at the doorstep of the hall and laugh the hell out at every scene.

They inherently support what Mr. Warhol(a NYT reporter) said,” What I “think” is boring” – they don't want to think when they are into any sort of entertainment.

But, does it symbolically represent the fact that Indian audiences are suffering from cultural fatigue, and are not willing to grab the “cultural vegetables”?  Do they really want the theatres to be a cornucopia of “junk foods”?

The statistics of Hindi cinema this year claims ‘Yamla Pagla Dewana’ to be the highest grosser of this year – and ‘Ready’ if it continues its rage for one more week, it is going to be the undisputable grosser at least till Diwali , no doubt .

 Thinking is boring – so, Sajid Khans, Farah Khans, Bazmees industrially make movies to entertain. And, if you are entertained, you won’t have time and head space to think how crummy, shoddily directed, badly written and inane the movie looks. And, so, the images keep zipping, the dialogues keeps on trying a  laugh-riot and actor dancing at serene locales so as if to reassure you that the money you spent for ticket is well worth all this clamor that started months ago still it buzzed in the ears.

But, the stay is momentary. I, and I can well assure you all, still plug in the DVDs of Golmaal(the old one) and at least Hera Pheri(Priyadarshan) when we want refresh ourselves with the rolls of laughter. Are they boring? Or, can you enjoy them keeping your brains getting frozen in the refrigerator? – Hopefully, not. And, never entertainment meant mindlessness. And, mindlessness is never entertaining.

 So, is ‘thinking’ boring? – looking at the larger trend, the inference is confusing.  

Though, looking at the box-office revenue earning, the answer seems ‘yes’. But, if you believe in positive notes, and if you believe, looking at the growing economic actions, India and China can be the best bet over US dominance, the evolution is evident – the era of ‘intelligent’ movies is on and is here to stay.  The sophomoric shock-humor is a short –lived fad as an entertainment buffer.

And, the hegemony of the big-budgeted star-struck dramas is cornered by the supposedly new-age ‘intelligent’ slick films – it is a style derived for the long –term evolution of Indian cinema. ’Junk-foods’ are never an option !!