IN DEFENCE OF BOLLYWOOD

Filmein sirf teen cheezon ki wajah se chalti hai: Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment. And the rise and rise of commercial Kannada and Telugu cinema is proof of that. But what happened to the Bollywood mass entertainers?

-  Ananya Ghosh

I am a Bengali, I have grown up in Kolkata, and I know my Godard. But I also happen to know my Govinda. One more thing Kolkata teaches you is how to spot an antel from miles away. Antels are a particular subspecies of bongs who can talk about everything with absolute authority, often parroting what a more veteran/ established antel preaches, without caring to actually know anything on the same. Their favourite words are Subaltern, Socialism, and Satyajit Ray.

Now, why am I ranting on Bongs and their antlami (marked by random snobbery and the over intellectualisation of even the most prosaic)? Today, this quintessential Bong antlami is spreading to the rest of India faster than Covid; especially among the audience watching Bollywood movies. And it is scaring the bejesus out of me.

Have we forgotten how to enjoy a movie as an experience? We are always busy nit-picking. Does every film require or deserve an academic discussion? Maybe not. Was Sholay a masterclass in film-making? No. Was it an original? Watch these four films, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven, Once Upon A Time in The West, and For A Few Dollars More, and then watch Sholay, and you will know. But is it the ultimate cinematic experience? Yes.

It's even more disastrous when we get into an academic discussion about films without getting into the academics of it. Most of us don't understand the concept of genres. We have become a pro in comparing apples with oranges (if a fruit analogy seems too prosaic, Cezanne drew apples and Gauguin painted oranges, so formalism and surrealism. not the same). We will go to watch a Singham and expect an Omerta, and then be crestfallen watching the antics of Ajay Devgn. It is like walking into an Udipi restaurant when you are craving sushi.