I just realized that my titles end with a question mark, usually. This is a fine example of what people point out in me, being over analytic of things. Numerous times I have had conversations with people about things that they (or the mass) might have enjoyed, such as a Shah Rukh/Karan Johar/Bhansali film, or a recent bestseller which I usually am not impressed by (or is it impressed with?). My two cents usually include the same old, "There was nothing new in the film/book. You could almost guess what the next scene/dialogue was going to be and I don't call that tasteful direction/writing" or"He/she acts/cries/laughs the same way in every film and that is not versatile acting". Classic examples of the former include Mani Ratnam's Guru and for the latter include Shah Rukh in almost every movie and Jyothika in Mozhi. (I wouldn't waste this serious piece criticizing Karan Johar) This reminds me of an anecdote that happened about 3 years ago. We were listening to some song from the movie Chalte Chalte and I said that the song reminds me of several songs (because the tune was clearly a rehash of some similar songs). Needless to say, a girl next to me said, "That's because this is a melody and good melodies sound alike." Oh! How blissful are the ignorant.
There was a recent conversation about Jyothika's performance in Mozhi and I simply did not find her performance very scintillating, unlike my friends. Personally, I find that she does the same bloody thing with her big eyes, rotating them from side to side. In fact, try this. Take shots of her eyes alone from several movies where she is anything but smiling and try to identify the character she is playing. It will all be the same. Her possessed Chandramukhi's eyes had the same fury her mute Archana had. Ditto for Shah Rukh's Rahul/Raj (heck he doesn't even change his name). The same goes for Bhansali's direction. I, for one, have never found any of his movies original, except Khamoshi (to the best of my knowledge). But people like these performances. A lot!
And they say that I cannot enjoy even the simplest of these things because I am over analytic. I would like to find out if that is wrong. Maybe, I am missing the simplest pleasures of life. Maybe, I cannot see American Football as more than a game where one person has to carry a ball from one end of the field to the other while being beaten to death. Maybe, I cannot forget myself and watch a Priyadarshan movie (BTW I do enjoy some David Dhawan movies which declare at the outset that you keep your brains at home and I like that openness). Maybe, I cannot give the 7th part of Harry Potter another read because it has become so mundane.
But at all these instances I cannot but help compare what I see to the best of things. Of course I think of people like Audrey Tautou, the late Smitha Patil and Shoba, Tabu, and Meera Jasmine who act(ed) with the motto, "Less is more". They didn't have to cry to make you cry. I compare them with the mainstream Bollywood and Tamil actresses and think that there is no way, these women are even trying. And pardon me for making that judgment. Yes, I do think of some fine artistes such as Ilayaraja, Anthony Hopkins, Mahendran, Charles Dickens, and Wodehouse and conclude that what I witness does not compare to these people in their respective fields and pardon me for that! But as someone once remarked, "a mind once stretched cannot go back to its original shape"! No one who has beheld the real beauty or real talent can and should settle for anything less. None who have read Wodehouse or Dickens would say that Sidney Sheldon or Dan Brown is a great writer!
By setting your goals high, I only believe that you are constantly expanding your taste and mind. That is not to say that you cannot encourage anyone who is below these maestros. But it is to declare a spade a spade! This is not to say that Shah Rukh/Mani Ratnam/Jyothika are not good artistes. Yes, they are. But they are celebrated so much that they have now even stopped trying since whatever they do is accepted as the norm. You can still encourage Shah Rukh/Rani Mukherjee to act better instead of calling him the King Khan and her the Queen of Indian Cinema, or Bhansali to be a little more real/original instead of calling his "Black" a milestone in Indian cinema (sigh!). I do accept that I miss out on several simple pleasures being over analytic. I did enjoy some things ten years ago that I now find mediocre and maybe ten years from now, I will find my current taste mediocre. One could go back in time to enjoy mediocre things and it does give a refreshing change. But that doesn't require celebration. If one is compelled to celebrate such stuff continuously, soon he/she will not know the difference between superior skills and mass celebrated mediocrity, be it in cinema, writing, dance, or any art form. Weighing the two sides, I'd rather be on my side! As Mr. Incredible says when his son "graduates from 4th to 5th grade", "Why should we celebrate mediocrity?"
There was a recent conversation about Jyothika's performance in Mozhi and I simply did not find her performance very scintillating, unlike my friends. Personally, I find that she does the same bloody thing with her big eyes, rotating them from side to side. In fact, try this. Take shots of her eyes alone from several movies where she is anything but smiling and try to identify the character she is playing. It will all be the same. Her possessed Chandramukhi's eyes had the same fury her mute Archana had. Ditto for Shah Rukh's Rahul/Raj (heck he doesn't even change his name). The same goes for Bhansali's direction. I, for one, have never found any of his movies original, except Khamoshi (to the best of my knowledge). But people like these performances. A lot!
And they say that I cannot enjoy even the simplest of these things because I am over analytic. I would like to find out if that is wrong. Maybe, I am missing the simplest pleasures of life. Maybe, I cannot see American Football as more than a game where one person has to carry a ball from one end of the field to the other while being beaten to death. Maybe, I cannot forget myself and watch a Priyadarshan movie (BTW I do enjoy some David Dhawan movies which declare at the outset that you keep your brains at home and I like that openness). Maybe, I cannot give the 7th part of Harry Potter another read because it has become so mundane.
But at all these instances I cannot but help compare what I see to the best of things. Of course I think of people like Audrey Tautou, the late Smitha Patil and Shoba, Tabu, and Meera Jasmine who act(ed) with the motto, "Less is more". They didn't have to cry to make you cry. I compare them with the mainstream Bollywood and Tamil actresses and think that there is no way, these women are even trying. And pardon me for making that judgment. Yes, I do think of some fine artistes such as Ilayaraja, Anthony Hopkins, Mahendran, Charles Dickens, and Wodehouse and conclude that what I witness does not compare to these people in their respective fields and pardon me for that! But as someone once remarked, "a mind once stretched cannot go back to its original shape"! No one who has beheld the real beauty or real talent can and should settle for anything less. None who have read Wodehouse or Dickens would say that Sidney Sheldon or Dan Brown is a great writer!
By setting your goals high, I only believe that you are constantly expanding your taste and mind. That is not to say that you cannot encourage anyone who is below these maestros. But it is to declare a spade a spade! This is not to say that Shah Rukh/Mani Ratnam/Jyothika are not good artistes. Yes, they are. But they are celebrated so much that they have now even stopped trying since whatever they do is accepted as the norm. You can still encourage Shah Rukh/Rani Mukherjee to act better instead of calling him the King Khan and her the Queen of Indian Cinema, or Bhansali to be a little more real/original instead of calling his "Black" a milestone in Indian cinema (sigh!). I do accept that I miss out on several simple pleasures being over analytic. I did enjoy some things ten years ago that I now find mediocre and maybe ten years from now, I will find my current taste mediocre. One could go back in time to enjoy mediocre things and it does give a refreshing change. But that doesn't require celebration. If one is compelled to celebrate such stuff continuously, soon he/she will not know the difference between superior skills and mass celebrated mediocrity, be it in cinema, writing, dance, or any art form. Weighing the two sides, I'd rather be on my side! As Mr. Incredible says when his son "graduates from 4th to 5th grade", "Why should we celebrate mediocrity?"
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