The art of old film making
Today morning, I was watching a famous classic Bollywood movie 'Mere Humsafar', Hindi for 'My life companion' and was extremely thunderstruck by the art of old Bollywood cinema. Right from the beginning till the end of the movie, the precise choice of words, colors and styles added a clinical precision to the story line of the entire film. And without a doubt, it was a complete contrast to the new generation of film making, where almost all the films follow the same bland simple formula- 7 Dances, 5 Rap songs with 'Honey Singh' and around 8 kissing scenes!! And throughout the film, you wait for a story plot to develop and by that time, the film reaches a sudden, abrupt conclusion......Yet, we continue to watch these films, because these are the only movies being made in today's India.
During the old days, movies were a means of conveying an important message to society. Just like Shakespeare's plays and J.B Priestley's An Inspector Calls had important moralistic messages, to impact the society in some form or another. Writing such plays and making these type of movies were a form a art. These movies were like canvases for directors, playwrights and producers. It was not always a means of making money, but rather a means of displaying passion to the entire nation.
A lot of these creators believed in putting their heart and soul into film making, even though acoustics and picture quality were at a much lower quality than today's tech savvy movies, which use programs that can almost input anything in to the movie. Even acts, that are far out of the means of a common man to perform are plausible with cinema machinery. But, unfortunately this movie technology has replaced the core heart of movie production. I am afraid today's Bollywood movies lack the true essence of film making. Making a film used to be an odyssey, in the past and today, it's a cup of tea. Just visit YouTube, you'll see young teenagers making brilliant movies just with a smartphone and some of them are even better than modern Bollywood movies. And in my perspective, the major issue is the lack of knowledge amongst today's population. Even watching movies has become a rat race. It's become very competitive in nature. Just because a person's friends have seen the movie, the person would run along to the box office to buy that movie's tickets, without any foreknowledge of the plot or story line. And not to forget, tagging into the cinema and movie on Facebook is quintessential!! Moreover, even if he doesn't understand the film, he would still cook up his likeness for the film in his comments box of Facebook. Watching movies has simply become a means to boost your liking on Facebook and so has making movies too.
It is my belief that even the lack of picture and acoustic quality in the classic movies added to the melodramatic essence of old movies. For instance, if the plot of the story revolves around sadness and emotion, the sudden changes in color gradients complement the story line, in itself. And if the voice and tone of the movie goes hay-wire midway, you might come to the utter realization of the hardships that people have to face, throughout life. And if the screen images are stuck for a moment, the audience has an opportunity to ponder upon his/her own consciousness and reflect upon the acts that have happened in the movie. It is as though the defects too are purposeful.
This ascertains the fact that movies were made to gain an insight into the audience's own life rather than merely talking about other people's lives. These movies were a reflection of the surroundings, but today, modern Bollywood movies are merely surrealistic, To me, today's Bollywood's actors, actresses and movies are all identical to each other. There is nothing unique, about each of them. It is as though the plot is pasted across all modern Bollywood movies. While the prime minister is propagating the 'Make In India' initiative, one thing that is not being made with quality and essence is Indian modern Bollywood films. And this extremely disappoints me.....
