Two years ago when I went to the cinemas at Nariman Point, I was pleasantly surprised to witness an intellectual crowd who had watch to see a good film Lincoln. During the interval, I could hear spectators involved in a meaningful conversation, pertinent on the subject. How I had missed such a crowd, I recalled. This is what going to places like NCPA, Jahangir Art Gallery or theatres in South Mumbai does to you. So if you are the kind who likes intellectual conversation and watch meaningful movies, you fall into the category of being one who doesn’t necessarily go for the big budget movies but for the ones which are normally liked by the critics.
Movies can be categorized into two types. One is big budget masala films which normally stars one of the Khans and smaller budget movies which have impactful performances and a good story line. Yes, there are movies which combine the two but such movies are rare. Besides, some movies are scripted well but do not have good performances and vice versa. Nowadays, with the evolution of technology, life has become simple, fast and when the movie releases on a Friday, reporters covering the entertainment beat of different newspaper send the reviews within hours of the release of the movie. Thus people can decide whether they want to watch the particular movie in the coming weekend based on the reviews and the ratings.
For example, take the movie Lootera. The storyline resembles a beautiful story by O Henry, ”The Last Leaf.” So naturally when such a beautiful story will be made into a movie, it will be worth watching. However, Sonakshi Sinha’s performance was a huge disappointment. She had played the female lead role opposite Ranveer Singh in the movie. So, on the whole, although the movie had won some critical acclaims, it was average on the whole. To make a good original script needs talent which unfortunately most big budget movies lack. So one needs an intelligent producer and a script writer to create wonders with the storyline. One needs good actors to act out the sequences well. Take movies like Dhobi Ghat, Lunchbox and Ship of Theseus. Such movies have unparalled storyline. However, these are small budget films which most of the audiences cannot appreciate. But these are the films which often go on to win awards.
Audiences watch movies for different reasons. Some watch films for the sake of entertainment. Rom-coms or 90’s Govinda movies are the examples of such films. People just want to go to the theaters and watch such movies for relaxation and entertainment. The same aspect is applicable for Salman Khan movies. But a certain chunk of the crowd goes to the theatre to watch good movies which have a lot of literary content. The serious art-like films are made for them.
