I heard a simple story yesterday that is so very thought provoking. It's been on my mind the whole day today. The person telling the story says that he heard it years ago, and he will never forget its message.
It is the story of a grandfather who went across a field after a night of hevay snow. he calls across to his two grandsons, saying the one who makes it to him in staright paths first will win a reward.
So, one focuses deligently on his step, correcting his path every now and then was checking on his garndfather.
while the other focusses his garndfather completely, and simply runs towards him, making a single straight line.
So, who's the wiser of the two ?
apart from winning the reward, the second chap got his approach right.
If you focus on your way - the details, and the nitty grityy, it will consume you and can easily divert you. you'll spend more energy.
the smart way is to focus on the goal, and you will figure the way !
Monday, February 26, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Pretentious ?
Indian movies, I mean a mainstream Indian movie is so pretentious.
A regular movie has the staple song and dance, the 'item' number, a mix of everything irrespective of relevance to effective film making - romance, tragedy, blah....more blah.
Even twisted logic to justify the character .ew!
So what if it is for just 3 hours long? We have all the time in the world.
Amateurish acting attempts by the stars.
Stars tend to put up their star value instead of working sincerely towards the role.
Are these actors? No sire, these are istars, and they rule.
No one seems to care that there are glaring mistakes. Who cares of details? See the bigger picture - the pristine landscape, and the dashing clothes – that’s wow. Who cares of relevance?
Film makers while claiming to make 'family pictures’, tend to forget that people with some reasoning are watching too. Are we all teenagers to be impressed without substance?
Of course, this calls for a debate on 'substance'.
A regular teenager will carry more attitude without speaking a word, while our charming actresses have to actually tell you that - hey, look at me, I have attitude. And then you will know that the character they are playing has attitude. Otherwise how will you know? No chance lady, we wouldn’t have known, and while we might giggle, you won’t be bothered to 'act' out an attitude.
Method acting, subtle nuances, anyone? Nah! That is for serious (read boring) actors.
while the 'character' actors take the pain to delve beneath the skin that they play, the main actors will not be bothered to even speak with a different tone, they are more often than not, mere good looking.
While some will have screen presence and striking looks, they seem to shy away from serious relevant acting. Why bother ? when neither the film makers nor the audience is demanding ? ah! That is smart indeed.
Watch a movie, hear a tune, and you can more often than not catch where that came from - oh, no not another Hollywood idea :((
We love to bash westerns and portray them as weak, characterless sorry folks, just to contrast them with our spotless, lovable superior (in some or the other) folks.
After all this is a creative field, and while cinemas of other countries prove that there are a million ways to creatively portray a story, we are stuck with a dozen or so permutation and combination of the run of the mill formulas.
Maturity ? oh no, don’t even go there.
It beats sense , logic, cinematic creativity.
A nation of a billion people cannot be wrong , no ? of course, we are polite not to mention that the class of the mass. No, no that would be politically incorrect.
Yet we love them.
For people like me, who am so far off, watching Indian movies is a means to connect back. It reminds me of college days ( when I started to watch movies) and the smart-alec comments and the fun that came along.
and so even if we crib and cry over pretentious craft, we will still watch most of what bollywood dishes out.
We will watch what the best cinema of the world offers - amazing acting, and incredible performances, and we will watch our own ostentatious fare too, are we poor souls or what ?
A regular movie has the staple song and dance, the 'item' number, a mix of everything irrespective of relevance to effective film making - romance, tragedy, blah....more blah.
Even twisted logic to justify the character .ew!
So what if it is for just 3 hours long? We have all the time in the world.
Amateurish acting attempts by the stars.
Stars tend to put up their star value instead of working sincerely towards the role.
Are these actors? No sire, these are istars, and they rule.
No one seems to care that there are glaring mistakes. Who cares of details? See the bigger picture - the pristine landscape, and the dashing clothes – that’s wow. Who cares of relevance?
Film makers while claiming to make 'family pictures’, tend to forget that people with some reasoning are watching too. Are we all teenagers to be impressed without substance?
Of course, this calls for a debate on 'substance'.
A regular teenager will carry more attitude without speaking a word, while our charming actresses have to actually tell you that - hey, look at me, I have attitude. And then you will know that the character they are playing has attitude. Otherwise how will you know? No chance lady, we wouldn’t have known, and while we might giggle, you won’t be bothered to 'act' out an attitude.
Method acting, subtle nuances, anyone? Nah! That is for serious (read boring) actors.
while the 'character' actors take the pain to delve beneath the skin that they play, the main actors will not be bothered to even speak with a different tone, they are more often than not, mere good looking.
While some will have screen presence and striking looks, they seem to shy away from serious relevant acting. Why bother ? when neither the film makers nor the audience is demanding ? ah! That is smart indeed.
Watch a movie, hear a tune, and you can more often than not catch where that came from - oh, no not another Hollywood idea :((
We love to bash westerns and portray them as weak, characterless sorry folks, just to contrast them with our spotless, lovable superior (in some or the other) folks.
After all this is a creative field, and while cinemas of other countries prove that there are a million ways to creatively portray a story, we are stuck with a dozen or so permutation and combination of the run of the mill formulas.
Maturity ? oh no, don’t even go there.
It beats sense , logic, cinematic creativity.
A nation of a billion people cannot be wrong , no ? of course, we are polite not to mention that the class of the mass. No, no that would be politically incorrect.
Yet we love them.
For people like me, who am so far off, watching Indian movies is a means to connect back. It reminds me of college days ( when I started to watch movies) and the smart-alec comments and the fun that came along.
and so even if we crib and cry over pretentious craft, we will still watch most of what bollywood dishes out.
We will watch what the best cinema of the world offers - amazing acting, and incredible performances, and we will watch our own ostentatious fare too, are we poor souls or what ?
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