Read RGV's interview w/ TOI today. Apparently, he has given up trying to figure out what the audience wants. It seems the Indian audience is too diverse to create something that will satisfy everyone. He claims that people love or hate his films for different reasons. That there is no consistent feedback on why a certain film worked and why another didnt. So he has stopped worrying about what people want or think and decided to do his own thing - hoping that it might appeal to just enough people to recover his investment.
I agree with his observation but not necessarily the conclusion. RGV clearly understands that presentation and treatment are as important, if not more, than the story and actors. Fault him for his ridiculous choice of actors and stories, but you cant criticize the technical standards of his movies. His problem, now, is that he is focusing too much on the form while ignoring the substance. In fact, he seems bent on proving that the audience will lap up anything that has slick editing, sound effects, and unexpected camera angles. And there's the rub.
His criteria of analyzing audience is off. He is trying to find a common pool of people who'll appreciate his directorial touches like Bhiku Mhatre's death in Satya, Abhishek's character in Naach, Urmila's experience in Bhoot and what not. And then he feels there are too many variables. Naturally. He is losing the forest for the trees. He cant expect ordinary moviegoers to get each of these nuances. It worked fine in his younger days coz he was not as sophisticated . Think of it as a pyramid. The higher up you go, the fewer there are. The trick is to target the base with the vast majority of our moviegoers. They understand simpe human emotions like love, hatred, pride, envy, greed etc. And so long as a movie has these ingredients served in a coherent manner, it will find takers. Not to say the ones purely relying on treatment wont succeed - just that it is a much riskier bet.
A confession is in order. I am a die-hard RGV fan and firmly believe that even his worst film is much better than the best films of several "succesful" directors.
Further support to your this and earlier post - Just look at Manmohan Desai....stupid stories on stupidest premises, yet they worked. Sorry to say this, but RGV has belief that people see movies because he is directing them.
ReplyDeleteWrong, they just want their ticket's worth in terms of thrills, laughs, song and dance masala. Satya and Shiva were pathbreaking and thats why they worked. Agyaat is like 5th in his line of horror stories. Also, a Blair Witch Project cannot work in India just as a movie like English Patient cannot.
Sid, you are absolutely right. The golden 70s gave us so many movies with simple stories but characters were full of emotions that we could relate to.
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