Indian Cinema- A Blue pill or the red pill ?

“It’s not just a film, it’s an emotion”.When was the last time you uttered those phrases? Let’s discover…

There is logic on one side, and 'bhai' ki movies on the other; nepotism on one side, and NSD FTII on the other; cliché bollywood on one side, the soulful Indian cinema on the other. Audience however prefer to take the blue pill of disguise over the red pill of reality.

David Fincher once said: “Some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies”. And we always have failed to appreciate how deep the rabbit-hole goes , and instead we satisfy ourselves with what we are made to believe on the big screen.

Here are few examples. Tamasha , a movie that failed miserably at box office because it portrayed raw truth of how shoddy their facade of existence is, instead of feeding them with sugar coated love stories. A movie Ship of Theasus failed because it stimulates the organ which most Indian cinema ignores- brain. Ugly , from Anurag Kashyap remained undigested due to its eerie and unsettling truths of humanity. Last year release Karwaan- a soulful journey to self discovery, was left undiscovered due to big budget clashes.

The list is never ending.In a country where actors are body builders and actress are divas, where SRK is not known for movies like Swades but his over the top romantic dramas. A country where we never went to Karan Johar’s college of dreams but could relate to Kota factory of aspirations and failures.

We constantly compare us with Hollywood, complaining about VFX and technology. But a visual treat Tumbbad shot over 6 years, even without VFX manages to earn only 4.75 crore.

lf something works, repeat that until you die.Such a motivational quote our bollywood follows! It holds true for 'Bhai' ki scripts, jingoistic nationalism movies,biopics here and then and obviously dumb comedy and drama flicks, better known as 200 crore club.

Things are however changing, most importantly the audience. They preferred a noir thriller ‘Andhadhun’ over “jija-G doing garba in London”(Loveyatri) released on the same day.

‘Badhai ho' to the audiences that they are not watching movies Andhadhun now ;-)

But still there are many gems that go unnoticed in their quest for a cinema beyond entertainment!

Will definitely suggest to follow this YouTube channel 'Tried and refused Productions’ if you want to find something watch-worthy !

Cinema is a mirror by which we often see ourselves.