Deepa Gahlot

We crib about the quality of our mainstream cinema, but the grass may not be as green as we think it is on the 'other' side. That is in the West.

In a recent outburst, Peter Greenaway, well known British filmmaker and director of such highly regarded films as The Draughtman's Contract, Drowning by Numbers, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover, declared, "Cinema is dead". (He is given to uttering quotable quotes like "Cinema is not a playground for Sharon Stone," and "I don't think we've seen any cinema yet. I think we've seen 100 years of illustrated text.")

He finds modern pictures "cynical and formulaic" and feels that filmmakers are failing the audience by "churning out pictures that fail to stretch the imagination." Even as the British Academy honoured The Lord Of The Rings with five awards and the American Academy with 13 nominations, Greenaway called it (and the Harry Potter film) "cynical exercises in making a quick buck."

Unfortunately, Greenway is not a commercially successful filmmaker from Hollywood, and is in danger of having his very valid points laughed off as the fulminations of a frustrated man --- though he is a cult director.

This reminds one of Naseeruddin Shah's stinging attack on Hindi films at the Venice Film Festival last year. The actor (also the wrong guy to do the cribbing), said, "Indian films have got worse and Bollywood will never be able to match the quality of Hollywood films. Bollywood mass-produced films are ruined by bloated budgets and appalling scripts.

"We made far better films in the Fifties and Sixties. The quality of the writing has deteriorated abysmally, even in popular films. I know my saying these things will displease a lot of people in Bollywood but I won't lose any sleep, as I feel very strongly about this. By and large, they are content to just cook up some old cliched story and rehash some old Hollywood film.

"There are actors who work on five films a day. They are all on the go at the same time. The bubble is going to burst. For the vast majority of filmmakers in Mumbai, making a good film is only their second or third priority. Raking in the box office is the first, making a name for yourself is second."

Both Greenway and Shah are right, even though the forum to express their ire may not have been so. What Greenway says about Hollywood could well apply to Hindi films. Our popular films have always been formulaic. Now, the cynicism and contempt for the audience is more apparent. It's like, give them anything in an attractive package, they will come to see it!

Filmmakers and stars today are selling themselves, not their talent. Everything depends on timing, promotion, gloss --- not quality. And as Shah says, the scripts are appalling.

After Salim [Khan]-Javed [Akhtar], there has been no scriptwriter worth the name.

There is no way out. A handful of stars and filmmakers dominate the industry, leaving very little scope for innovation and adventure. The stakes --- because of 'bloated budgets' --- are also too high. And, of course, the priorities of filmmakers have changed: success over everything else.

The sad fact is that nobody wants to hear the truth. People who say that the Emperor has no clothes are stoned. Unless the voice of protest and call for novelty comes from within the mainstream, nothing can change.

However, Greenway also says, "I am very pessimistic about the state of cinema now, which I think is boring and formulaic and predictable. But I am very optimistic about what is going to happen next. Cinema needs to be completely overhauled. Now is the time. We have all these brand new technologies crying out for investigation and experimentation. Cinema is there to be provocative. It is there to be difficult; it is there to be worked out and it must be encouraged." So there is hope for a 'resurrection'.

The other day, at a party, Govind Nihalani commented, "There is going to be an explosion of creativity in cinema, mark my words."

Waiting to catch the sparks.

Earlier column

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