Movies with historical lessons flop most of the time…
Prakash Jha, Nagesh Kukunoor and Anurag Kashyap are all,
without a slightest doubt, brilliant art film directors. Prakash Jha directed scintillating films like "Damul" and "Hip Hip Hurray", but these little gems failed miserably in the box office. Anil Sharma’s masterpiece "Shradhanjali", also bombed in the box office, is the indicator of pall of gloom for makers of realistic films. Consequently they had to drop their ideals and embraced a switchover, as was the case with Prakash Jha who came with films like "Gangajal" and "Apaharan". Jha laments for this but he is left with no other choice, as economics of the films stands tall at the expense of creativity. Then time less classics like "Ardh Satya" and "Deham" and even recent creation like "Shaurya" flopped and remained unsold in the TV channels. Therefore, like popular mandate and distributors the small screen as well eludes these directors of their craftsmanship which is meant for small segment of audience and thus not commercially viable. On one hand commercially successful films like "Krrish", "Dhoom-2", "Phir Hera Pheri", have their TV rights being sold at a phenomenal price up to Rs 30 crore; on the other hand, there are no takers for Shyam Benegal, Goutam Ghosh, and Kalpana Lajmi.
Most of the TV channels like Zee Cinema, Star Gold, Set Max, B4U Movies et al, show four films a day while only six art films in a month find their place in small screens. Even the duds like "Janani" (which was removed from the theatre after just three days) or "Raja Ki Ayegi Barat" is preferred to parallel cinemas like "Bhumika", "Mrigaya", or "Saraansh" to name a few. So, it is evident that critical acclaim means nothing; it is the economics that matters. Anurag Kashyap made a film called "Paanch", and got appreciation from every body that saw it, but it never saw the light of the day in theatres. Undeterred, he made another realistic film called "Black Friday", which was raved by the people, but was a loser in economics and flopped. The ramification to Anurag was prolonged depression and alcoholism because he made some truly good films! Ultimately he had to make a commercially successful film in the name of "Dev D", with songs like Emotional Atyachar became very popular. In an article published in the Hindu on Sunday, July 08, 2007, Mahesh Bhatt said “Contrary to the assumption that people want good cinema, they don’t. Even if they get it for free, they don’t watch it. Even Doordarshan, where profit is not the main motive, does not want art house cinema. It's a battle for the eyeballs, a battle for bums on the seat. It's pure and simple economics, no art.”
In Hollywood too, a wonderful movie like "Troy" flopped while the movie nicely portrayed smallest truths of history. The effort used behind making movies like "Vantage Point" is praiseworthy but it was one a disappointing films of 2008. Hundreds of movies are made on Gandhi; none of them ever become a blockbuster. This reflects that audiences rarely digest movies with historical importance. Rather movies without history, logic and sense appeal masses more.
Prakash Jha, Nagesh Kukunoor and Anurag Kashyap are all,
without a slightest doubt, brilliant art film directors. Prakash Jha directed scintillating films like "Damul" and "Hip Hip Hurray", but these little gems failed miserably in the box office. Anil Sharma’s masterpiece "Shradhanjali", also bombed in the box office, is the indicator of pall of gloom for makers of realistic films. Consequently they had to drop their ideals and embraced a switchover, as was the case with Prakash Jha who came with films like "Gangajal" and "Apaharan". Jha laments for this but he is left with no other choice, as economics of the films stands tall at the expense of creativity. Then time less classics like "Ardh Satya" and "Deham" and even recent creation like "Shaurya" flopped and remained unsold in the TV channels. Therefore, like popular mandate and distributors the small screen as well eludes these directors of their craftsmanship which is meant for small segment of audience and thus not commercially viable. On one hand commercially successful films like "Krrish", "Dhoom-2", "Phir Hera Pheri", have their TV rights being sold at a phenomenal price up to Rs 30 crore; on the other hand, there are no takers for Shyam Benegal, Goutam Ghosh, and Kalpana Lajmi.Most of the TV channels like Zee Cinema, Star Gold, Set Max, B4U Movies et al, show four films a day while only six art films in a month find their place in small screens. Even the duds like "Janani" (which was removed from the theatre after just three days) or "Raja Ki Ayegi Barat" is preferred to parallel cinemas like "Bhumika", "Mrigaya", or "Saraansh" to name a few. So, it is evident that critical acclaim means nothing; it is the economics that matters. Anurag Kashyap made a film called "Paanch", and got appreciation from every body that saw it, but it never saw the light of the day in theatres. Undeterred, he made another realistic film called "Black Friday", which was raved by the people, but was a loser in economics and flopped. The ramification to Anurag was prolonged depression and alcoholism because he made some truly good films! Ultimately he had to make a commercially successful film in the name of "Dev D", with songs like Emotional Atyachar became very popular. In an article published in the Hindu on Sunday, July 08, 2007, Mahesh Bhatt said “Contrary to the assumption that people want good cinema, they don’t. Even if they get it for free, they don’t watch it. Even Doordarshan, where profit is not the main motive, does not want art house cinema. It's a battle for the eyeballs, a battle for bums on the seat. It's pure and simple economics, no art.”
In Hollywood too, a wonderful movie like "Troy" flopped while the movie nicely portrayed smallest truths of history. The effort used behind making movies like "Vantage Point" is praiseworthy but it was one a disappointing films of 2008. Hundreds of movies are made on Gandhi; none of them ever become a blockbuster. This reflects that audiences rarely digest movies with historical importance. Rather movies without history, logic and sense appeal masses more.
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Read these article :-
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IIPM fights meltdown
IIPM
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