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By Abishek Balaji
What really decides the fate of a movie? Despite the nature of the movie business being unpredictable, are the audience being fair?
I was witness to a very emotional moment while watching Ponniyin Selvan last week. Not the movie itself – even though I liked it, I didn’t find myself laughing or crying or anything (maybe it’s just my face that looks like a wax statue of Arjun Kapoor?). The man sitting next to me was a junior artist who was in a blink-and-you-miss role in the film, and he had brought his whole family to watch the movie, for the third time. He sat through the end credits searching for his name, and with great pride told me that he had given two takes for his scene with ‘Karthi Sir’
This incident got me thinking about how each film employs thousands of people, who unlike engineers or accountants, put their heart into it hoping the end outcome is loved. Had PS-1 been a flop, would this man have been this happy? Movies resonate with us in a way few things do – being an Imtiaz Ali fan, when I saw the masterpiece Jab Harry Met Sejal, a part of me changed. It was like a personal tragedy, and my expectations from life drastically reduced in general
I was looking forward to Laal Singh Chaddha ever since it was announced, but on looking at Aamir’s shockingly cartoonish acting in the trailer, I decided I was better off watching Forrest Gump at home for the 67th time till LSC comes to OTT. When most of the reviews were negative, I thought I’ll just settle for a 68th rewatch of Forrest. But last week when it came to Netflix, the Aamir Khan kanni in me wanted to give it a try at least for a few minutes
And the movie really worked for me. Yes, he acts like PK Aamir had a baby with Dhoom 3 Aamir. But there were so many scenes where I was smiling at how sweet it all was. When Laal’s mother stays back at school during his first day, I remembered that’s exactly what my mother did on my first day at school. When his mother offers to do dishes for the principal to get him admitted, I smiled at how a 2022 Indian movie can still now show what a 1990s Hollywood blockbuster did
The first and last 30 minutes were especially lovely – this is one of those few remakes that needs contextual adaptation at every turn, and I was surprised that the person behind this, Atul Kulkarni, was the same guy who shouts “onnakollaamavidamaatendaw” in random Tamil movies like Veeram and Run. This wasn’t like the Vikram Vedha remake where the only new takeaway for me was jollu-vittufying at Hrithik Roshan, this had some genuinely nice touches like the superstar cameo.
When the movie ended, I was more sad than happy because I knew it had turned out a huge bomb. I’m not sure how much the boycott campaigns affected it – I don’t think those many people are either buffoons or get influenced by buffoons. But it pained me to know that a movie I liked didn’t do well – it was Kaatru Veliyidai flashback all over again (yes, I am one of the two people who like it)
How much do reviews, boycotts, and tweets really affect a movie that involves the hard work of thousands of people? (I haven’t seen Chup – if there’s one thing that scares me more than ghosts its serial killers). Is this also a reason film makers will go more to OTT? How will Aamir Khan, who’s 57, bounce back from this? What is SRK thinking at this moment, with boycott campaigns already running against Pathaan? God save this country, whichever religion you choose to come from.
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