(This column by Anna M.M. Vetticad first appeared in The New Indian Express on July 31, 2011)
Headline: CRITIQUING THE CRITICS
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What purpose do reviews
serve? This eternal question comes loudest from the makers of Bollywood’s hard-core masala films. Coming up: Singham Returns (above); and (below) Kick |
I spent much of last night
locked in a debate with one of Bollywood’s most successful directors. It was a
personal chat so I will not name him in this column. Let’s just call him X. As
it happens, X has helmed one of 2011’s biggest Hindi film hits so far and we
were discussing the largely negative reviews his film received.
“Who are
these critics anyway?” he said.
Now X is
one of the most down-to-earth directors I’ve encountered in Bollywood, so I
hate to be blunt, but the truth is that film-folk question the credibility and
relevance of film critics only when they receive poor reviews. But give them a
positive review and they’ll unabashedly quote you in their post-release
promotional material.
Still,
it’s important to address one question raised by X since I’ve heard it from
several film personalities over the years.
The
filmmaker’s eternal question: What purpose do reviews serve?
Answer:
If you don’t know, then why do you bother to preview your film for the press?
Frankly, no one is holding a gun to any producer’s head and forcing him/her to
hold a press preview. Yash Raj Films, for instance, has consistently desisted
from previews and I don’t see any critic particularly ripping apart their films
as an act of revenge.
But
during my time as a critic for a national news channel and now as an
independent blogger, I’ve realised that press previews are a matter of
convenience for critics (not a bid to save money, as some filmmakers snidely
insist). Watching a film early gives me time to chew on it, instead of rushing
through a bunch of films on Friday and then hurriedly punching out my thoughts
on my laptop.
From the
filmmakers’ point of view… well, in their more honest moments, most producers
acknowledge that good reviews contribute to the buzz surrounding a film.
Personally, I believe reviews also add to the debate surrounding a film in a
country where we seem to feel more strongly about cinema and cricket than even
about religion and politics.
Many readers have also
pointed out to me that since a trip to the movies has become an expensive
proposition these days, some perspective from a good critic always helps. I
guess then, the sensible thing for any viewer to do is to track a bunch of
critics over a period of time and finally zero in on one whose tastes more or
less match theirs. After all, for the most part there is no such thing as a
right or a wrong review, just reviews we agree or disagree with. Right, Mr X?
(Anna MM Vetticad is the author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic.
Twitter: @annavetticad)
Photographs
courtesy:
Note: These photographs were not used in The New Indian Express (link to original
article http://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/television/article426289.ece)
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