Does
today’s audience accept films with a message?
Ramaa
Chennai
behindw@behindwoods.com
Since
their days of infancy, films have been a medium of entertainment.
They became an extension of traditional forms like koothu,
drama, villuppattu etc. The narrative drew from the
innumerable legends and folklore handed down in our
culture for generations. Thus, the basic theme was the
triumph of good over evil and that good deeds always
fetched good rewards and vice-versa.
Early
films had gods and demons, kings, queens and noblemen.
As the society evolved slowly, the directors felt
a need to showcase the contemporary things. Thus was
born the genre of so-called social themes. These films
had ordinary mortals struggling with their own set
of problems. The plot was focused on the travails
of such people-in finding their love, reuniting with
a loved one, regaining one’s lost wealth and
so on. Essentially these were problems of individuals
facing obstacles.
Then came directors who had a nationalistic vision.
They wanted to portray patriotism. Yet another set
of directors strove to bring in religious and spiritual
sentiments in their films. That they all enjoyed thumping
success is ample proof of their redoubtable talent.
Such films had a strong message for the society which
was acknowledged well. Patriotism, self-respect, faithfulness,
religious tolerance, contentment etc. were some of
the qualities highlighted.
With the dawn of the new era in films, we had directors
like KB,
Bharathiraja,
Mahendran, Durai, Manivannan and so on, who wanted to
portray the realities in our society. The age of innocence
had long since been over and the new wave of cinema
wanted to subject the accepted social norms to close
scrutiny. Women’s subjugation, casteism, political
games, etc. were some of the uncomfortable issues handled
deftly by these directors. They packaged the harsh reality
in such a hard-hitting manner that the audience was
forced to sit up and do some soul-searching.
This phase also fizzled out and cinema became a big
money-spinning circus where everyone was interested
in reaping only maximum commercial profits. Fights,
songs and sexy dances with a wafer-thin story of revenge
and retribution tried to lure the audience. Sadly, the
circus has become even more insensitive to social ethos.
Occasionally, we have some good films but by and large
the pattern has become quite predictable. Who is to
be blamed?
It is easy to blame the audience saying that the fare
churned out is dictated by market demand. But, film-makers
should realize that they are also social beings with
some responsibility to the society. They are also in
a position to mould public opinion through the powerful
medium of cinema. Hence, a joint effort from both sides
is the solution. One does not say that every film should
be an ‘art’ or ‘award’ film
or that there should not be any entertainment. One is
only making the point that films should be used a tool
to analyze the society and raise important issues. Audiences
should encourage good cinema and film-makers should
come up with fare which reflect our environment in a
more realistic manner.
