What makes a script a successful movie? When the writer not just writes a story but narrates an experience, establishes a scenario, contemplates a problem and spins a yarn for visual depiction, the script magically transforms into a well-woven screenplay.
We watch a movie to spend those 2 to 3 odd hours in not just getting entertained but also to get a worthy experience. Now, this experience can be worthwhile only when we are ready to dedicate those few hours for getting engrossed into the narration. However, why do we sometimes fail to understand a movie’s purpose just because we aren’t able to spend that quality time?
When there is a lot of commercial indulgence we complain; when the script is highly intellectual we complain; when we can’t relate to the characters and the plot of the movie we complain; when the screenplay is slow we complain. How are we never satiated by a film?
An experience by itself
I have a bone to pick with people who complain when a movie has an important tale to be told but aren’t patient enough to sit through because it is ‘slow’. For instance a recent hit, Papanasam was a movie to be watched because it was thrilling, it has a unique story to tell and the suspense was not revealed until the last minute of the run time. There were people who complained that the movie was elongated in the scenes while showcasing the family bonding and the investigation. My only point is, you had to sit through the entire movie to understand its screenplay and for that you have to wait until the last minute. Patience!
The niceties of a movie
Take Enakkul Oruvan, I saw people in the theater literally talking over the phone and chattering with people sitting next to each other. If you hadn’t watched Lucia, you will not know about a brilliant twist depicted in this tale in the last five minutes. Why don’t we watch a film for its journey? Why can’t we appreciate the three hour experience? The screenplay of this movie was slow and the writer Pawan Kumar would have had something in mind while thinking about this story. If showcasing extended scenes of dream Vs reality was the way he could tell the story, then that must be his way of doing it.
Moments of the minutes
As an ardent movie lover, I am broader in my thinking to give a chance, for the director or the writer who has set out to tell a story. I appreciate the effort that has gone in while transcribing a script into a visual material. Such was the case with Uttama Villain. Yes, it is a long movie but the film had extreme intricacies to offer. It had many subdued meaning in terms of characterization that depicted some historical references. The fictional story not too fictional in nature, had given many references to ancient folklore (which has become extinct these days). The talked about performances of all actors in the movie was a feather on the cap. The impressions of a movie can be captured only if we are ready to sit for the required minutes.
Films have a voice
Films can make us cry, laugh, annoy, scared and can make us experience many emotions. For e.g. you see an intimate scene, and you are taken away by your romantic life partner or the person you fancy. Fundamentally it creates some impact.
Having said all this, can we not give every creator a chance to tell a story in their own unique fashion? Can we just not be appreciative about the efforts that had gone to make them? Why don’t we all take an oath to feel the movie as it is represented? Going forward, let’s sit and watch a movie for all the elements that have come into unison in the film making process. Let’s appreciate the beauty in making the movie rather than the outcome. Let’s applaud the very form of art that appeases our sense of hearing, seeing and feeling.
