MERIT          AND       MANIPULATION- THE      CLASH   OF    SUPER STARS

I admire the stance adopted by Ajay Devgan in order to protect his interest. This tiff between the two cinema producers in alliance with the superstars brings to the fore  the question of ‘monopoly’, ‘fair-play’ and of course ‘Merit’. I have argued in my previous posts too that with the advancement in technology the cost of mass print has reduced and in fact the satellite transmission has further reduced the  cost . However what are limited are the cinema halls, both single theatre and multiplexes. Therefore the powerful and mighty block screen space in order to have the maximum coverage and financial gain in least time. Earlier where a film had to run for months to be ‘Hit’ is today declared a hit in a week’s time. This competition has reduced the scope for small films who search for safe openings in order to be noticed and break even.

    The issue also raises the question of ‘merit’ because no matter how innovative is one’s publicity and the strength of stars and even the record of the Director it is the ‘people’ who make the film hit and history both past and present confirms the same. Yes; the publicity, stars etc may enhance the interest , may increase the sale if the product is good but they cannot infuse life into ‘dead-wood’.  The craze and greed to cross 100 crore has further  made the competition murky and ‘bloody’ and therefore cine-goers who still believe that Cinema is an Art form suffer in silence but are in such minority and unnoticeable that they cannot do much. The corporate culture has also marred the spirit and mysticism of cinema as for them there is bliss only in the financial balance sheet. Karan Johar is one shining example of the present times who has  churned out many mediocre cinema and made money taking advantage of mass release. His ‘Agnipath’ and ‘Student of the year’, ‘ Kabhi alvida na Kehna’ would have been flops if released under the old arrangement, these films garnered maximum money in the first few days  but could not maintain the momentum on ‘MERIT’. Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Ra one’  is also a case in point. Films like ‘Tees maarkhan’ would have been a disaster if released with limited prints. 

  My friends  often justify such trends in the name of ‘market’ and ‘ competition’, but I do not agree. I believe that there should be’ fair-play’ and above all a film should be a hit on ‘MERIT’. Therefore it is necessary that there should  be a regulatory body for film release and there should be restriction on occupation of film space , in my assessment  maximum of 1000 screens should be allotted to a film, this will not only reduce star fee and overall budget of the film but makers will concentrate on‘screenplay’ rather than gloss and glitter. Films will run on merit and cut throat competition will reduce. The concept of 100 crore will be crushed. The cost of tickets will reduce and the elitist multiplexes will sober down.

  We should not forget that we are a ‘Soverign Socialist  Secular Democratic Republic’ and not a ‘Capitalist’ nation. The Government should intervene in the matter , the various film unions should advise, the small film makers should come to the fore and show us out of these ‘Kumbhat films’.