You know, i can understand when bad films are churned out of Hollywood. They have a huge money making industry and they simply HAVE to release a certain amount of films every business year and the moment you enter a situation when you HAVE to do things chances are some of it will work and some of it won't. So yes we are used to god awful movies from Hollywood. But then there are the indie film makers from US and Europe. The whole point of the indie film makers is that they tackle fresh topics, or bring in fresh perspectives, and on the whole serve up an interesting alternative dish to the mainstream big mac that we consume day in and day out.
As a child of the nineties and the new millennium, i would expect the film makers of Bangladesh to try the same things, especially the ones who are making films for the festival circuit and are not dependent on domestic release to earn back their money. We all abhor the atrocious films from FDC, we all think we can do better than that, but sadly we never really do, do we? I haven't watched anything else by Tarek Masud & his wife and Ontorjatra was the first film of his that i watched. With good reason - the mom of one of my best friends was in a starring role. So i went and bought the DVD and put on the movie. And man what a punishment it turned out to be.
I won't even go into the technical deficiencies of the film, the odd camera angles, the bad sylheti accent, the poor sound direction. I'll just talk about the storytelling. There wasn't any. And with good reason too, because you need a good story in order to tell it in an interesting way. Tarek Masud and his wife had a vague notion of a sliver of an idea and then tried to tell a story about that vague notion of a sliver of an idea. The result? Devastatingly bad script, incredibly insipid dialog, deafeningly horrendous storytelling. You'd expect Tarek masud to be a pro by now, with 3 or more films (that i know about) under his belt. Do you really mean to tell me that a veteran film maker didn't understand you need story sequences which actually progress the story? That the dialogs have to be at least as interesting as what we say in real life? I mean i can understand trying to have a bit of theatricality in the dialog but holy shit they were so insipid!!! I frequently tell my ad film maker buddies that i have nothing but contempt for film makers as they can't make a decent movie. I just got more fodder for that particular line of attack. Will the film makers of Bangladesh please WATCH SOME CONTEMPORARY FUCKING MOVIES AND LEARN THE CRAFT???
6 comments:
There was a time when I didn't understand why one needed to study photography to take good pictures, or study film to make good films. Now I do. Bangladeshi film makers don't know how to write screenplay. Their idea of 'real' is very different from what is 'real' in the eyes of the audience and I have a feeling they don't really give a damn. They think they're excellent, they have their chamcha bahinis telling them so. It is the opinions of the chamcha that they believe in. And so goes the story.
On the other hand, on the supply side, there is no competition. They don't consider Kolkata filmmakers as competitors (for some reason, mostly political I would assume) and FDC is really not very difficult to beat, so whatever they make is STILL infinitely better than everything else we have. Only that, now, unlike even a decade and a half ago, we have choices. Thanks to piracy and Faheem Music, we have access to almost every kind of movie that is out there. And in comparison to everything else we watch for entertainment (or otherwise) Bangladeshi movies fail to compete.
Kobe ashbe shei din when we can honestly rely on Bangladeshi entertainment to keep us happy? I don't know. I do know that i could coop up in my room with a couple of movies from Kolkata and I'd be duly entertained. Whether it's via Bong Connection or AntarMahal or Paromita'r Akdin (even though it was more like Paromita'r Shara Jeebon), I could potentially have a good time.
I leave you with this Bangla movie song. It's not 'ahamori kichu' but it's so much better than what we get from amader deshi filmmaker bhaijaans, that it's sad. Because Bangla is OUR language. Dadu ra in a decade won't even speak Bangla anymore. Yet they still manage to make good bangla movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnoGa83znqw
My word verification word is 'padoo'. How funny is that?
Anyhow, good vent, metal hridoy.
Asholei besh baje lage jokhon amader desh kichui korte parena. Shob kichutei amra baje. Bijoy dibosher din khub sheje guje party korte pari. But actually karor kichu korar shadhoyo nai, khomotao nai, talent o nai, ichha o nai. KICHU toh thakte hobe.
Oi Iranian gula dhoro human rights niye onek critisized hoy. But they can make movies like Leila, meaning they have at least a few things going for them. Other than oil.
Jai houk.
Protidin desh k niye bibhranto hoi. Joto dekhi totoi mone hoy ei deshe thaka ta khub difficult hoye poreche.
Bhalo theko Shakib.
Ki ontorjatra onek bhalo akta movie. tomar bhallagenai karon you're a guy.
no i don't believe gender is a factor in liking this movie. its a journey of re-discovery for a mother and child. There's nothing exceptionally feminine about this theme.
word verification of the day - untrim. Must be because I ordered pizza for JUST myself.
the sad thing is this...very few of our directors are trained and not very open to techniques that give it a distinct style. we have yet to develop that. all over the world. the cinema industry is thriving on new and upcoming ways of developing the medium but apparently, we are deigned to be disappointed..hoyeo hoyna.
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