Are we justified being obsessed with Oscars?
Right from the time Barfi was announced as an official entry to the Oscars the print media,forums and television went overdrive that how it is not a deserving entry for the Oscars..Agreed that Barfi is not an original but an 'inspired movie' and hence it may not be the right choice which may again give credence to the fact that in spite of being the largest film producing industry in the world we still don't produce much original movies and end up aping the west in terms of plots
But the point is why are we so obsessed with Oscars when most of the movies which deserve to be sent to the Oscars i.e.regional films and small Hindi Movies find it difficult to even find the producers for their movies and then go through a hard time to get their movie a proper release.Also the people who as audience are commenting would ever go and watch a regional or a small film on their weekends??Both the people from fraternity and audience should refrain from commenting if they are themselves not doing anything to encourage the deserving movies
To be honest, in terms of quality of movies it is very difficult to make a movie which does well commercially and also has the quality which is required from a movie aspiring to be sent to the Oscars
In terms of quality most regional movies and some small Hindi movies are better choices as entries but then how would they afford the additional costs required for submitting their movies and subsequent promotions post selection and as I said earlier they even find it difficult getting a producer or getting a release forget the promotions and other costs.Add to it the fact that they even dont' know some basic rules for submitting their movies to the Oscars
Take the case of Lagaan, most of its earnings was spent in the promotions.It could do so since it was a mainstream Bollywood movie backed by not only a powerful but an intelligent producer like Aamir Khan plus the movie had made much money which can then be used for promotions.But still he had found it difficult to market the movie as it was a totally new experience and they didnt' know how to go about it but then that's' something we can figure out,but what about the other costs(submission and promotion)?
The only way out is to organize proper funding for regional and small movies and also stop being partial to the stars and mainstream Bollywood.The committees cant deny that they do get affected by star system.Even a Lagaan would not have survived a chance if it was not Aamir Khan.In past also movies like Paheli and Eklavya have made the cut despite being less worthy contenders
For funding we can adopt two approaches-either create a separate funding body for small movies consisting of some film makers itself who will be better at analyzing whether a project is worth funding or not and the other way is that big production houses create a wing for these kinds of movies.This step has though already been taken by some production houses but it needs to be done on a larger scale.
The second option would be a better choice since costs can be reduced in terms of resources if its a wing of an established production house and it will also smoothen the overall production process.Secondly in terms logistics too it will benefit in terms of promotions.Since the big productions houses have a dedicated team for marketing the movies they know its intricacies-how to devise a strategy,how to tie up with brands and channels,how to approach right people etc and hence small film makers would benefit and they can entirely concentrate on the creative aspect
Hope instead of mulling over the choice of Barfi as an official entry to the Oscars somebody starts seeing the bigger picture and act accordingly
PS: I personally don't think we should worry too much about Oscar recognition since our sensibilities is very different from foreign films.Although its said that cinema doesn't' know language and all,to some extent the sensibilities do matter.
There are some univeral concepts and plots which work everywhere but a country's individual culture and sensibilites do affect how a movie is made in different countries,for ex- a son-mother bond is same everywhere but the way it is interpreted in a Hindi movie will be different from say a French or a Spanish movie.If the jury has not first hand experienced a bond between an Indian mother and a son he/she will not be able to understand it fully.We must work towards making better movies but Oscar should not be the benchmark for that
On a lighter note I am sure Oscar jury must be having some strange criterions for judging the movies since I was aghast when I had seen Slumdog Milloinaire that how can a movie which was no better than a B-Grade masala flick of 1980s had won so many Oscars:P
Enjoy the post!
But the point is why are we so obsessed with Oscars when most of the movies which deserve to be sent to the Oscars i.e.regional films and small Hindi Movies find it difficult to even find the producers for their movies and then go through a hard time to get their movie a proper release.Also the people who as audience are commenting would ever go and watch a regional or a small film on their weekends??Both the people from fraternity and audience should refrain from commenting if they are themselves not doing anything to encourage the deserving movies
To be honest, in terms of quality of movies it is very difficult to make a movie which does well commercially and also has the quality which is required from a movie aspiring to be sent to the Oscars
In terms of quality most regional movies and some small Hindi movies are better choices as entries but then how would they afford the additional costs required for submitting their movies and subsequent promotions post selection and as I said earlier they even find it difficult getting a producer or getting a release forget the promotions and other costs.Add to it the fact that they even dont' know some basic rules for submitting their movies to the Oscars
Take the case of Lagaan, most of its earnings was spent in the promotions.It could do so since it was a mainstream Bollywood movie backed by not only a powerful but an intelligent producer like Aamir Khan plus the movie had made much money which can then be used for promotions.But still he had found it difficult to market the movie as it was a totally new experience and they didnt' know how to go about it but then that's' something we can figure out,but what about the other costs(submission and promotion)?
The only way out is to organize proper funding for regional and small movies and also stop being partial to the stars and mainstream Bollywood.The committees cant deny that they do get affected by star system.Even a Lagaan would not have survived a chance if it was not Aamir Khan.In past also movies like Paheli and Eklavya have made the cut despite being less worthy contenders
For funding we can adopt two approaches-either create a separate funding body for small movies consisting of some film makers itself who will be better at analyzing whether a project is worth funding or not and the other way is that big production houses create a wing for these kinds of movies.This step has though already been taken by some production houses but it needs to be done on a larger scale.
The second option would be a better choice since costs can be reduced in terms of resources if its a wing of an established production house and it will also smoothen the overall production process.Secondly in terms logistics too it will benefit in terms of promotions.Since the big productions houses have a dedicated team for marketing the movies they know its intricacies-how to devise a strategy,how to tie up with brands and channels,how to approach right people etc and hence small film makers would benefit and they can entirely concentrate on the creative aspect
Hope instead of mulling over the choice of Barfi as an official entry to the Oscars somebody starts seeing the bigger picture and act accordingly
PS: I personally don't think we should worry too much about Oscar recognition since our sensibilities is very different from foreign films.Although its said that cinema doesn't' know language and all,to some extent the sensibilities do matter.
There are some univeral concepts and plots which work everywhere but a country's individual culture and sensibilites do affect how a movie is made in different countries,for ex- a son-mother bond is same everywhere but the way it is interpreted in a Hindi movie will be different from say a French or a Spanish movie.If the jury has not first hand experienced a bond between an Indian mother and a son he/she will not be able to understand it fully.We must work towards making better movies but Oscar should not be the benchmark for that
On a lighter note I am sure Oscar jury must be having some strange criterions for judging the movies since I was aghast when I had seen Slumdog Milloinaire that how can a movie which was no better than a B-Grade masala flick of 1980s had won so many Oscars:P
Enjoy the post!
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