COVID-19 has already secured a place in the history of modern world as an unprecedented jolt to human lives that has even engendered a doubt over their existence. But, another event in 2020 that has shaken India, if not the world, is the demise of Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR). It has waged a war against nepotism in Bollywood, got many film stars to speak up on the issue, and prepared a battleground for a hot debate on TV channels, who have in turn got more ‘Masala’ for their TRP. Amid this, how the political sphere can remain untouched and Bihar vs Maharashtra has emerged as a new fight.
The biggest fallout of all these happenings that I am going to talk about is the 11 million dislikes on Youtube on the Sadak 2 trailer video. Anyone can say that these dislikes are a result of the ongoing raging wave against nepotism. Otherwise, even the worst movie trailer can’t have this magnanimous achievement in just a few hours. Let me explain my points in brief:
Emotional Aspects Behind Bollywood Movies
First of all, I would like to say that I watched the trailer and did not like it much, but I doubt whether those 11 million people have actually watched the trailer before disliking it. The parameters to judge any artistic work of cinema should be the creativity involved in the piece, the acting skills, music, etc, rather than emotions.
What do people think, they are doing justice to SSR by disliking this trailer? I think such emotional and irrational parameters to judge any talent was the very reason behind the non-recognition of SSR’s talent. If SSR were alive, Dil Bechara would have got average liking and Sadak 2 would be getting bumper appreciation from all. When Dil Bechara got released, those who are emotional about SSR’s death could be seen saying, “Is film me toh bhai hai, me zaroor dekhoonga chahe script kaisi hi ho (This film stars our brother Sushant. I’m definitely going to watch this film, irrespective of its script).”
We have made undeserving and shitty movies successful while ignoring real talent, only based on our emotions, and it’s the same thing we are doing today while disliking a movie trailer without even watching it. This is the reason why these filmmakers spend crores on marketing a film — by spreading rumors of love affairs between lead actors rather than putting creativity in their work, because “jab audience isi se khush hai toh koi kyo itni mehnat kre (if this is all that makes the audience happy then why bother working so hard on making a film).”
No producer will take risks in launching star kids if they were not get any money out of their films. We make star kids famous and give producers stacks of money by judging actors for everything except their acting. Why can’t we keep an artist’s family background, personal life or any other non-artistic criteria aside while judging their talent?
Emotional Response In Politics
This emotional attitude of ours is not limited to Bollywood, but even our votes during any election. It is more dangerous to allot anyone the power to run the country based on hollow emotions, than to make an undeserving movie successful. If a country’s prime minister is assassinated, we show sympathy by voting for their party in the next election. We praise a leader for their oratory skills, irrespective of what they are talking about in their speech. We vote for someone because they belong to our community, support a leader because they criticise Pakistan.
There is no consideration of any “real work” done by the party or its leader, no significance to constitutional and moral violations in a leader’s speech. Why? Because we are emotional fools who are mocked on a daily basis by these leaders and their tactics. They believe that “jab janta inhi sab se vote degi toh kaam krne ki kya zarurat (If voters are going to vote on the basis of all these, why bother working)? ”
I think we just need to think about it. Being emotional in life may be a good thing, but sometimes, it makes us blind and ends up endangering society. We need to see things more logically to be able to recognise real talent, be it in Bollywood, politics, or otherwise. We are the only ones who’ll end up suffering.