Page 3 an insight on girth in Film Industry

Watching “Page 3″ today evening has deeply disturbed me. I don’t intend this to be a movie review but on the whole it perfectly resonates my earlier post on the Indian media. The depths to which some people have dragged down the whole scenario.
Admittedly, the storyline has punch and the contrasts are brought out very clearly. At times the whole movie seems to be blown over in magnitude but it has somewhat confirmed what I always knew. The movie does challenge the established beliefs and ideas. It leaves one with a deep sense of discomfort and uneasiness. Of course people do tend to forget the issue at hand very easily.

The major problem is that at the rate which society is loosing its values and stagnating in a moral crass, we need films like these to hold up the mirror against such issues. The important pertinent point here is that why do such things happen if at all they happen. The primary reason I can think of is the inferiority complexes that these people suffer from.

Maladjustment to the surroundings and escapism is prevalent in every human being. However, it depends on the degree to which one can face the reality. Drugs offer one way of escaping which tends to pull one down in the quicksand from where there is no final escape. Coexistent depression and lack of ideation is another prominent feature. If this is the way some humans decide to live their lives, well then the fact is let them. Why would one attach any degree of glamour to it?

Humans of all hues have always done something against the established society norms. Either they were called as rebels or misfits. How could one quantify them? Here in the role of the media is paramount. Instead of standing up to it, they have chosen to flog the dead horse time and again. Perhaps it gives some degree of escapism to the “lesser mortals” who otherwise have no reason to escape from the cycle of routine.

For the western audiences, this is called as paparazzi, the all pervading media. Why are the subjects still fascinated by the escapades of the princes in Britain or whether princess Diana was chased to her death? Who is interested? Why have you forgotten the primary duty of what comes first? This is my poser to all the self appointed guardians of Media. Self censure is a must and I am speaking out from my own frustration to draw attention to the same.

Coming back to the movie. One major flaw of the movie is that it has made the same crowd as glamorous where it chose to trash them. We get to see the same set of “celebrities” who have hogged the limelight for no apparent reason. There was an article in The Statesman where in a rookie journalist had uncovered the details. How money and contacts tend to make the things easier. How these very same people pay out huge sums of money to get regular exposure.

There in lies the tale. Bollywood is one big swamp which tends to make news for all the wrong reasons. For every apparent success story, there are 10 such sad tales of sexual exploitation and casting couch. It is something not that I am constructing. One needs to keep their eyes opened wherein these incidents are reported increasingly in the popular media. Probably there is a sensational build up to the same. Such “news” always carries some salve value. Flash in the pan…noise for sometime and settling of the issue. For example, Goa is advertised as the hip and happening place. However, barring a few isolated incidents of reporting, has anyone mentioned that its becoming a cheap sex capital of the world? Paedophiles have been flocking to this place over the past several years. No one in the media wants to spoil the “virginal” idea behind the tourist place. I wish someone actually spoke up about the same and followed it up on a regular basis.

It doesn’t make a difference to me about being popular or being in the crowd. Yet some people need and crave for that extra bit of attention which clearly points out the fundamental flaw in our society. It is perhaps everywhere. One needs to look at the Hollywood for that matter. Is it so that these manufactured beauties actually are so talented? Barring a few exceedingly talented people in the industry, the whole of the film industry is a total washout. Those talented people have sought out films that have a meaning. The mirror I talked of before. I mean whenever I get to see an old film by Guru Dutt, there is so much pathos and emotions. He was one brilliant film maker who committed suicide. Perhaps it was clear from his own films. Kaggaz ke Phool or Pyassa. One has to look and re look at those classics which are truly timeless. As it happens, the industry has attracted lot of mediocrity and people who are wheelers dealers in the power structure. The big fish eats the smaller and gets bigger. Time comes in when the illusion breaks down. Its indeed showbiz.

Time and again, one needs to look beyond the obvious. To dig deeper in the issues. This is important for us because it affects us directly.

We need more of the films like Page 3. To make us uncomfortable, as it did to me. I am deeply disturbed by the “progress” that we are making. This is going to rebound on us in some manner and in some way.