The Power Of Cinema

We have heard again and again many film celebrities in India who have given quotes after quotes on How Cinema cannot change society. I suspect through these quotes they want to absolve themselves on the way cinema changes society for the worse...

Let me illustrate....

How many kids bought fancy Bikes after seeing the two editions of the film Dhoom?

How many biker borne thieves have police caught in Hyderabad and other parts of India again modeled on Dhoom?

How many parents named their new born boys Hrithik in the year 2000?

Why did kids asked Aamir Khan about the supposed fight between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan on Katrina Kaif’s ill fated Birthday Party on the launch function of the Taare Zameen Par DVD at Darsheel’s school in South Mumbai?

The answer to all the above is just not a co-incidence and lies deeper in the power of cinema that we are failing to capitalize effectively to highlight the many shortcomings in our society.

Indian Cinema post the golden era of 50’s and60’s, unfortunately has stopped addressing any of our social ills in a meaningful way apart from providing lip service at best. It can’t be denied that Cinema played a vital role in the amalgamation of different racial communities in USA and UK.
Cinema also played a vital role in the socialist movement of 1950’s with films by Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt and others, shaping the consciousness of the entire nation. Satyajit Ray’s films spoke of the social cultural milieu of the 60’s in an extremely poignant manner and even shaped its path towards a more progressive society. Through Do Bigha Zameen, Sujata, Bandini, Bimal Roy brought forth some of shortcomings in our society and offered meaningful solutions. Guru Dutt through his films epitomized the individual angst against the state and society at large and left an indelible mark on countless youth of that age. However with the advent of the 70’s, Indian cinema lost its way and veered more and more towards populism and pandered to it wholeheartedly. Even the great Raj Kapoor, through his films in the 70’s failed towards meaningful cinema which he exhibited with such aplomb and finesse in the 50’s. This led to the parallel Cinema movement financed by the government through National Film Development of Cinema (NFDC) but that too died an untimely death as it failed to amalgamate popular taste with relevant social issues. Even the so called Angry Young Man phase was escapist cinema at best offering little intellectual food for thought and espousing violence as the only route for social change

From 1992 onwards, Hindi Cinema broke completely free from the last shackles of meaningful realism and offered saccharine coated NRI/Mushy romantic fare to a whole new generation. Today most film goers view cinema as the best form of escapism from their daily grind. Also the advent of Multiplexes and their high ticket prices have ensured that Cinema going remains by large an urban phenomenon. Fortunately a few films like Taare Zameen Par or Swades have still proven that cinema remains our best bet of addressing pressing issues and offering meaningful solutions.

In short we DO NOT HAVE any potent media vehicle like cinema to shape adult opinion in this country and it should be our endeavor to nurture and preserve this medium in every format that we can.