Its Personal!

Nandita Das' recent movie Firaaq (which I haven't seen) is apparently about the lives of some Muslims affected by the riots in Gujarat. Bharadwaj Rangan's review of the film led to several responses that criticized the one-sided nature of the film and used it as an example of a general bias towards the Muslim community when it comes to the press and even some forms of entertainment. Such responses led to this column where Rangan talks about reviewing films whose themes clash with ideas and beliefs we hold close to our heart.

I agree with most of the things he says there. It is definitely the filmmaker's prerogative to pick the subject matter of the film and decide the viewpoint that he/she wants to present. But Rangan also says that "For the purposes of a review, however, a film is evaluated on simply one criterion, and that’s how well it goes about doing what it set out wanting to do." That is a statement that made me think. Is it really possible for a reviewer to be completely dispassionate about a film? Is it possible to completely disengage oneself emotionally from a film just because we know that we are going to write about it? And if it is possible, does that make the review any less honest?

I've always been the first to admit that my reviews are biased. I've even gone as far as saying that every reviewer is biased and that its precisely the bias that makes a particular reviewer's opinions unique and interesting. And the bias is not just when it comes to favorite actors and actresses. It can be on the subject matter itself, the way it is handled, the director's style, certain aspects of the movie, etc. Bias on a movie's subject matter itself usually arises from the viewer's background, religion, caste and life experiences. This bias is naturally quite strong and that is what makes it difficult to evaluate a movie simply based on how well it achieves its goal.

Its easy to take sides in masala movies where the lines are clearly drawn. The movie itself might be well-made or badly put together but we always know who is good and who is evil and it is pretty obvious who we should root for. But the boundaries are not so clear when it comes to movies handling serious, heavier topics. And that's when personal preferences come into play and affect our opinion of the movie.

The role played by one's own experiences was made clear to me on this very blog a while back. I came down rather heavily on the vulgarity in Boys and said that the sequences where Shankar showed the heroes brushing up against women in public places were infinitely more vulgar than the more explicit scenes in New. My argument was that since the guys in the movie were the heroes and weren't shown as being punished for their acts, this would instigate even more youth to indulge in the same kinds of acts in real life. Some of the commentors who were against my stance brought in a recent post where I ranted against the banning of smoking in movies and said that the two weren't really different since the government's argument was that people were taking up smoking after seeing the actors smoke on screen. I did have some arguments as to how they weren't the same but they weren't really convincing.

But its quite clear why I reacted differently to the depiction of vulgarity and the depiction of smoking. When it came to the boys' behavior, it was something I disliked because I had heard my mom and my cousin sisters complain about the same kind of behavior after their everyday bus journeys. On the other hand, while some of my friend in school and college were smokers, I hadn't really seen anyone taking up smoking just because his favorite actor lit up on screen. So while the reel happenings were similar, my real-life experiences made me have totally different reactions to the two cases.

That's what I mean when I say that a viewer with some personal investment in the subject matter of a film would find it extremely difficult to view the film impersonally. So a Hindu who lost a loved one in the riots would likely have an adverse reaction to Firaaq. Just as a deeply religious man may feel KadavuL is a bad movie. And a Brahmin may find Idhu Namma AaLu to be offensive.

I like watching movies and penning down my thoughts about them. And I do try to remain neutral. But sometimes, it does get personal...