Comments on Known Turf: More inconclusive rambling

Annie - I was just saying that Bollywood lacks the...

2009-10-09T20:52:07.195+05:30

Annie - I was just saying that Bollywood lacks the technical expertise required to make good films. You can copy ideas, but you can't copy skill. You can copy dialogues/story-lines, but you can't copy emotions. Bollywood can never let go of its bling-bling dishum-dishum roots. And the founding pillar of nepotism isn't helping either.

shraven: whether or not you're right, it is not en...

2009-10-08T14:55:08.491+05:30

shraven: whether or not you're right, it is not enough to say just that. after all, even in saying that, you are comparing the two versions of the same story. and i was not discussing copying or remaking ethics. as a writer, i have a vested interest in trying to figure out why one version works and the other doesn't. hence, the anlysis.

the quark: i don't think indian cinema has never thought this duality of ideas through. it is about layering rather than segregation and there are some great layered narratives out there. but a lot of commercial cinema doesn't bother - hindi or tamil or hollywood.

I liked your analysis of 'inherent idea' and 'surf...

2009-10-07T22:39:42.016+05:30

I liked your analysis of 'inherent idea' and 'surface idea'. I think I would not be wrong if I say the surface idea has to be a visual manifestation of the inherent idea. Something like if a man's soul is good, her/his actions would be good too.

I have not seen Ghajini, recently watched Wanted and I would not deride average Indian audience as in Indian context one doesn't neatly categorize movies in genres. For me at the start movie was something like a superhero and comic (it is later that it became a drag when creators don't really realize what exactly they are making, something i found in Tashan, case in point Akshay's fighting sequence).

May be Indian cinema has never seen this separation of inherent and surface idea. I find them more as reinterpretation or retelling of myths than stories. They are totally drab when interpreted as stories.

Comparing (good) foreign films, and their correspo...

2009-10-07T09:48:22.486+05:30

Comparing (good) foreign films, and their corresponding Bollywood 'remakes' is like comparing delicious food, and delicious food after it has passed through your digestive system.