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In short, all our heartfelt Diwali wishes, which we so generously send out to our friends, go for a toss no sooner their films are on release. What is it about their films, which brings out the worst in all of us?
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Who’s to Blame?
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Blame it on the speculative nature of this industry or whatever, but the fact is that each one of us is so insecure that we’ve become self-centred and selfish. Probably, in no other industry is there so much of uncertainty about a product clicking with the client base as there is in the film industry. And when luck plays such an important part in the success/failure of a film, we tend to believe that good wishes make a world of a difference. That is why we become so stingy in wishing even a friend when he needs our good wishes the most – at the time of his film’s release. We’d rather reserve those wishes for our film, right?
Frankly, one is not even sure whether ours is, in fact, one of the most speculative industries or not. Maybe, we’ve gotten used to blaming our failures on the vagaries of the business rather than taking responsibility for them. Isn’t it far easier to say that a film tanked at the ticket windows because nobody knows what will click with the audience than accepting that we didn’t make a film worthy of people’s appreciation? Agreed, public tastes change – and change very fast nowadays – because of which it is difficult to imagine at the time of launching a film whether the script will find favour with the audience when the film, based on it, is ready for release, say, 12 or 18 months later. But that must be the case in many other businesses too. Probably, what must be different from many – not all – other businesses is the investment factor: many crores of rupees are involved in making a film, especially a big-budget and star-cast film.
Be that as it may, on how many occasions do we watch a film and wonder why it did not score at the box-office? In other words, most films which flop, flop because they are bad films, because they deserved to flop, not because the business of filmmaking is so speculative in nature. If, after watching a film, the public can say, it did not like the film, there’s nothing so difficult about understanding what will and what won’t run. One might point out here that while the audience, which accepts or rejects a film, does so after watching the finished or final product, the producer and others associated with the film have to put in money, time and efforts on a mere thought – and that makes it difficult or even speculative. Agreed, but then, that is the way it is, there can be no other way to convert a script into a movie.
Low Success Ratio
Coming back to the point of others’ films bringing out the devil in us, it is just possible that because the success ratio in the film industry is so low – barely 15-20% – we tend to hope that the films made by others don’t work. For, if their films don’t do well at the box-office, it indirectly increases the chances of our film working, given the low success ratio which is almost a constant factor. Also, because a film can be commented upon by just about anybody in the world, barely three hours after it first hits the screens, it is so much more scary to bring the film before the public. When a friend’s film flops, you tend to feel secure in the thought that he and you would be sailing in the same boat if, God forbid, your forthcoming film were also to bomb. And if your film, released before his, has already had to bite the dust, you would want him to give you company, and that can happen only when his film fails. For, it is always easier to tide over difficult times when you are in a group, isn’t it? And what can be a more taxing time than when your film has flopped? That’s another reason why we tend to forget our Diwali wishes when the films of our near and dear ones are on release – we want them to be as ‘near’ us if we’ve recently failed or fear failing in the near future!
Also, nobody likes to bear the ignominy of failure while his friends bask in the glory of success. Our own failure hurts our ego, others’ success hurts it even more. If our own success works like a balm for us, so does the failure of our friends. That’s also often the reason why we forget our own Diwali wishes for our friends when they need them the most.
Giving People Their Money’s Worth
But let this Diwali be different. Let us sincerely hope and pray for the welfare of our loved ones even if that means wishing their films well. For, just as their failure cannot guarantee our success, so also their success can never cause our failure. Yes, the ratio of successes is almost a given, but there’s no law which says that more than 15-20% of films released every year cannot click with the paying public. Rather than not wishing our friends well when their films are due for release, let us all work to better the success ratio in the film industry. For this, we all will have to seriously start making films and give up making proposals. That’s because the ratio of successes has, since times immemorial, been far higher in the case of films than in the case of proposals. And the reason for this difference between proposals and films is no rocket science: films appeal to the paying public whereas proposals are made to appeal to the financiers and distributors. Simply put, the money financiers or distributors are willing to put into a project while backing a proposal is expenditure or investment for the industry, but the money which the public spends on watching a film is income for the industry. Higher the income as compared to the expenditure/investment, better would be the success ratio. And history is witness to the fact that the paying public would spend any amount of money on films, not on proposals. So, while a proposal may excite the people within the industry, it is only a good film which will set the adrenaline in the audience flowing. Let’s work towards giving the people their money’s worth through our films, let’s deliver through our films more than we promise through the trailers of our films.
If we do that, we would not need to wish our friends in the industry a very happy Diwali and a prosperous new year ahead without meaning it. If we do that, we’d all hope and pray for our wishes to friends to come true even if that means praying for the success of their films. That would be the real Happy Diwali and the real Happy New Year!
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