Last month, Amlan wrote a thought-provoking post connecting this summer’s scintillating blockbuster “Inception” and copyrights. This post is a mini-“sequel” to his post (and hence the “II”).
Yesterday, I happened to stumble upon a video of Rajeev Masand’s interview of Aamir Khan. During the course of the interview, Masand asks Aamir his opinion on the chances of the Indian film industry making a film comparable to Inception in content, sophistication and presentation. Aamir gives his take on the qualitative sea of difference between Hollywood and Bollywood in terms of technique and imagination. What caught my attention was Aamir’s view towards the end of the video that:
“We don’t give enough value to our writing, We don’t give enough value to our writers and that’s a big thing we need to look at as a film industry. We need to give much more value in every way- emotionally, creatively, and economically (emphasis added, not supplied). We need to give much more value to our writers and to the craft of writing for us to have really great scripts being written, you know, I believe that.”
We have earlier blogged on the rumours of the stand-off between Javed Akhtar and Aamir on protection for lyricists. Although Aamir’s views in the video certainly have a ring of conviction to them and I think they are consistent with his reputation as a socially-conscious individual, it just got me thinking if these views are consistent with his take on the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act which are beneficial to authors/lyricists, if at all media reports are to be believed.
Personally, I am all for protection for writers and lyricists; I think a bit of bittersweet trivia should drive the point home. “Mahabharat”, the serial, that grand magnum opus of Baldev Raj Chopra (not the horrendous imitation by Ekta Kapoor. May Lord Balaji Save us from Balaji Telefilms!) is one of the finest products of India’s syncretic traditions. Why? The script was written by two extremely creative and gifted individuals- Dr.Satish Bhatnagar and Dr.Rahi Masoom Reza. (I remember these names distinctly having devoured the entire series bit-by-bit, episode-by-episode for over 7 times now, and still counting…my friends can vouch for that)
A few months ago, we were told that Dr.Satish Bhatnagar was afflicted with the disease most common to his ilk- penury. Apparently, he was (or still is) in such a pitiable condition that he barely had/has the resources to make ends meet, leave alone afford his medical expenses. To my joy, apparently Bollywood’s so-called “brat” Salman Khan stepped forward to put Dr.Bhatnagar out of his misery. But then, the question is, are writers and lyricists condemned to living on doles and gestures of charity? Personally, I tend to agree that the law needs to step into the picture instead of leaving everything to contracts.
On an entirely different note, I guess people really always aren’t who they appear, or are portrayed to be…
Image from here
Image from here
Excellent!!! I Agree. See how Chetan Bhagat was treated by Amir Khan et. al.
Yes very true!! I personally believe that story/script/lyric writing form the soul of a good and entertaining presentation (audio/video) and are imperative tools to establish the emotional connections with their audience. They are further supplemented by all the other members of the team/crew. So writers definitely need to be remunerated well and encouraged to provide meaningful contributions…
Thanks Ashwani, even Taare Zameen Par was not without its controversies (Amol Gupte)…
While you may have a problem with Balaji telefilms, let me assure you – Once Upon a Time in Mumbai is a great example of creativity.
although i dont know amir khan personally (lol) and, hence, cant afford to be judgmental on his real intention, but prima facie, his quoted statement seems to be a double-speak. this is aptly reflected in the javed akhtar episode that u ve cited. but u forgot to cite the chetan bhagat episode, which also points towards the janus face. having/professing an ideology/principle is a different thing and practicing it is yet another thing.
-aditya kant
Dear Anon@12:13 AM,
Thanks for the comment, I didn’t want to respond before watching the movie. But now that I have seen the movie, I think I am fairly justified in holding on to that opinion on Balaji Telefilms 🙂 But for Ajay Devgn’s silent yet strong portrayal and Kangna Ranaut’s sizzling oomph, honestly the film is meant for front benchers who would love to lap up all those “punch dialogues”, there’s just too many of them and most of them are unintentionally funny. If this movie was meant to be an ode to The Godfather or any of Ram Gopal Varma’s films on the underworld, it’s a poor one and dumbs down the genre completely (single-handedly too).
Of course, I won’t deny I had a whale of a time watching the movie with my friends because the movie’s perfect spoof material.In fact, I think the movie makes a spoof of itself and I guess that is why it is a runaway hit. It made me wonder if the director (Milan Luthria) takes himself seriously and if he wants us to take him seriously at all in the first place.
I would certainly recommend watching the movie provided one has friends who are brilliant at spouting witty one-liners with a straight face 😉
Bests,
Sai