Film reviews under scrutiny as flops numbers grow - Overview

Hindi film `Chup’ directed by R Balki has won five star rating from critics but the box office numbers are a disappointment. As the movie deals partly with a topic of film criticism and its impact on film goers and creators, it would not be a major embarrassment if the critics had given Baki a single star. The person who benefited most from Chup was Dulquer Salmaan as the Bollywood critics found him to be good actor.

Chup subject that is about film criticism and critics, is very relevant. The common refrain that I get is that your generation put across the good and bad of a film in a way that it did not drive away the audience. Now the platform of print media has been pushed back and comes in YouTube reviewers. Film Producers and Directors in Chennai- Kochi are crying saying that their films bombed because of bad reviews.  It is not any newbie director or actor crying .Gautham Menon while cutting the celebration cake of YTK success meet tells the media who came to cover this – These reviewers are spoiling our bread and butter and on twiiter he talks like a Don to a film critic. Vishal as Actor’s Body President wanted producer’s council to impose an embargo on reviews for three days from release of a film.

Now another lethal gang of film critics have arrived. Apart from reviewing the film, in coming days they spin off collection figures to show it is a profit. Producers say this breed is more harmful than the critics. Producers believe that if an analyst's box office collection co say that a film is a flop in opening weekend, then those fence sitters decide to dump the movie with low attendance. In Kerala, there is a sizable number of independent box office trackers and in Chennai, it is limited to two or three.

I happened to read the review in The New Indian Expresss about Chup. The reviewer writes - “This is all, of course, an exaggeration. Who would kill a film critic?” wonders Sunny Deol’s investigative cop at one point. The sad (yet wholly realistic) answer is that no one, absolutely no one would kill a film critic. We don’t matter and that’s just the way it is”.

 The answer is that the media that he is writing for shuld have a readership. If a trade analyst account has lakhs of followers , reviews do matter. Otherwise Why would Ranbir Kapoor soon after the Brahmastra  trade report was put out see that the trade analyst account get blocked ?. A great actor like Mohalal who faced brickbats for his film Marrakar went on record asking questions like What do  critics know of cinema – Do they know about editing?, he asked.

In Kerala, any negative review is called planned degrading. Counter promotions too take place. Take the case of Dulquer Salmaan (antagonist in Chup) when Sita RamamTelugu dubbed Malayalam version got released in Kerala, weekend went almost empty. Dulquer thought had he had a fan base that would go gaga over any film of his.  YouTubers who are DQ fans chided fan clubs for deserting the film. Next, we get shots of a few cars outside a theater and saying stock lines – Family crowds have accepted it and so all evening and night shows are full. They kept away from the practice of showing the crowds at the café inside or coming out. Next, we hear it has broken records set by any dubbed Malayalam film in Kerala.

Though Chup deals with written words, the scenario today is the spoken word. First Day First Show viewer’s comments on YT sites that are free from rigging, no holds reviews loaded with sarcasm and those who without these tools call a spade a spade. YT sites on the payroll and those who are run by fans too join in to get the ear but viewers see through this game. Take the case of Ajith’s Vallimai. Except for pro Ajith YT sites, it was slammed but the film is considered a hit by Producer. That has been the case with Vijay’s Beast and Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe. At the same time, STR’s Maanaadu and Kamal Hassan’s Vikram was critically acclaimed and box office blockbusters. Such cases of film critics and viewers on the same page is rare.

So, does print media reviews not have any role? To put it plainly, NO. The mainstream newspapers in Chennai, hub of multiplexes put out reviews that are mostly a watered-down view and sort of a tight rope walking. Why? Film Advertisements, no doubt. What about newspapers, where the advertisements do not come? The  INE critic comment applies here  - We don’t matter and that’s just the way it is.

Let us move to box office trackers in Chennai- Kochi. I have yet to see anybody like Taran Adarsh (Mumbai) who puts out authentic box office figures. A very few really come with real story and all others are just putting out the handouts by producer – actor PR men and in a great hurry to push it to the Rs 100 crore club. Most of these

Inflated figures given out by this industry trackers lead to a cake cutting event covered by media and to tell all have won. The trackers have pocketed the money and moved on. An average viewer who logs into a Book My Show site to book a ticket for a film that celebrated a success on third day of release will see that the film is not on the booking chart. Ponniyin Selvam wotldwide gross is Rs200 crores puts out Producer. Trade analyst says it is Rs 230 crores.!!!

 

Let's move to Hyderabad and Bengaluru.  Mohanlal advised   the Kerala film press – Look at Telugu film press. They are fully supportive of films and that is why the industry is big and growing. Truth is that the growth story of Tollywood has no link to film criticism. Only difference from Tamil- Malayalam is that the criticism is not as harsh   but all the same, bad films are called bad and films do flop in Tollywood and with rapid succession. For one film success, twenty fade away on a weekend.

I remember S S Rajamouli speaking at IIT Madras. He said that those days were gone when Gudipudi Srihari, the critic wrote about a film’s good point and what went wrong. He called the current lot as half-baked critics. He openly stated that it was the audience view that was above a critic as they came to see a film and like it. The critic came to find faults with the film,e pointed. This comment on stage came soon after Baahubali 1 had released. Chiranjeevi films were till the other day -all mass films and entertainers that Telugu moviegoers were waiting to see. But after,   Acharya bombed and  all changed YouTubers mauled it badly. At the same time, Balakrishna’s Akhanda which was torn to pieces by critics but  was the biggest blockbuster. Sai Pallavi’s Gargi was critic’s favorite and it sank without a trace.

Kannada film critics have no major tussle with the industry as such. Kannada film reviews are not very harsh and generally gloss over bad films. After KGF, English press or the so-called National media started looking towards Kannada movies and now they are ones that are slamming them. For KGF 2, Indian Express gave it 1.5 stars and NDTV 2 stars. A Kannada film Kantera which less known has caught the national media /

After the South films like Baahubali KGF franchise to RRR being hits in Bollywood, there is an entire new set of YouTuber critics in Mumbai who just waiting to slam any Hindi film and hail every South film ( dubbed) releasing in Mumbai as ` record breaking opening’. PS` has got all the right stars but Hindi audience is not biting it. A Hindi remake of Tamil film Vikram Vedha oo with Hrithik – Saif Ali Khan is not working either Prabhas  Adipursh teaser in Hindi has people asking whether it is comic book strip. In my school- college days, I used to hear ` learned’ film folk talk about M Krishnan Nair and a Kozhikodan review

Later as Screen correspondent, I had the job to negotiate with Kerala Film Chamber to get advertisements at a mutually agreed rate. The deal was struck and advertisements came in. Now Kochi edition of IE was not getting film advertisements and I was asked to deal with it. Chamber  had two options- write good reviews or do not write reviews. Madras  office asked Kochi to stop reviews and start accepting advertisements and carry film news given by film PRO’s. This is my contribution to film criticism.