I was thrilled to find the first comment by Jose on my post on Taare Jameen Par... It looks like my views on this movie are in opposition with the entire world except me and that rock outside my house.
My primary opposition to this movie is was it necessary that, that kid wins the competition in the end. I hated it. Jose says it was fine, as the guy was not pushed. The point is not about being pushed or being unpushed. The point is winning... 80% of guys and gals in this world are very normal, mediocre, unachivers, who will never win in one or any other competition or space. What do their parents do? That’s why i said, the entire message of that movie was lost when he won.
Movies are about heroes, and mind it heroes might not be winners. A guy who had been failing in a class for years, just manages to pass the grades is a hero. He might not have come first or second or even somewhere at the top, but he is hero, having won his own little battles with himself... his circumstances... his shortcomings, he struggled against the odds. That’s a story.
Now convert the same situation to; A guy who has been failing for years in a class, finds something else that he is good at and achieves success... lets say win a drawing competition. Where is the story, where is the struggle... where is the fight... what are the odds… where is that heroness. It was all too easy, he was special and in the end he won.
Aamir did show Darshil able to learn his studies, and managing to pass, but then this part was diluted by showing it as a series of jump cuts and montages. The focus and finale still went to winning. That’s where my problem is.
My problem is why is winning so part of our psyche, our social system, our family setup. For me pushing is still ok, but the real pressure on kids comes from the expectation to win.
That’s what i so liked about "Suraj Ka Saatwaan Ghoda", That’s why i had a post on it. It was a movie about these mediocre unachivers, invisibles, mundane… but the movie appreciated their daily struggle. That’s why i so liked Rocky Part 1, if i remember correctly, Balboa didn't win his last fight, but he was a hero. He triumphed over his situation, his inner doubts, faced his daemons. Underdog, he stood up with every blow. The movie was not about winning the fight; it was not even about the fight itself. The movie was about life, and the fights that we fight against it not the fighters in the ring.
Being a hero does not mean to win a fight, a competition or some award. The external enemies and competitions are secondary… easy. The real fight is within, against yourself… It’s in reclaiming yourself... The struggle is about making a decision, taking a stand...
By showing a win in a fight that you had picked up, the importance of picking up a fight is lost... to show success in every stand that you take... the importance of taking a stand is lost.
Its never been about winning a fight… its about picking up one.
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5 comments:
"Aim for the stars and you may reach the sky".A Hope to succeed is what drives us all to achieving our goals.Rocky despite being old wouldn't have fought the fight if he didn't believe that he could win.You wouldn't take a stand if you didn't believe that the stand would pay off and you would be vindicated.Nobody would give in their 100% towards any effort if they didn't believe they would succeed. Winning is an important part of our psyche because it gives us direction it give us hope it drives us towards achieving the impossible. And when we win Heroes are born.80% of dyslexic children would probably be under achievers and would never do anything fantastic. However what the movie tries to convey is that just because they are dyslexic does not mean that its all over and the end of the story. There is an even and fair chance that they can go on to become successes despite their disabilities. Darsheel took his chance and won. No parents to pressurize him no Amir to force him to participate .His victory was over his own battle his own personal struggle of always have to be pitted against the sibling who was good at everything.Now this was something he was good at his struggle at finding it payed off.It was his life and the way he conquered his destiny. Sending us all the message that we should rise above our knowledge of the familiar and what we know is right and think differently when we deal with children because you never know where a Darsheel or an Einstein may lie.
Point taken.
The problem is not with hoping to win. Everybody does.. the movie should be about hope which is totally agreed. The question is really about coping with the hope.
How many people do win after hope. What about them. Who writes movies for the failures. Or Failures is something that we don't need to talk about or isn't it inspiring in itself, taking a long shot.. going against the odds, knowing fully well. That despite it.. people struggle. What about when you fight for 2% chance and don't succeed. Isn't it worth it.
Shouldn't movies be about hope and struggle then the results.
Movies should be about hope struggle and results.
In the case of taare we had hope lots of struggle the odds were heavily pitted against him and the result was success.
Now why success is important is because success will go a long way in inspiring anybody then any failure story would ever do.Its just that no failure story can ever hope to motivate anybody other than the person who has failed
Seeing Darsheel fail would in no way motivate any kid who watches the movie it would in fact demoralize him/her. Seeing Darsheel win would motivate him/her to emulate his perfomance and thus go on to achieve far more then they thought was possible.
For me the main aims of the movie appeared to convey an awareness about dyslexia and the second to inspire children watching the movie setting Darsheel a dyslexic child as a role model. Thus it was important he won . Because now seeing Darsheel a dyslexic child win we are setting the bar very high the sky is the limit.
For what u ppl r fighting while both of u r right (don’t consider it a politically correct statement) and learned the lesson form the movie.
Vikas said “Movies are about heroes, and mind it heroes might not be winners”
I agree on it and I think every person will agree on it. Every single common person is a hero bcz he/she is continuously fighting with the odds appearing unpredictably in life.
Now let’s discuss what should be the end of the movie.
1. showing the boy fighting
2. showing the boy winning
In a real life conditions I think the option one is truthful, but in movies only the second option will work (will make the movie a hit).
Because the common person who goes to watch cinema wants to see his hero winning not just fighting, fighting is what he is already doing in his life, but he is not a winner, seeing his winner inspires him and make him happy for that small duration of time.
I am saying it not only about “Taare Jameen Par”, it’s relevant for almost every movie (specially Hindi movies).
That’s why iqbal was a big hit, and 1000 of other Hindi movies too.
Every good director wants to show a practical kind of movies, bcz its practical life which is inspiring them to write good stories, so a story showing struggle can be a called a good story, but when a story is converted into movie u need to convert the struggle into a winning struggle too, other wise no one (except the “buddigivi”(sorry I don’t know the English word for it) ppl like u, who represent a very small part of society) will watch it and the good story is a failure on producer’s pocket. Tell me is there any logic in those unpredicted songs which comes any time in the Hindi cinema, bcz ppl want to see that, the same way ppl want to see only a winning struggle.
Vikas u r right when u say “Where is the story, where is the struggle... where is the fight... what are the odds… where is that heroness. It was all too easy, he was special and in the end he won.”
But my friend, Indian film industry does not work that way. In our films what ever you show in the whole movie does not matter, the only thing which is able to make a difference (in terms of box office income) is whether the hero was won or lost. No one likes to find the logic behind the hero’s win or argument about it.
Unfortunately I hv never watched “Suraj Ka Saatwaan Ghoda” and don’t know about its box office success/failure so can’t compare both. What I want to tell u for a director/producer the important thing is not only a practical story but also the box office success which always comes on a cost on story modifications.
Remember failures r acceptable in real life not in movies and not at all in Hindi movies. Real life is about hope and struggle and movies r about results, winning results.
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