Critique against critics

Criticizing artistic works of others seems to be the easiest, self-serving, ego-boosting, attention-grabbing profession. So,I think it is high time that I jumped on the bandwagon.

Imagine for a moment that you, without even having stepped into a medical college, read any technical books, leave alone surfed WebMD, start reviewing the operations and medical procedures done by professionals.

In words of Rajeev Masand, it would sound something like,’ While the doctor tried very hard to save the patient’s kidney, a weak disposition(read script) and over the top dressing( read art direction) made the operation not so enjoyable. I give it 1/5 for a good attempt. But the post operative stitches could have been handled better.’

Now there’s something about art, specially films, which turns everybody into a critic. Being a movie buff or having watched ‘Sholay’ 30 times doesn’t give you the right to give sweeping judgments or pass verdicts on the work of art or a labour of love of many.

Every director, script-writer, actor, or for that matter, anyone involved in the creative field works under multitude of constraints and may have various influencing factors. This could be budget, the audience the work is aimed at or quite simply the artist’s personal preference.

Case in point,’ Robot’, with a hefty budget of 150 crores boasting of a star-cast like ‘Superstar’ Rajnikanth and highly over-rated Aishwarya Rai Bacchan has been reviewed as bi-polar and cacophonous, but still a must-watch.

Now imagine the movie without the star cast or the astronomical budget and perhaps the strong PR machinery. Would the final verdict still be the same?

I acknowledge critics have a job to do and very often they take it too seriously by being overtly harsh and in many ways, trying to save their own a**.

Its so easy to rip apart any movie, criticize the mistakes in script, continuity, music, cinematography, etc. etc. knowing very well that there would be at least one sadist who would agree with your opinion.

What is risky is giving a positive ‘Thumbs Up’ to a movie the critic has liked which may or may not go well with the audiences.

This reminds me a lot, of the time when I was looking out for a second hand car and would rely on my mechanic’s “expert” opinion. No matter which car, make or model he would evaluate, his judgment would always be, ‘Its too expensive, ask them to drop the price by 40%’. This was his way of saving his a** as he would never be accused of making a bad recommendation or palming off an over-priced car. As a result I drove my Kinetic Honda for almost two years looking for my dream car at a throw-away price!

The fact is we have a lot of time in our hands( I’ve spent about two hours writing, rewriting and editing this post), so whats the big deal about wasting it on a mediocre or even a bad movie? It could very well be your contribution to art/cinema by giving the director at least a second chance to make a better one.

So my verdict: Ignore all verdicts, go see some good, bad or ugly movies

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Notes from self: Now that you’ve read the post on critic-bashing, please direct all your brickbats at Ravi, my husband who has written this guest post. A humble request though, don’t disown me or my blog after this 😀

The last few weeks have been crazily hectic. I’m yet to reply to the comments in my previous post. Hope to have my blogging and blog-hopping resumed as soon as I have my schedule back in place. Have a wonderful week ahead 🙂