Decline ?

Well , yesterday as I drove along with the radio on, a question was posed to a good Kannada film director called Mohan. I have listed the GIST of what I heard.

Ofcourse, i have paraphrased the gist of what I heard :-)


Interviewer :-
Dont you think , the audience for Kannada movies is on the decline ?

Director :-
Yes of course.

Interviewer :-
Why dont we have great literary figures and poets , like we had Yesterday?Why dont we have Chi.UdayaShanker ?

Director :-
Look, nobody is born a great literary figure. They become great literary figures because of patronage. You give them encouragement, they'll do well.We know that there is a good market for Kannada movies. But the scriptwriters cater to the "audience" which PAY their money to actually GET UP and COME to the theatres.Your urban Kannada audience is lazy to come to a theatre and watch the movie.


I agree with the guy completely.Instead of bathing on past glories like Gejje Pooje or Masanada Hoovu, we gotta lend our time and extend patronage on a movie industry which kinda looks doomed .This may not be possible for people who are outside Bangalore or Karnataka.But people who are still here, can actually do that!

When I ask my cousins or friends (ofcourse , the ones who speak Kannada), to come for Kannada movies, their expression is :-
Thuu....Neeenu idakella hogtya ? Nange nodakke patience illa....

As far as reading books are concerned, I was never good in reading Kannada.I still take a lot of time to read one full sentence intact.So, I have kind of given up on that.But movies...I dont mind watching a Kannada movie with a black ticket.

Any audience wants movies which they can identify with.Right now , most of the movies we have is for the en machi audience. 18 year old punk rebel boys who are pissed off to attend their college (which is usually , not your elitist college).These 18year olds are usually the so-called "rural class". This was mentioned by the director also . And ofcourse, we have the cult movies for the autodriver audience. (A big percentage of autodrivers are Kannada speaking people)

So what happens to the "urban" Bangalore boy ? Ofcourse, the Bangalore boy who is brought up fully in the city, finds himself more comfortable watching movies which have a John Smith driving a Newyork Yellow Colored Taxi cab , than watch a movie which has ByreGowda riding a tractor carrying cowdung. I dont blame him either.They watch movies where the word "homicide...lieutenant" is used more than "kollay.....circle inspector".Dont you think so?

The movies which make money right now are Hodimaga, machchu, longu audience.....

But the TV scene in Karnataka is making BIG BUCKS.The urban Kannada audience and the uncles and aunties prefer to sit and watch TV teleserials. The teleserial "Mukta" is REALLY good. The director had organized a dialogue to discuss the future plot of the serial. He has been doing that everywhere in Karnataka.Just a few weeks ago, he organized a dialog in Mumbai.I mean, to draw a packed audience in Mumbai about discussing the future plot of a KANNADA teleserial is not a joke. And have a viewership of more than 30 lakh is not a joke.Kudos to him.

But it irks me when shitty somberi urban Kannada audience are glued to their seats and dont bother to watch any Kannada movies.

And to be very frank,I am doubtful that Kannada TV serials can build a "culture". Sitcoms in India have always remained an inferior step-cousin to movies and will continue to be like that for some time to come.

A Sitcom is like a wonderful Saaru anna/ Chapathi. You enjoy it for the moment, later it is forgotten. Because you eat it everyday.

But a movie is like an exotic dish you have someday. Which can actually make an impact.