It is often said that a movie is a
reflection of the society. The narrative of a movie normally reflects
the society’s beliefs, thoughts and practices. Thus the
storyteller picks up something from the society and weaves it into a story, the
limiting factors being the narrator’s skills and imagination. Each piece of the
story, its characters and narrative along with all that is integral to it is picked up from the society. This helps every person at the movie hall,
generally relate all characters to someone he or she knows. Those movies set in
planes alien to the society were either science fiction movies or horror movies.
But normally all movies told stories that were set in contemporary society and
could easily be related to.
Movies are great catalysts for
change. Trivial or worthy, films played a major role in shaping the opinion of
the society. There are films that espoused nationalism and patriotism. There
were movies that espoused faith to overcome great challenges and there were films
that espoused values and virtues. For the
youth movies were trendsetters for fashion. For example, hairstyle of the hero,
the styles of diction, the way actors dress up are just few things that
youngsters copy from the movie. Movies also told the youth the manner in which
a situation is reacted to and whether it is acceptable or not. That is why,
there is a school of thought, that cautions storytellers on the method of
telling the story. Exaggerating a piece of action, the way the hero reacts to a
situation or the general manner in which morality and such other virtues are
depicted in the movie often tend to guide or misguide youth. If the popular
hero doesn’t mind taking law into his hands to achieve the goal, or the popular
heroin doesn’t mind breaking social taboo, the youth generally
accepts it as a message. The extend of violence that has come to roost in our
society to a large measure can be attributed to the current jaunre of movies and
the way stories are told in these.
I’m not one to say that they should be no
violence in the movie, I’m not the one to say that there should be no breaking
of taboos, but I certainly feel that the director has the moral responsibility
to remain within the acceptable frames or boundaries rather than eulogising
extreme violence or waywardness. As I came out from the movie hall today after
seeing a movie, that from the beginning to the end was filled with mindless
violence, I was left wondering what we’re up to and the manner in which society
is accepting stories. What shocked me most was not the movie but the review
about it in the print and electronic media.
I went to the movie, because
someone had told me that the movie was a highly rated one and that the entire
cast consisted of newcomers. I was told that everything about the movie was new
and path breaking. At the movie, I was left disheartened and shaken. I wanted
to leave the movie hall much before half-time but was held back because even if i wanted i couldn't leave as I could
not take my car out from the parking. The movie was about a few youngsters in
their village in Kerala trying out their hand in doing everything wrong and
showing no remorse in attempting violence at the first possible instance. This
was not the Kerala I had grown up in, it was not the Kerala that I had dreamt
of.
If this is the real Kerala now, then it cannot be called God’s on land.
Mindless violence and detached silence that sanctions and accepts such fury are initial signs of social decay. The picture gives a glimpse of
what would happen to this beautiful state if things are not set right. The loud
music accompanying the drunken brawls and shouts, the manner in which life is
auctioned, a scheming lawyer and a supportive policeman who assist the plot to
move ahead, send shivers down my spine. If the movie has to be believed, it’s
all about eating drinking and killing all willingly and painlessly sanctioned
by the society. Oh my God, what’s
happened to God’s own land?
I’m neither a racist nor against
female liberation. I have nothing against a girl having a drink. I have nothing
against girls having a good time, but the sight of the lead female actor snaking
her way home after a party did pain me somehow. Please do not mistake me. I’m
not in the business of moral policing. I’m not one who is here to prescribe, how a
man or woman must behave. I’m not here to set norms and guidelines. I just felt
bad seeing a beautiful girl walking drunk. You can’t grudge me that.
What scared me more was the
response of the few youths who were in the movie hall. The comments they passed
after the movie shocked me. “Adi Poli” in their words, in other words superb.
If mindless violence, killing, drunken brawls and meaningless lives were
superb, my God where are we headed to?
