Idiot Fodder

Yesterday I read this column by Jitesh Pillai in Flimfare in which he suggests that Aditya Chopra hand over the creative aspects of Yash Raj Films to his father since "film making is not marketing"and since Pillai wants more movies like Dharmaputra, Silsila, Deewar etc.

Pillai misses the intensity and the poetry and things like that of the past Yash Raj Films.

Jitesh also sounds like an idiot for writing a column without analyzing Aditya Chopra's trailblazing role in redefining YRF and Indian cinema in general. And his editor for allowing that column to be printed shows the moribund, irrelevant to modern India face of TOI - in the world of digg.com and blogs investigative reporting based on real analyses is pretty much required to remain alive.

Saathiya, Dhooom, Neal n' Nikki, Bunty aur Bubli, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - all pushed the envelope farther and reinvented the genre - without lecherous villians, evil mothers-in-law, ever suffering daughters-in-law - and showed India as an modern, fun, intelligent nation.

The current YRF talent pool is brimming with Gulzar, Shaad Ali, Siddharth Anand, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and contains probably the brightest of Bollywood talent.

Aditya Chopra is a visionary film maker and business man - as investment bankers and investors will attest. And along with Kishore Biyani he is the leading edge of Indian creative excellence.

Compared to other film studios and film families YRF stands as far apart as does Big Bazaar from the neighborhood "baniya".

Obviously Pillai and his editors are no part of the intelligent, forward thinking, outward looking, new India. His India is made of tear jerkers and melodramas and basically lives in a world that the world has said goodbye to.

This is the world of the individual, and a strong individual. Aditya Chopra's films are made for that individual - Salaam Namaste is a film of today, not Silsila. And in the real world of Web 2.0 of working adults not stifled by the hypocrisy of Indian conservatism who gives a fuck to an illegitimate kid? It's time to look at bigger more important things, and also films are nice if they are fun - movies like Dhoom, which Pillai doesn't like.

News is responsible business based on responsible analysis. In case of this article there was nothing responsible, just emotional, biased tirade, unless Filmfare last page is an opinion page written by a writer with poor writing and research skills.

Hint: Read Anthony Lane's movie reviews in the New Yorker