Just as we have carpetbaggers in politics, we have dream merchants in film world. If films are intended primarily to entertain, they are also used for documentaries and education. If they are meant for entertainment, then we must have a nice feeling when we leave the theatre, no matter if the story is tragic or comic or a cross between the two.

Sometimes, it is also a good medium to temporarily escape from boredom or drudgery. For that matter, any performing art enables the viewer to derive vicarious pleasure from the proceedings on the screen or the stage.

Yesterday being a holiday, I found myself at a loose end. After tackling the newspapers, I ventured to turn on the TV. It was our former Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha's channel Kasturi. The film was produced by Rockline Venkatesh. I do not know the title but I held on to the film because of Vishnuvardhan.

It was a simple story of a father with two sons and a daughter. He is a man of integrity and very honest. He is also committed to helping those who are genuinely in need of help. Daughter is married to a lazy, greedy person. It shows how useless children sponge on their father and urge him to become corrupt to meet their financial needs at the instance of their brother – in - law. The father finally becomes a sentimental fool and yields to their pressure, as happens because of wife's bucketful of tears. There is a lesson for grown up children who depend on their parents for money, including the sons – in - law.

The other film was Om Shanti Om, which I saw on the silver screen. It is a much hyped movie of Shah Rukh Khan. According to reports the movie's budget was Rs. 25 crore, marketing budget Rs. 5 crore of which much must have gone to the TV news channels.

In fact that was one of the reasons I decided to go to the theatre. These are the days where packaging is more important than the product. Om Shanti Om is the latest example.

Much was made about Shah Rukh Khan's six – pack - abs, whatever it means. Since it was a Unique Selling Proposition (USP), apart from the leading lady Deepika Padukone, I was keen on seeing his bare - body.

Is it all? I thought it would be all muscle and no fat. Not quite. I think it is very difficult to hide one's age no matter what one does, including a Botox jab on face, even with cinema people.

Deepika Padukone, no doubt brings freshness simply because she is new, though an accomplished model. The first impression I got was that of a Barbie doll. She looked too artificial. Beautiful no doubt, height being an advantage, but whatever happened to expressions on her face? Apart from lips, our eyes also speak their own language and this speech could be more eloquent than those uttered from the lips. Sensuality should spring from the eyes in myriad mystique ways, which was missing from Deepika. She appeared rather stiff and taut all the time except in one dance sequence. And the storyline? Yes, it will be a question mark all the time, what with a theme as old as Adam, of rebirth, revenge, ha, ha.

The only sequence of the movie I liked was when all the oldies of the Bollywood joined Khan and Deepika in a riotous group dance that bordered on hysteria to an ear - splitting loudest music I have ever heard. Indeed it is a frivolous movie produced at great cost. Even frivolous movies cost so much to produce! I remembered Sarojini Naidu commenting on Mahatma Gandhi's simple life of a poor man. She said, “it costs lots of money to keep Bapu poor”.

Finally I would like to draw the attention of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards to the noise pollution these films are producing inside the theatre where the spectator is a captive victim of the incessant sound blasts. This is Diwali season and newspapers and TV channels carried messages and warnings about the hazards of fire crackers, which cause both sound pollution and environmental pollution because of the toxic smoke. But when compared to the sound pollution I suffered inside the theatre, the sound pollution caused by Diwali crackers was just an apology with a mere zero decibel. A wasted holiday.

K. B. Ganapathy
Editor in Chief
Star of Mysore
Mysore

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