The Good and the Bad......Film

Do we have the right to personally categorise mass entertainment? Let me put it in another way, can I label a film as good or bad? The question came up during a conversation about a truly (in my opinion) horrendous movie. The other participant in the conversation protested, like a Kejriwal camp-mate, against my views. His point was that several people he knew were singing its praises so I had no right to vehemently criticise it.

That would probably mean that there is no such thing as a good film or a bad one and everything should be judged on the box-office performance. Well, all I would like to add to that is that it’s easy to realise how ridiculous this method is even before the film Cocktail crops up in your mind. No I don’t believe that if it is successful it’s got to be great. So what was the guy trying to imply, that I had no right to label?

Now come on, the fact is opinions differ but it’s not a crime to have a point of view and a perception. We are afterall a product of our environment n experiences and some experiences just don’t excite me, and I make up my mind even before I have experienced them (the thrill of a psychopathic murder or watching Ram Gopal Verma ki AAG come to mind).

 I know life, cinema and art are all unpredictable and have a different effect on everybody. But my opinion, or anybody else’s for that matter, is more about themselves. I know what I want most times and like most of us I know what I don’t want better and that for all of us constitutes as good or bad. Yes, I do believe it is important at times to keep an open mind, especially when you are attending a photography exhibit, which here I would only like to term as ‘artistic’ (let your imagination run wild). it’s just that it’s not ok if your mind is so open that your brains fall out, and you get swindled with cheap trash!!