2. Fights/Action Sequences
Sure, many people would squabble that the fights movies made so far are good, and actually good to watch. They’d also state that all the action is there to make a movie more exhilarating.
Okay, I agree that they do make the audience tense. Since that point has been proven a long time ago, let me help you with the first statement. According to directors (they did not actually tell me, I learned and observed this with my older brother), the ingredients needed to create a perfect action scene is:
- The Hero
- Henchmen
- Weapons
- Melee And Mechanical Combat
- Windows
- Lots of Dust
These are just some of all the ingredients, but I’ll explain the ones I mentioned. In a typical Indian action flick, the hero fights some of the villain’s henchmen for a few different reasons. Next during the fight, there tends to be a shot where one of the henchmen falls to the ground in such an impact, dust flies everywhere. In that same force, some could be thrown into windows.
The reason why I say this is a disadvantage is because of two things. The “action scenes” have been cliched for almost 50 years by now, and that it could lead to loss of a fight that can actually occur. The many failed attempts of the second part made up what is known as “movie logic”. Movie logic is what I define as “The Excuse From The Industry When Inquiring About the Potential Sense of Physics In A Celluloid.” Along with annoying stunts far from reality, movie logic also covers up small things in a movie.
A big example of movie logic which I don’t need to explain is the 2021 Hindi film Radhe. A smaller example is the 2013 Chennai Express. In the original script, the heroine can speak Hindi fluently, but in a Tamilian accent. The funny thing is that she sings in extremely perfect Hindi, which puzzles me on how it’s even possible to lose an accent that fast.
But that’s not the only flunk the movie has.
All in all, no matter how good and how powerful the fight sequences are, nothing will change if they don’t really think about using elements of reality.
3. The Musical Numbers
If you went up and asked the majority of the Hindi people in Mumbai “What’s your favorite part about DDLJ?” (for those of you who don’t know, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge a.k.a DDLJ is a 1995 Hindi film directed by Aditya Chopra, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. It’s considered by many to be one of the greatest Bollywood romances ever to be made), many would reply saying that the music was good. The reason why was due to 3 things. First, every song fits the perfect tone of the scene. Second, the music is original. Last, the singers had performed a phenomenal job at producing the vocals needed. If this combination is put together, it will produce a cine that succeeds in letting the audience enjoy, and at the same time tap their feet to the rhythm. However, if one of the needed parts is underused, it can stir up a bad reputation for the movie.
If the music composers do not really fit a song into the scene, it can lead to some really disorienting shots. I once saw this in a movie I can’t remember; a scene featured the hero and heroine sagging around about their broken relationship. Y’know, the usual stuff. When I expected some gloomy beats in the montage, I instead was confused by hearing uplifting music about how good it feels to leave something you can’t commit to.
I was gravely perplexed, for the characters were sad about leaving the relationship, so it shows that they loved each other deeply. But then, the music states that it was false love and that they were dysfunctional. A lack in connection between the melody and actual footage can cause backlash, trolling, and eventually a murky repute.
I have to spill the beans. Nothing is original now.
Since the 2000s, I started to observe a lot of similarities between Indian music and other types. I originally thought it was a coincidence, but when I started listening to the originals, I found out it was just plain copying. Basically nothing other than the lyrics (and slight amount of instruments) changed. In order to state this, I will need to use a few popular and not so popular flicks as an example.
If you watched the Telugu cine Aadi, you’d know one of the popular songs in there is Chiki Chiki Bum Bum. Most of you might not have known that Mani Sharma copied the beat from Simarik, a Turkish song by the musician Tarkan. Literally, both have the exact same BGM, BPM, and almost the lyrics are the same. And it’s not surprising, ‘cause you should see what S.S Thaman does with his instruments.
Heck, the guy copies about everything he hears, no matter what language it is. If you don’t believe me and say “Shut up man, he’s an authentic real musician who creates original beats that sound good.” Okay, he did have some original songs, but I wouldn’t say he’s an authentic one.
In order to prove that, I can just refer back to the song “Pilla Ciao” from Businessman, which is one of the most criticized copycat songs in Telugu. This is a knockoff of the famous song “Bella Ciao”, and the whole thing is almost the same. It didn’t really sink in, for it sounded like he was telling the girl to die in Telugu instead of saying hello in Italian.
To be concluded in Part III…