I had never read reviews beyond those in three to four editions of Mumbai newspapers. I thought that was it. But on the internet there are literally hundreds of reviews. When I went through them, I was amazed by the sheer diversity of
viewpoints, positive and negative. Many of them are much more intelligently written than the reviews by so-called ‘names’ attached to top-circulated newspapers.
Every individual has a mind and an opinion. In fact, this is the most beautiful part of life: each one of us creates a world of his own. When we seriously listen to another person, it’s like visiting another world. When I read a nasty or a glowing review for one of my films, I am struck by how differently my intentions have been perceived.
Friedrich Nietzsche had said, “There are no facts only interpretations.” This is specially true of cinema.
In all my good, bad and ugly films I keep getting stumped when people tell me the reasons why they liked something and why they didn’t. I had seen Govind Nihalani’s Ardh Satya seven times over. When I met him years later, I was shocked to realise that he made the film to explore the father-son relationship played by Amrish Puri and Om Puri. But I had liked it for the character of Rama Shetty and for the graphic depiction of what happens inside a police station. I didn’t have the heart to tell Mr Nihalani that I would always fast-forward the father-son scenes. Yet many others must have liked the film purely for the reasons that the filmmaker had intended.
Coming back to the point of opinions, thanks to the net anyone can access anyone’s take on a film across the globe. What more could a filmmaker ask for? At least, I get a multiplicity of opinions. This doesn’t help to arrive at any finite conclusions though, I don’t know what exactly has worked or failed in any of my films.
I am often asked whether I know what the audience wants. In that context, let me tell you of my visit to a DVD library near my house. I was browsing through the titles for 20 minutes while various customers were picking up DVDs. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why they should want to waste their time on those movies. If my disconnect with the taste of the people who live down the same road as me was so obvious, how can I know what kind of films the rest of the audience wants?
Cinema is like shopping. You go to a clothes store, you might not like many of the shirts but you may find one that you like. The others which don’t interest you at all, are bought by other customers. So the manufacturer (the filmmaker) and the consumer (the audience), the one-to-one interaction is the only truth. Everything else is a matter of commerce.