One Item Less (2/3) : The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal
Role of songs in a film’s success and a filmmaker talking about his film losing out to an item song and marketing.
Part One here.

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But Sanjay feels that though an item number does not define a film, “there is at least a chance that more people will go to theatres. Because of the item song and any marketing ploy, the film is not going to lose out on audience”.

This logic, however, does not justify why the film ‘Summer 2007’, directed by Suhail Tatari, lost out on success. The film dealt with farmer suicides but it was touted as a romantic college tale. Instead of the problem “that 70 percent of India has been facing forever”, as Suhail describes, the item song was given more prominence by the producers and newspaper headlines claimed that the film will ‘redefine item numbers’.

Suhail is sure that the item number and some other songs in the film were a hindrance to its success. “They made the screenplay look long and awry”.

Summer 2007: The film dealt with farmer suicides but it was touted as a romantic college tale… the item song was given more prominence by the producers and newspaper headlines claimed that the film will ‘redefine item numbers’.

Suhail believes that his film lost out due to “improper marketing”. He particularly opposes the usage of songs in trailers to promote a film.

“A film can work wonders without any song. How many songs were there in ‘A Wednesday’ or ‘Aamir’? ‘A Wednesday’ was carried to success by two old men”.

Although Suhail had agreed to the inclusion of the item song, he now feels that it added nothing to the film that showed farmers dying due to hunger and debts.

His experience has wisened him to the marketing aspects of a film. “Marketing is not about gimmicks. It should involve telling the people what the film is about. In India we hide the story behind the songs”.

While talking about his film’s marketing blunder he says, “The producers decided to not show or mention the village—which was central to the film— in the promotional campaigns. Only the trailers shown in theatres hinted that the protagonists go to a village and find something very amiss. Otherwise, people didn’t know what the film was about”.

Suhail says that he knows the reason why the issue was hidden from the people. “The producers thought that it was a financial risk to show a village to the city audience” and “we have an apathy to what is not ours”.

Like Suhail, Aatish has grievances with some of the songs in ‘Aankhen’.

Although the film was a big success, Aatish feels that “some of the songs hampered the storytelling and distracted the audience from the plot”.

Aankhen was an adaptation of Aatish’s popular Gujarati play Aandalo Paato (Blind Man’s Bluff). There were no songs in the play but Aatish had agreed for songs in the film to cater to commercial requirements of the producers. On his part he had wanted that the film doesn’t slack due to their placement.

Aankhen: Aankhen was an adaptation of Aatish’s popular Gujarati play Aandalo Paato (Blind Man’s Bluff). There were no songs in the play but Aatish had agreed for songs in the film… Although the film was a big success, Aatish feels that “some of the songs hampered the storytelling and distracted the audience from the plot”.

Despite the experience, Aatish doesn’t mind if songs are not integral to a film’s plot. “They must be ‘catchy’ and should not come in the way of the pace of the film”.

Aatish is assured that more than the songs it is the film’s content that brings success. However, he also feels that it is difficult to determine what the Indian audience really want.

He illustrates; “People who liked Aankhen and Waqt (another play adaptation) also liked some other styles of films. If I make a Venn diagram of the trend, then I will discover that the number of people who like two opposite styles of filmmaking is very large. The number of people who like only a particular style of filmmaking is very less.”

Written first for DNA

In Part 3: A theatre director adapting his popular play for the screen. Will he go for songs and item numbers?

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