Entertainment or Knowledge

"It is so simple to be difficult but so difficult to be simple"

A small line from the film "Bawarchi” might have been heard by so many, but has anyone thought the importance of this line... The line is so bold and so strong that it might have changed our life, if implemented. I saw the film yesterday and was thinking, how many times we just go to watch a movie and forget it. Is the film industry mad to just produce so many films a year and we forget them. Hardly anyone of us can answer...

Films are made to entertain us. Population gets bored with the routine and just wants to go and watch a movie. Or some want to just look at the big film stars and imagine themselves as a part of the scene. Yes the basic reason for the film is to entertain, help them elope the harsh reality and open their imaginary world, where everything is possible. Yes indeed it is.

But is this the only reason for making a film? Films are mirror of the society. They show us the reality, of course with added entertainment. Or else who will watch the movies. Without entertainment or the promise to fulfill the aspiration for at least 3 hours, no person will ever enter a theatre. They depict the real face of society. Imagine a film like Agneepath or Namak Halal. Or even take a film like Deewar or Sholay. They were the hits of their time and denoted whatever happened during those times. I took all the films which had action in them. So if I name the films like Aradhana or Guddi or Anand or Khamoshi, even without action or fight scenes, these films were big hits of 60s and 70s.

They were near to the reality with some basic entertainment. But all these films also had some issues and solutions in them. The same was in the film Bawarchi which I saw yesterday. So had anyone of our parents went home and thought about it? Accepted! The time or generation was different and the cultural aspects were different. And the fact that society was not much open. But then let us consider ourselves. Even though the society is more open and more Westernized, according to us and we are more Modern. Have we changed? Do we watch movies for knowledge or is it even today just for entertainment? Some population might go for knowledge but majority of us go to watch the films just for entertainment. But films are not just entertainment. They have many things which we can learn and implement in our life.

I agree that entertainment is ultimately what we need. But if with entertainment we get some knowledge, nothing would be better to the society than this. Even I watched movies with entertainment viewpoint, but slowly I am changing myself and can promise that when we watch movie with slight different viewpoint of getting some knowledge as well, it is more entertaining.

Imagine a film like Munna Bhai MBBS without the humor created between Munna and Circuit. Will that film work? Hardly in my opinion. A Film like 3 Idiots also had the entertainment factor and this was one of the big reasons for their bumper success. But apart from the entertainment factor these films were educative. They had a fact kindled with the relevant reasoning and a solution to it. It made the mass think that “yes it can be done” or “it is necessary”.

Today obviously the film makers have understood the change in the society and are making films which are more educative and issues-oriented. But it is not the responsibility of Film makers only. We are also equally responsible for the film making. We are the one to decide which kind of movies should be seen and produced frequently. But only the films cannot help changing things. We need to change. It is necessary that when we go home after watching such movies, we do some thinking on it. We need to come up with solutions, discuss the issues and only then the films can be considered as a success. Not because of the money they made but because of the revolution they created…