Filmmaker R. Balki delivers the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture at the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival in Kolkata, West Bengal on December 6, 2024. Photo Courtesy: Debashish Bhaduri
Like advertising heads and film directors Less sugar And PaR. Balki expressed his concern about the death of cinema while delivering the prestigious Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture at the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on Friday, December 7, 2024.
Mr Balki said the biggest threat to the existence of good cinema are mega blockbusters that rake in hundreds of crores of rupees at the box office because according to him, most of these films do not live up to expectations.
He said, “The audience has already come to the theater because of the marketing hype and the pat-down to get those people in. Then they go out after seeing a movie, but they don’t go out with more love for cinema.” ” Said.
Mr. Balki said, “There are four-five films which are making a lot of money but they do not make much sense in bringing people to the theatres, which is the purpose of cinema.”
Sri Balki is a National Film Award-winning Indian screenwriter and film producer, known for directing films such as Less sugar, Pa, of and of, padman, And others. He is also known as one of the leading advertising executives of the country.
“Cinema is in danger. Cinema is struggling to know how to survive, and so our dreams of making good films are also in danger,” Mr Balki said during his lecture at Sisir Manch, Kolkata. “I think [Satyajit] Ray was very, very lucky that he never had to think about it. During Ray’s time, cinema was not in danger like it is today,” he said in his lecture at KIFF on Friday.
He also gave an example of the Malayalam film industry, expressing concern that “the novelty of its storytelling will be stifled once it tastes Rs 600 crore at the box office”.
“Filmmakers and producers have tried to create a template that they think can guarantee a hundred crore box-office blockbuster. They think that’s what the audience wants. But if you give them a slightly more interesting film, the audience will just clap louder,” he said.
Mr Balki also highlighted that the public’s addiction to social media content such as Instagram Reels is also a major threat to the survival of the cinematic form and film watching culture.
“There is a surplus of content, but there is no surplus of good content. “It’s very difficult to find something great to watch,” Mr Balki said in his lecture. “Just as we are responsible for tackling climate change, shouldn’t we take responsibility for preserving the cinema environment?”
In his lecture, the filmmaker also outlined how artificial intelligence is set to take over the film industry and make the role of creative personnel almost obsolete. “Soon they won’t need us to make films. Most of the work we are doing in films can be easily done by AI,” Mr Balki said, quipping that ”soon we will have categories of films – man-made, and AI -made”.
published – December 07, 2024 07:32 PM IST
