Ever watched a film and thought, “Wait – why would someone do this?” This is not an argument defect – this is a continuous problem. You stop believing in the world on screen, and once the trust breaks, the film stumbles.
JigraOur case study for this fortnight opens with a quiet family moment: A father apologizes to his young daughter, then peacefully comes out of a balcony in front of her and her brother. This is a moment of Stark poetry, but it makes the audience straight out of the story. The question is not “Is it realistic?” But “Is this true for the world of the film?”
What is verification? Verisimilitude means “truth-like,” and it is all about internal stability, not the documentary realism. Cultural verification style aligns with conferences, cultural norms and expectations of the audience, while formal verification respects the rules that the film itself establishes. Verisimilitude helps us identify with characters without doubts. To rely on a hero for the audience, they should know who he really is – very quickly. Break these rules, and just stop taking care.
The correct examples include TruthWhich feels like Mumbai; MasuanWho catches the raw spirit in the eyes of a theft; AnimalWhich is completely committed to its toxic-alpha fantasy and never waves; As usual suspiciousWhich gives every clue, so the twist of keysar soja is defectively; And even Superman, whose a consolidated weakness – Cryptonite – keeps us in the world of impossible.
Case Study: ‘Jigra’
In world-building JigraThe first minute lets us leave with a host of questions. Why would a father kill himself in front of his children and scare them for life? How is truth competing with this trauma? Has he helped? Shouldn’t the story be detected by its broken psyche or after that? Or if this is not a story, why start with it?
The spontaneous transition between world-building and its passive relationship with the main conflict has defined verification: a carefully produced reality cloth that keeps the film together.
Nevertheless, none of these questions have been answered. Instead, we run with a Drackian drug laws and a sister-on-e-mission plot in a fictional nation, causing us to be trapped outside the story.
Recipe:
Seeding the “knife” comes from the ‘three uses of the knife’ of the David mammate, which borrows the metaphor of belly: “You take a knife, you use it to cut the bread, so you will have the strength to work; you will look good to shave it, so you will look good for your lover;
In Act 1, the knife is a functional everyday device. In Act 2, you improve with it, and it becomes versatile. In Act 3, it is exposed as a weapon.
If Satya has to become an agent of chaos, its change – call for adventure – should be given seeds quickly. Do we see him opposing it or refuse it? Where does his skill come from? From his ordinary life in Act 1, to improve the Act 2, to break into Act 3. Without that gradual “clown-graft” of change, it seems to deal with all-a-bang finale suddenly.
Realism is not the goal. Verisimilitude is. Tartino films are not true for life, but they are unbreakable. Manmohan Desai’s pulp fantasies embrace the comic-book logic from the first frame. Jigra Trys to be grounded, then jumps into disqualification – and that is why the audience is examined.
Screening Writing 101: Writing Exercise
For a quick writing exercise, a three-scenery draft draft arc where a character develops from passive to violent. In View 1, install emotional trigger. In View 2, show the important option. In Scene 3, hold the outbreak correct. Ask yourself whether the change seems both surprising and indispensable.
The next time you write a script, don’t ask “Is it realistic?” Ask, “Is it real for the real world?” Because once the audience stops believing, they stop taking care.
Published – 27 April, 2025 04:37 pm IST
