Formula for a Successful Movie

If you are a film-maker and you have reached this blog with the hope of getting the magic potion that will help you in delivering the next block buster, let me tell you that you will find nothing of that sort in this article. 

Calm down. Now don’t curse me if my first paragraph has left you disappointed Mr. Film Maker. Because what I will offer in this blog is a view from a common man who loves his movies and the experience that they deliver. And who knows…maybe that is what you are seeking!

Over the last few years, there have been a number of films that have filled the coffers of the producers as they turned out to be super hits. Each one had its own story, script, acting, music and other reasons for success. I do not want to delve into that. 

The thought for this blog struck me after I saw the movie Queen – the latest hit from Kangana Ranaut. Here was a movie that everyone was raving about, people were urging others to go and see it, and the movie was picking momentum week after week through word of mouth. 

After watching this movie, while I was still trying to play in my mind the various scenes and the reason for its success, a pattern emerged in front of me. Two more movie names popped in my head – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Dil Chahta Hai. I could see a common thread between the three movies. 

Think for a moment about these three movies. Does any common thread strike you as well?

Yes, the common theme for all three movies was ‘Escape’. Escape from the mundane life, escape from a crisis situation, escape from your own feelings. 

Queen had Kangana travelling to Europe to escape and get her head out from the messy situation that she had gotten into because of her wedding being called off. 

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had the three actors escape from their regular life and jobs to an exotic holiday to experience something new. 

Dil Chahta Hai had three escape situations. The first escape happens when the three friends decide to escape from boredom by going ahead for a holiday to Goa. The second escape happens when Aamir Khan leaves for Australia after a tiff with his friends. The third escape takes place when Aamir comes back to India to escape from the thoughts of Preity Zinta. 

Of course, just taking ‘Escape’ as a theme is no sure shot way to make a film work and nor was that the case in these three movies either. A powerful script, screenplay, acting and flow were crucial to the success of all three of them. 

But the key point that I want to make here is that the audiences lapped up these movies and came to see it again and again. This is where ‘Escape’ starts playing a key role. Human beings love to get out of the rut and experience something new, travel, see a new place, try a new activity - something which they always want to do or would love to do but circumstances, time or money does not allow them to do it as often as they would love to. 

These three movies allowed them to experience that ‘Moment of Escape’ that they crave for. Those three hours in a movie hall made people travel along with the lead actors. And when a movie makes you travel and become a part of journey, it touches a chord deep inside, it moves people and what people experience at the end of a movie is pure enjoyment. They want their friends and families to experience this emotion as well and that is why they recommend others to go for such a movie. 

I am not sure whether you agree or disagree, but to me this came out as a strong and common theme across these three movies.

Ranbir Kapoor – The True Rockstar!

Everything that I had blogged earlier remains the same. The only difference is that one can add Barfi to his list  of performances, where he delivers.

This is what I had blogged when Rockstar had released...

5.00 pm on a Sunday outside a multiplex in Delhi and I see the board of Housefull. I am there to buy tickets for the 6.30 pm show but I am told that the 6.30 pm show is also Housefull and hence I end up buying tickets for the late night show for Rockstar.

While heading back home, I was thinking about the career of Ranbir Kapoor so far in the Hindi film industry and following films and their fate come to my mind in the same order:

1.   Debut film: Saawariya: Super Flop
2.   Raajneeti : Super Hit
3.   Bachna Ae Haseeno: Average
4.   Wake up Sid: Hit
5.    Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year: More than Average
6.    Anjaana Anjaani: Average
7.    Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahaani: Hit

I could not recollect any other movies of Ranbir, though I feel that there are 2 – 3 more films in which he has appeared.

What was also surprising me was that I had seen all of the above movies of his (yeah yeah including Saawariya but thankfully at home and on a DVD!) I had done this without any plan of watching each and every movie of his and had never even thought about it till yesterday and there I was, once again buying tickets for another one of his movies.

I gave this a little more thought. This guy has not delivered a hit after hit. This guy does not have the biceps like Salman Khan or the intellect of Aamir Khan or the wits of Shah Rukh Khan. When I saw Ranbir on screen for the first time, I did not rate his looks too highly and I had my doubts about his stay in the industry.  In fact, this guy gave us one of the most boring movies and a super duper flop in the form of Saawariya, which could have meant doom for him and a complete good-bye to his career but yet there are people like me who have come to see one more of his film.

I tried to analyze a bit more about this phenomenon called Ranbir Kapoor. Here is a guy who is not on any of the social networking sites the way other celebs are. He does not come and talk about his movie on each and every channel nor does he kill with a marketing overdose. This is a guy who likes to do limited work and let his work do the talking. He does endorsements where also he plays different roles.

Coming from the illustrious Kapoor family, Ranbir has got things easier, without any struggle. As lot of people would like to say, he was born with a silver spoon and that would make lot of people jealous of him and his achievements. But I must admit that I have never ever read jokes or pot shots directed at Ranbir (other than his romantic life) on any of the social medium the way people rip apart Abhishek Bachchan or Udit Chopra or even Shah Rukh Khan.

What has worked for Ranbir is the kind of roles that he has played and the realism that he has brought to those characters. The role that Ranbir played in Wake Up Sid allowed lot of youngsters to relate to him. Similarly, his role in Rocket Singh as a Surd was as realistic as it could get. The role of a shrewd politician with shades of grey in Raajneet further showed his caliber and versatility and also made people compare him to Rahul Gandhi.

With the aim of digging deeper into the success of Ranbir Kapoor, I left my thoughts at that point and headed to watch Rockstar. Once again Ranbir proves his mettle in the movie and does complete justice to his role of Janardhan Jhakar aka Jordan. Ranbir has got powerful and emotive eyes which allow him to straddle from the role of an innocent boy to a romantic lover to an angry man to a drunkard to a spaced out rockstar in a span of a single film. It would not be wrong to say that the entire movie is carried on the shoulders of Ranbir Kapoor and whatever success the film garners would be due to the performance that Ranbir gives in the film.

Ranbir Kapoor actually has the versatility of Raj Kapoor, the spunk of Shammi Kapoor, the charm of Rishi Kapoor and the eyes of Neetu Kapoor. With all of this, he has amazing confidence and absolutely no inhibitions of letting go completely towards his passion. All of this makes him a complete Rockstar and I think now Ranbir has made a permanent mark in the film industry with a stamp that says ‘Jeena Yahaan, Marna Yaahan, Iske Siva Jaana Kahaan’.