What is good, really?

At the dawn of the New Year, an exasperated journo screeched, “People say the film is bilkul bakwas but they still go to see it. I don’t understand this.”

She never will, neither will anyone else. The deterioration — or the changing face — of popular cinema, is beyond human comprehension.

Deteriorating did I say? Yup. The big ticket today is a big star, a holiday week premiere, publicity bombardment on the channels, the print medium, street-side hoardings, bus backs and websites. And bingo, there’s that roar of Rs 100-plus crore. To keep in sync with the exasperated journo’s plaint, I’ve avoided seeing the widely pilloried 'Dhoom 3', but the will power is weakening.

Really, I have to check out whether all the derisive laughter about the content of 'Dhoom 3', is warranted. A frontline technician was chuckling about one of its “highlights”. Someone asks, “So, who do you think robbed the bank?” Immediately comes the reply, “A thief!” Wow some deductive logic that. And right there in windy Chicago, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra seem to be the only hopes for the US law force? Hush, no need for such irrelevant questions please.

Now, the mega-bucks earned by 'Chennai Express', too, were also a brain-boggler. Kids loved it, the nation broke into lungi dances and Shah Rukh Khan bashed up more goons than all the creepoids in his earlier films put together. And if Rohit Shetty’s direction couldn’t be accused of finesse, never mind. It made huge money. And what the public likes must surely possess some merit. Ditto 'Krrish 3'.

Reviews — and there are so many of them — vary from star-studded raves to pure rants. That’s the way it is and should be. Why should there be agreement among peers? The more varied, the better. And so whenever I’m quizzed, “Mr X said this, so why didn’t Miss Y?” I use the stoic rebuttal, “But a review isn’t a consumer guidance report. It’s a viewpoint, take it or leave it.” The rebuttal never works, though. It’s taken with a cellarful of salt, or the vague conclusion, “True but still…”

Of late, remakes and sequels have become as common as the number of BMWs in Bollywood. Moreover, after those halcyon Padmalaya, AVM, Gemini, D. Rama Naidu and Dasari Narayan Rao days has been a return to sourcing material from Telugu and Tamil films, kicking off with Salman Khan’s 'Wanted' and Aamir Khan’s 'Ghajini' right down to the former’s upcoming 'Jai Ho'. Superstars Rajinikanth and Chiranjeevi, albeit with an extra muscular edge, are the role models. Cool.

Hence Salman Khan’s shirt strip tease has become more vital than cinematic quality. SRK must be the variety entertainer, in the manner of Amitabh Bachchan in his vintage days. And Aamir Khan can be expected to raise the bar a bit, but he’s human too, going the cliched 'Action Jackson' way with 'Ghajini' and 'Dhoom 3'. Their producers guffawed all the way to the bank, so shut up about how good or bad they were.

Indeed, films which rank bad in quality become “good” once they reach the blockbuster league. That has happened often enough: 'Biwi No. 1', 'Raaz' and 'Rowdy Rathore', to cite random examples. So why huff? It could be the music score, loony comedy, sex appeal, publicity strategy, timing of the release and of course, star power — any quotient can click majorly. It just needs one flame to ignite a blockbuster.

So forget the journo’s screech. Just accept the fact that “bakwas” isn’t necessarily a bad word.