The song and dance over musicals

India woke up to the fantastic news that the much-loved ‘Naatu’ won an Oscar for Best Original Song. Once the initial euphoria back home dies down it is time to ponder over where we stand in the world order of cinematic abilities.

While this is not to take away the credit from ‘Naatu Naatu’s’ success, it is also necessary to see how increasingly our movies are perceived the world over. After all, we produce the highest number of movies in a year.

India’s quest for the Academy awards has never quite been satiated. In a way, it’s frustrating that we still haven’t shed our colonial mindset and look to the West or America for some sort of validation for our good work. For the last several decades we have been sending our movies to the Oscars, and very few times we have managed to hit the bull’s eye. It’s almost like begging for an Oscar every year.

This year too, ‘RRR’ was not India’s official entry to the Oscars. It entered the race independently and kudos to it for that. Gujarati movie ‘Last Picture Show’ was India’s official entry and it eventually missed out on a nomination at the 95th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. The only three Indian films to have been nominated for the Best Foreign Film category so far are ‘Mother India’, ‘Salaam Bombay’, and ‘Lagaan’, and all eventually lost.

Whenever an Indian movie misses hitting the target at the Oscar nominations, the most common refrain is that our movies are lengthy because of the songs and dances. And that’s a valid argument as most of the movies that are in the fray at international awards do not have songs. Musicals are quite a quintessential Indian phenomenon.

However, India today has successfully managed to turn its so-called shortcoming into its strength by going full throttle when it comes to music. Hence, ‘Naatu’ won a Golden Globe as well. Today, we are no longer apologetic about it and confident enough to celebrate it on a global stage. It indicates not only the new India but the rise of India’s soft power. Earlier, ‘Jai Ho’ too won an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 for the British movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

But one must keep in mind that movies are not just songs. They are much more than that. Essentially, it is the art and craft of story-telling that matters the most. While Rajamouli’s magnum opus ‘RRR’ did scoop at least the nominations at quite a few awards internationally, it got a royal snub at the BAFTA.

While we can continue to bask in the glory of an occasional Oscar, it is high time we took stock of our content. When it comes to the subjects we deal with, and direction, we are eons away from movies like ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’. Keep in mind that ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ bagged a nomination in both Best Picture and Best Foreign Picture categories among others. That’s something Indian filmmakers should aim for and not just songs. Our story-telling prowess needs to be top-notch and not just music. We need to up our content game which lacks originality, maturity, perspective, sense, and logic manifold. Today, not many sing or hum ‘Jai Ho’ daily. But everyone still talks about movies like ‘Titanic’.

Hence, filmmakers need to concentrate on the bigger picture and aim big.