The Finer Human Elements With Contemporary Indian Cinema — A Case in Point!

I am tremendously thrilled that the Indian film industry is morphing to provide a creative perspective on life subjects. I saw that streak in a few movies in 2014 and one that notably comes to mind and with which I really connected was Queen. It might be easy for us to watch a movie and spew a few comments over wine or coffee. But making these pieces require effort, courage, practice and insight.

Effort because a script of this dimension is not easy to draft. Ideation is one thing but to put it on paper, scene by scene for the actors and the rest of the ecosystem to assimilate and understand is a herculean task. Courage because it is an offbeat subject and might not appeal to a larger audience who bring in the box office buzz. Practice because there might be a one hit movie director but to do it consistently, you would have to fail with a few subjects without letting go.

The key factor which contributes to such great work of art according to me is creative insight. A deeper knowledge of the subject which emerges from primary and/or secondary experiences. Sometimes it is just a streak which needs to be followed through. And sometimes, it might be because you've been around the block and seen a lot, heard a lot and talked with people a lot. It could also be an impactful personal experience which the artist wants to showcase. No matter what, this is the genesis of excellence.

PK was a great case in point. The approach to show how convoluted our religious system has become through the eyes of an alien. And, the ability to demonstrate all the confusing elements and mixed messages from a "non-earthy" perspective made it stick. The FUD(Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) created by religious bigots from providing 'an interpretation' of life events and labeling them according to their convenience was articulated very impressively.

The movie was inspiring at several levels. At the highest level, the message of a higher force governing the earth and galaxy while we being 'blips' trying to figure out situations and providing our own connotations left a deep impact. Second, it was about the depiction of the fallacies of human evolution. On one side, while India prides itself in the rhymes of unity in diversity.

It is these diversities that our driving the disintegration — through misinterpretation of religions and religious isms, nucleus states, conversions and so on. Evolution of humanity is critical to progress of civilization but only if the 'intelligent being' understands what evolution means — otherwise there's an emergence of 'interpretations' of evolution which in effect might result in regression or devolution for a lack of a better word.

Great effort by Director — Raj Kumar Hirani.