Sunday, December 27, 2009

On Movie Turning points and endings

So a few thoughts on movies and significant turning points and on ending strongly.

The song Tum Se Hi in Jab We Met. Till this song , the movie is a run of the mill Boy meets Girl and falls in love without realising it movie. However the song is what sets up the rest of the movie convincingly. When you see the song , you believe that Shahid Kapur's character does really love Kareena Kapoors character. The lyrics of the song fit perfectly with the picturisation. It also shows Shahid's character is willing to sacrifice his chance of happiness for Kareena's, without ever declaring his love. Beautifully sung, uplifting, great lyrics. This is what makes the movie.
You can see Kismat Konnection attempting the same thing , but not succeeding.

One of the things Hindi movies don't ever get right are endings. Perhaps storytellers and directors don't think the audience is mature enough, they feel that the audience must be spoon fed, not are they able to create open ended movies.

In Rocket Singh, towards the end the movie should end with Rocket Singh walking away from the antagonist. The antagonist has stated that he has lost the battle , but the war has begun and he will meet Rocket in the battle field. Rocket walking away with the paper in his hand would be the indication that he will meet him there. There really is no need to show the organisation formed along with the supporting characters.

In Hum Tum towards the end Saif Ali Khan states he believes life is long enough and he will meet Rani Mukherjee. That should be the end. There is no need to show her waiting for him

Rang De Basanti has a Khoon Chala song where the various protagonists life changes - the movie could end there. The people whose life had no purpose get a purpose. The communal character sees the problem in supporting communal policies and goes to aid his foe. The movie could end there instead of the filmi ending.

None of the proposed endings are satisfying to people who like to see a definite conclusion. But here's the thing - the endings would make you think about the characters, about what next. And that should be one of the goals of entertainment.





No comments: