In the times of recession, where do dreams lie? The debate ranges on dreams that come with a risk. Whether to continue doing something that gives one a secure paycheck at the end of the month or to break away and explore the roads less travelled? With attrition rates at an all time low, the wise hold on to their jobs and put their dreams in the highest cupboard of their storage room. And with the passage of time, they forget the cupboard, and they forget the dreams.
What comprises life? Are we born to merely fit in the jigsaw puzzle of society, tweak ourselves so that we fit in, so that we are not thrown out as someone who doesn’t complete the picture? And what if we start to paint a new picture, start building a new kind of world, and bring in some changes un-thought of before.
Everyone is born with a vocation in life…but rare people are born with a dream, and even smaller is the number of people who realize what their destiny is. People who strive against all odds, because they believe in themselves and believe in the power of one; people who stand up to make a difference; they are our heroes, the real ones.
I have a partiality towards people who have the gift of creativity. And I don’t believe that creativity is only there in poets or artists but I strongly believe that scientists are the most creative people of all. How would you otherwise explain how Newton discovered gravity? Creativity is the ability to think, to ideate, and then translate that idea; simplify it for the common man to understand. That is the beauty of a genius, he makes things simple.
That’s what films are supposed to do. Present an idea in a simple way, through characters people identify with. Films can be used as a very strong medium to influence public opinion; to bring in revolution; to charge people to get up and do something constructive. But alas, this most powerful means of communication has landed up in incapable hands.
The movies released and considered box office hits have been a severe letdown. Can presentation replace the utility of good matter? Going by the way the films we see, one is bound to believe it does. All that gloss, and huge budgets and stars that charge a bomb and the outcome is so lame there are no two lines to be written in a review.
And where are our critics? It seems even the reviews are bought, how can otherwise lame films like Woodstock Villa get a 3and half star rating? It’s all going wrong, and something needs to be done, and done fast before people start accepting anything given to them; before they completely lose the discerning quality and take in mediocre as good.
I guess I need to accelerate. One effort can make all the difference; at least it will start to.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” –Mahatma Gandhi
