Mediocrity Rules

There we go again! The announcement of Indian's official entry to the Oscars has got people taking potshots at each other. Eklavya-The Royal Guard is the official Indian entry to Oscars this year.

Eklavya?

Yes. You heard it right.

Why?

Are you nuts? How would I know! I hated the film as much as you did. Don't worry there are many people who share the same view. I think Eklavya-The Royal Bore (that's what I call it) is got to be one of most uninspiring films ever made. I remember catching a trailer of the film and was bowled over. I thought that it was awesome and perhaps I should have left it at that; the trailer is a hundred times better than the film. Those of us who braved the film have since moved on to better things. Actually it was Eklavya that out me off films for some time.

Sajid Khan, calling the film one without a soul, in an open letter to Vinod Chopra points out that just capturing good looking frames ain't film making. Though he salutes Chopra's knowledge of International cinema he ponders when was the last time he saw something good from him. His sister Farah Khan, who has no love lost for Chopra, thinks Eklavya is not worthy enough. Though Ms. Khan thinks that Dharam would have been a better choice, I disagree with her. Vinod Chopra, on the other hand has questioned the very credentials of people who think Eklavya is a wrong choice for the Oscars.

Mr. Chopra these are the same people who think you ripped them off with your latest directorial venture. There is a reason people still remember Parinda and Saza-E-Maut and that is because they were good. Mr. Chopra’s production house has churned out two Munnabhais and a Parineeta but his own film, the first in seven years, wasn't a patch on the former three. Defending Eklavya, Mr. Chopra cited the glorious reviews showered on Eklavya in LA Times and NY Times. He informed us that the West thinks Eklavya is almost like some 'lost David Lean film'. I tried searching the net but the NY Times review is just about so-so and LA Times search doesn't respond to Eklaavya-The Royal Guard or Vinod Chopra.

The thing about 'big' filmmakers is that they don't take criticism well. Who does? Even someone like Mr. Mahesh Bhatt indulges in self-criticism for some quotes! Or Mr. Ram Gopal Varma; would the mileage he got from the failure of Aag be the same had the film, by some really bizarre stroke of luck, worked? If a film doesn;'t do well they will question the standing of people who call it a flop; if it does well then they congratulate people in showing some class. The way Vinod Chopra has reacted, well I hope that some things like 'lost David Lean film(s)' remain lost!

Image Courtesy: www.searchindia.com