My Definition Of A Great Film

It is high time since I have come up with a definition of a truly great film. Not merely a good film, because it is very easy to find a film merely good but great films are really tough to find. Finding a bad film is equally a cakewalk for me. 

Often, when people recommend me a film to watch, or gush with praise about some film or the other, I am at a loss to explain why I did not find the same to be as good as it has been said about the same. Then comes the inevitable question- what is really a great film in my opinion? To be frank, it is hard to say, actually. 

To begin with, let us consider some hard facts. Both Bollywood and Hollywood produce a thousand films every year each and only a small fraction of them are really watchable, to say the least. And then, as much as new films and new directors are coming to my attention, there is still a wealth of older films and veteran directors to catch up with, to explore. Imagine my embarrassing ignorance at admitting that I still need to watch 'Rear Window', or the entire John Ford catalogue, or films of Buster Keaton, Robert Altman and even most of Sidney Lumet. There is so much to rediscover too- I hated '2001- A Space Odyssey' in my first time but still need to re-watch it in a better mood to appreciate it fully. Similarly, I am yet to discover the treasures of Raj Kapoor, V. Shantaram, Guru Dutt or any of the arthouse legends of the 1970s and 80s, even as I marvel at what some of the recent directors are doing in Bollywood.

Also, it is never really easy to single out great films in one go because no matter how hard you try, you will always find that there are always some films that you missed out, or did not watch it properly then or something like that. A few months back, I had come up with a similar line-up of my ten favourite Hollywood films and while I rejoiced at my unusual choices, I get often perturbed at thinking how many films did I miss. 'North By Northwest', 'Citizen Kane', 'Casablanca', 'Vertigo', 'Lawrence Of Arabia', 'Dirty Harry', 'The Godfather' and its superlative sequel, 'Jaws', 'Raging Bull', 'The Shining', 'Back To The Future', 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'Star Wars' and so many more….And similarly, it is equally hard to mention good Bollywood films without discovering or mentioning some of the evergreen classics that still endure today. Imagine a Best of Bollywood list that may have 'Gangs Of Wasseypur' but no 'Satya', a 'Junoon' but no 'Omkara', a 'Johnny Gaddar' but no 'Jewel Thief', a 'Deewar' but no 'Parinda'.

But to answer that question, well let's turn to genres. People- loved ones and friends- believe that I am usually biased towards only particular genres. There is not even a shred of truth in that. Take Bollywood movies, for instance. For long, it was thought that I hated romances and only loved the edgier, more unconventional films that recent Bollywood filmmakers have doled out. That holds true, even today; at any given time, I would watch 'Kaminey' over 'Love Aaj Kal' or choose 'Ardh Satya' over 'Kabhie Kabhie'. But that does not mean that I hate love stories. For the record, 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge' is, in my opinion, one of the finest creations of Bollywood- a soaring romantic ballad that invented all the rules of modern-day romance and still remained, on its own, a classic, evergreen tale of love against all sorts of odds. 'Silsila' is, in my opinion, the finest film in Yash Chopra's filmography (second to 'Deewar' though) and 'Jab We Met' is that rare example of a romantic comedy done superbly. And I also have a grudging admiration for some of the other films that our newbie directors have rolled out. 

All these are films which I have loved for their gushing romantic qualities. So, as one can see, I have absolutely nothing against romances.

Let's come to Hollywood. When a friend recommends me the 'Fast And The Furious' franchise, I stay away and refuse to commit to anything. I would also announce, additionally, that I would rather watch 'Taxi Driver' or '12 Angry Men' or even 'The Godfather' instead of any such silly and loud action film. And I can almost hear their sighs of being let down. And yet, I absolutely adore action films. 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' ranks as one of my all-time favourite films and I have a tender, mushy soft corner for films like 'Lethal Weapon', 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', 'North By Northwest', 'The Road Warrior' and even 'Die Hard' or those deliciously dumb Sylvester Stallone starrers as well. 

And people also believe that I have something against sentimental films. That might be why I was not at all impressed by 'Titanic'. But if I did have anything against sentimental films, I would have been a bigger Kubrick fan rather than  a Spielberg fan. Then I would never have loved films like 'The Elephant Man' or 'Schindler's List' in the first place.

So, if I am really so fair in my choices of genres and films, why then do I make a fuss? Why is it so damn hard for me to give away generous praise to most films? Why am I so stingy with star ratings and reviews and why will I consciously avoid most films and end up going for those which come out completely out of the blue? Why did I not love 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan', a film which was loved by everyone else? Why did I not name 'Citizen Kane' or 'Vertigo' as my all-time favourite film and instead picked out 'Mulholland Dr.'? Why was there not a single Christopher Nolan film in my list? I have had passionate arguments with people on Quora about why 'Batman V Superman' is not even worth some retrospective praise. I absolutely refuse to watch its Ultimate Edition and I get called as being biased towards Marvel films for the same reason. I hate 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi' despite its cult status and love 'Sholay' despite its formulaic elements. Why all this confusion?

When I am committing myself- or my mind and my senses- to a film which runs for, say, 2 or 3 hours, I am taking a big risk. I have nothing against something that would entertain me. For that matter, I have absolutely loved knockout entertainers, time and again- I am one of the very few people who enjoyed 'Tashan'. I have nothing against a solid entertainer that can keep me thrilled, amused, dazzled and blown away at the end of it all. If I did, I would not enjoy films by arch entertainers like Quentin Tarantino, Charles Chaplin or even vintage Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. Sure, I also love unconventional films. But they need not to be totally bereft of humor or wit to be unconventional. 

In fact, there are so many dead serious films that I refuse to watch, or which I can't even fall in love with. I don't even pretend to have an interest in European cinema, which, by default, turns out to be more serious-minded than Hollywood or British films. I have not even touched Truffaut, Renoir, Tarkovsky, Herzog or any of these other directors; I am way more comfortable with Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Alfred Hitchcock, Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick. Okay, shoot me.  

At the same time, I can easily choose Christopher Nolan over David Fincher or Paul Thomas Anderson over The Coen Brothers. It is a matter of a blend of both bias towards some particular filmmakers who have thrilled me time and again and a general tendency to prefer the unconventional, to like edgier cinema over what is merely predictable or dull. For me, edgy, irresistible cinema is not about being realistic or serious. It can be an action film, a no-brainer fantasy or even a science fiction 

In Bollywood, my favourites have always been the kind of cinema that pushes the boundaries of filmmaking and elevates the general Hindi film scenario into something substantial rather than just, as the cliches would say, charades of song and dance. That does not mean, however, that I have anything against formula. Formula, when done well, especially by masters like Yash Chopra or Prakash Mehra, or even Rajkumar Hirani and Kabir Khan, can make for great cinema in my opinion. However, if you ask me to appreciate a 70s caper-style film like 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbai' or an ode-to-Bollywood yarn like 'Om Shanti Om', well I will say that these are predictable and dull because their respective makers stuffed these films only with pointless worship of these cinematic eras and no personality of their own. In that case, I would choose 'Bombay Velvet' and 'Rangeela' because they work great as individual achievements.

I have equal love for all my favourite Bollywood directors. I have loved Yash Chopra and Gulzar equally, I have loved Shyam Benegal and Hrishikesh Mukherjee equally, I have loved Raj Kapoor and Manmohan Desai equally, I have also loved Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj and Sriram Raghavan as much as I have loved Dibakar Banerjee, Habib Faisal, Imtiaz Ali and Rajkumar Hirani and the like. I have also loved both Ram Gopal Varma and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. For me, it will always be 'Dev D' over Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Devdas' or 'Udaan' over '3 Idiots', or even 'Lootera' over 'Aashiqui 2' or something like that. But even a smashingly simple film, like 'Golmaal' or 'Choti Si Baat' or 'Rocket Singh- Salesman Of The Year' can be effective as well. I think of sparkling comedies like 'Andaaz Apna Apna' and 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron' as seminal as any film of the arthouse movement. 

So, what is a great film for me? It has to be something exciting, something lively, edgy, entertaining and enlightening all at the same time. It does not have to be dead serious or utterly realistic, for that would rob off all the fun of watching it; it would be better to watch a documentary then. At the same time, it should not be totally predictable as well. It should be an entertaining mix of something crazy, something comic, something scary, something sensitive, something hilarious, something heart-breaking at the same time. 

P.S- I hope that this lengthy write-up will explain some of my recent behaviour with some of the films this year. In particular, this write-up may prove to be a solid defense against some allegations that I was biased in my reviews of 'Fan' and 'Sultan' respectively. The Shah Rukh Khan starrer got a glowing review from me while the Salman Khan blockbuster had me commenting that it was way too long and predictable. It should be noted that I know for sure that Salman can act- I love his performances in 'Maine Pyaar Kiya', 'Andaaz Apna Apna' and 'Ek Tha Tiger'- but it is just that I find Shah Rukh to be criminally under-rated as an actor, the same way Tom Cruise is even despite films like 'The Colour Of Money', 'Born On The Fourth Of July', 'Jerry Maguire' and, most memorably, 'Magnolia'. I would advise people to just get over my preferences for either of the screen gods and tell me honestly which film is more unpredictable than the other. I rest my case.