Am I a part of the minority? Am I?
One of my friends told me today morning that Kingdom of Heaven is slowly dying off in Indian theatres. That set me thinking…
Why is it that a movie like Hitch is running full house whereas Kingdom of Heaven isn’t? For that matter, even Lord of the Rings wasn’t a big hit in Indian theatres.
Is it that Indians don’t like to know about evolution or history? Is it that we just want to pass time without bothering to read into things and learn? Why am I a minority who appreciate KoH more than Hitch?
Why is it that Times of India with its sort of news (or lack of it) is the market leader vis-à-vis other worthy competitors (say The Hindu)?
I agree that papers such as The Hindu sound a bit drab due to the quantity of news and lack of colors and images and bikini-clad models, but does that mean that majority of Indians buy paper not for news but for such stuff? If soft-porn and images are all we want, just how many movies or TV shows do we get? Why a newspaper for that? Shouldn’t the lack of news should be deterrent rather than abundance of it?
Why am I a minority here again?
Now that I’ve vent out my minority frustrations, I guess this is some serious food for thought for marketing management classes. After debating/arguing with numerous colleagues and friends about this, the only thing I could figure out is that people seem to like things that are ‘light’ - stuff which needs less of thinking over and more of colors and images and the like. Or am I mistaken?
posted by Govar @ 5/23/2005 12:32:00 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
LOTR wasnt a hit ? On dope kya ?
Btw Kingdom of heaven was crap!
Sorry, I missed "in Indian theatres". Correected now.
KoF was crap? What abt Hitch?
Hey.. LOTR..flop..jesus christ.. who said dat?
and KoH is awe inspiring.mebbe ur the guy who likes movies of this genre...eventhough they may be worthless :), KoH wasn't completely crap, but it isnt gr8 by any standards..
i havent seen hitch and cant comment on it, but my take ny day wud be jack black.. adam sandler for comedy..
and u jus cant compare two films jus like dat jus 'coz ridley scott has taken yet another movie spending a lot..
but yes definitely better than troy and alexander, thelatter being kinda crap..
u are awe inspired thats how i can sum up..
Well, where did I ever mention that LOTR was a flop? I said it wasn't a 'big' hit... say to the likes of Titanic et all. Agreed that Titanic was number 1 in box office, but remember Titanic was repeatedly screened again and again in theatres and channels et all.
Agreed that I can't generalize with just two movies, but I had to because these are the two that I saw recently.
hmm.. minority? I guess you need to question the mega hits of rajni/chiru/raj kumar before even thinking about the KoHs and LOTRs of the world. If people want movies and news to entertain them, we sell that only. What is the point in drawing a line and saying this is good and this is bad :D
No good and bad d00d. Its majority and minority.
And Rajni movies? ahem ahem. :)
@Jonathan: I'd really love if it weren't true... but it does make a lot of sense!
It all depends on why you want to watch a movie. If it is for knowing abuot evolution and all, then google and newspapers should suffice. I watch a movie for entertainment and that's what I expect from it. Btw, I can't comment on KoH as I haven't seen it.
Regarding the newspapers, I completely agree that "The Hindu" is the actual newspaper and TOI is just a magazine worth nothing much.
@Jammy: You cant say TOI isnt worth much. I've always believed it can compete with Playboy.
The Indian worldview is liberation from this material world
Some over-simplification that !!;)
@Govar: Come-on...slimes and playboy, nah!! atleast playboy does not have any pretensions :D
@Urmad: Hmmm... are you sure? :-P
I can't see indian culture being less comfortable with history & evolution than western. Christianity (interpreted very literally) says the world was created in 4004BC whereas Hindism talks of cycles that make the 15billion years now believed seem short.
It may be that Tolkein built LOTR very deliberately on European myths (or it may just be the weather on the opening weekend).
C'mon Govar, are you telling me that KoH was designed to inform you about history? It was a movie trying to make money on the ideal that there are moderates on both sides of the "clash of civilizations" - a feel good movie for the liberals of the world and a visual spectacular.
was it historically accurate? - as far as creative license didn't stifle it. Now why would you pass judgement because people watch Hitch and not KoH. There is no basis on which you can seperate people who watch kingdom as those who want to learn and those who watch hitch as those who don't. and how would you classify those who watch both? :P
Nirmal
P.S.@neil it's an open secret that Tolkien wrote the LOTR books as a fantasy-commentary on the politics of the day. You will see shades of everything, the kaiser, the alliance, the axis, from both the 1st and 2nd WWs
@Truman: Exactly the reason why I'd love to see TOI, HT, Hindu and say Deccan in some same turf, should be fun.
Interesting... Keep blogging
- MB
http://www.garamchai.com/book
TOI versus Hindu - there's no debating that the Hindu wins, hands down, as a newspaper...
but one thing - I've heard people who say they're intimidated by the intelligence exuded by The Hindu. Dunno whether to laugh or cry!
@MB: Thanks for visiting. :)
@Ranj: Thats some news. Intelligence exuded by Hindu acting as a deterrent. I really don't like hearing that. I mean, newspapers gotta be dumb to win masses? NEWS to me.
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