Reality to reel

Seen as the mirror of society, cinema is one of the most powerful mediums of social reform. Every year, Bollywood sees many movies relating to different subjects and themes. However, the current flavour of the season seems to be the biopic.

The film industry has over the years churned out many scripts inspired by real life heroes in fields ranging from sports to history. This trend has many takers as moviegoers say that their curiosity to know more about the person makes them watch these flicks.

However, a few also believe that the popularity of a biopic also has to do with the cast. Roshan Jeevaraju, an entrepreneur, says, “To depict the entire lifetime of a person in two-and-half hours is not an easy task. And you also need a person who can portray it the right way. I recently watched ‘Ghazi Attack’, which was brilliantly done, but the biopic on Sachin, which was more like a documentary, didn’t appeal me at all. In fact, ‘M S Dhoni: An untold story’ did much better than ‘Sachin: A billion dreams’. The cinematography was amazing.”

He explains that it was the way both the movies were made that made an impact on him. However, Roshan also adds that he is not really a big fan of biopics and prefers Hollywood biopics over their Bollywood counterparts as they are more realistic.

Agreeing to the fact that most of the filmmakers tend to alter the real story for entertainment purposes, Ajay Raju says that doing so can dilute the purpose of the real story.

“I feel movies like “M S Dhoni...” was more narrative and I could relate to the events and the characters, but in the case of ‘Gandhi’, the makers changed a few scenes here and there which did not go down well with the audience. If biopics are shown without any manipulations, it can be a great learning experience for us. Many of us want to know about popular personalities and there’s nothing better than a visual treat,”
he says.

Darshan Reddy, an engineering graduate, also loves watching biopics. “Watching a movie like ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, that shows the childhood days, struggles and transition of the legendary Milkha Singh, was quite inspiring. I also believe that if an inspirational story is converted into a film, it can motivate many, especially children. But the story has to be true and not distorted.”

He highlights, “In most of the historical epics, the personality gets overshadowed by the grand and opulent locales and costumes. I like watching Hollywood biopics because they have more realistic elements in their story,” says Darshan.

No wonder they say cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out.