SOMETHING INTERESTING IS HAPPENING WITH PATHAAN AND EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT

The public response to Pathaan in this region, as well the indignation about it hoarding show times, teaches us something of value about how we understand and analyse films. It forces you to look at cinema as a commercial art form, an understanding that
is now necessary. The art and finance of cinema are tied to each other.

There’s a rumour making the rounds in Kolkata. Apparently one of my relatives told me, the makers of the film have threatened to not allow single screens even one show of Pathaan unless they stop screening every other local film that has released in the last few weeks. “They couldn’t have
done this in the South, my relative tells me, mighty disgruntled. It is difficult to convince him that this rumour is actually ridiculous. I know it to be ridiculous because there are single screens that are screening other films in the afternoon, while screening Pathaan in the evening. But the rumour is interesting, as is Pathaan’s single screen rage.

It is no surprise that a film like Pathaan should rage at the box office. There is so much that works in its favour. First and foremost, it features both the myth and humanity of Shahrukh Khan. This film is a love letter to his fans, and its story is shaped to fit his larger-than-life silhouette. I saw it at a single screen myself. The coffee-seller outside looked at me with perceptible glee in her eyes. “Houseful!” she said to me, and I knew what she meant by houseful. She has probably sold more coffees this week than she has the rest of the month. She looks at the poster of Pathaan with an affection so genuine it is almost motherly.

A rumour about Pathaan’s diabolical marketing strategy and an affection for an immensely bankable star. And the film knows that it is helmed by a very bankable star. When I talk about a story tailored to Shahrukh Khan’s silhouette, I mean it plays to every nuance of his public image.It acknowledges his national identity and expresses his gratitude to those who have loved and protected him in their hearts despite the hatred. It detects his allure. It is inspired by his endearing silliness. It serves as an allegory for the politics of his celebrity: he finds love, faces betrayal, and earns redemption.

At each plot point, the theatre erupted, clapping, hooting, cheering, laughing – almost partaking of his success. I had seen several social media posts on how Pathaan is hoarding showtimes and depriving Bengali cinema beforel saw the film. There’s hashtag too, asking people to stand by
Bengali cinema. And rarely ever do the people using the hashtag register the decay in the content of Bengali cinema. I am not saying that Pathaan is flawless while all Bengali cinema is flawed. The actions sequences in Pathaan are so high-strung that they are bordering on the absurd. But even then, it is like the film trusts you to know that this is fiction. It is like it is asking you to concentrate or
the scale of it.

lts magnificent villain and his tragic backstory, along with missiles, guns, foreign locations, superstar Salman Khan’s cameos and Shahrukh Khan’s impact, give the film an enormous scale a scale so compelling that the film has no need to threaten single screens and deprive Bengali regional cinema of an audience. Many single screens, nationally, would choose Pathaan over other films of their own accord. So why is this rumour still making rounds, despite the fact that the Bengali films that have released this month weren’t substantially successful monetarily to begin with, even without Pathaan’s success? Partially, it comes from the refusal to address the problems of the Bengali film industry.

Unlike industries in the South, Bengali cinema is going through a crisis. Save for a handful of films in the last three years, most Bengali films haven’t fared well at the box office. The onslaught of Hindi cinema and Southern blockbusters has some impact, of course. But films here are also suffering from internal reasons. For a state that once provided the cultural context for even mainstream cinema to have a remarkably broad-minded worldview, it is now ar industry that mostly comprises filmmakers who are so desperate for something successful, that they forget what is meaningful.

This is not driven by a dearth of talent, but by a dearth of funding. That is where the desperation for success is coming from. That “stand by Bengali cinema” hashtag reveals very little about how there’s a dearth of well- produced, playful cinema with a bankable star at the centre. And this isn’t because this is a regional film industry Regional cinema, when it is good, will have its moment. But many filmmakers here are plumbing Bengali literature for scripts, producing the same detective cinema, or formulaic biopics, or sappy, sentimental, half-baked cinema that caters to middle-class morality.

I do not say this without experience. I have sat through the poorly adapted detective films out of my love for the extraordinary literature that such detectives come from. I have sat through the biopics out of curiosity. I have sat through the excruciatingly cheesy moralistic family dramas. Even what is somewhat good, a few films here and there, suffer from a very low production value. The Bengali industry is not making an inventive film that is marketable at a national level, like Kantara. Neither does it have the funds to afford the grandeur of an RRR. There are of course many, many talented storytellers in Bengal who are reaching beyond these constraints.

But the larger group of films are dissatisfying, even without a Pathaan to compete with them. I am saying this as someone with an umbilical tie to Bengal’s literary wealth. This literature has formed the foundation of my imagination and expression. And that is why it is disheartening to see people I know entirely blame another film’s success for the current state of the industry. It shows a lack of nuance in understanding cinema for what it is. It is a commercial artform, where a good production value and innovative stories are tied to each other. The business of it is dependent on and important for, the art of it. This industry has to work on both. Sticking to formulas won’t do. It needs a radical makeover on both levels.