SR: Da, did you see today’s newspaper?
VM: Wait, what happened da ?
SR: So many fun events lined up for Children’s Day this year. I had almost forgotten it. During my school days, it was such a big deal.
VM: Really? Children’s Day events? Of all the things that have happened in the world this past week, that’s what you were seeing in the newspapers?
SR: Ha ha ha. Trump or not, life has to go on right? And, if you have the new notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 2000, do lend me some. I’d like to catch a few films but I have no money!
VM: I was thinking about the same thing. How are films going to be dealing with the currency issue? I had two tickets for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil but no cash to pay for the mall’s parking. So I had to give them away. Getting back to your question about children’s day, I wanted to ask you about the films you grew up watching here in Chennai. I really feel bad for the kids today.
SR: It’s sad that kids today are crazy about films like Remo . ‘Senjiduven’ from Maari, has become the new buzz word among kids… they’re even using it with their parents. I don’t want to sound like a thatha, but it was so much fun growing up in the 80s and 90s. We watched films like Anjali , and imitated everything those kids did in their apartment building. It’s a miracle to me when I see Rajini dance with that animated rabbit in the ‘Raja Chinna Roja’ song. Of course, we had Malgudi Days on TV too.
VM: Watching My Dear Kuttichathan , India’s first 3D film, when it was re-released in 1997, is an experience I will take with me to my grave. Remember that Ilaiyaraaja song in which the kids magically start walking on the ceiling? Films were like dreams back then. If Remo is the equivalent of that feeling for today’s kids, I’m glad we grew up in the 90s.
SR: Innocence is what defines a child. Kids these days seem to display too much of an I-know-it-all attitude that the charm and grandeur of films get lost. I’m not blaming them, of course, but there’s so much to watch that they’re spoilt for choice. We had very little choices but we were happy with what we got.
VM: I blame our filmmakers to an extent. My Dear Kuttichathan , or a Manu Uncle in Malayalam, or Anbulla Rajinikanth or Michael Madana Kama Rajan in Tamil were made after spending blockbuster budgets. But they were still and continue to be films that were made for us... the kids of that time. Imagine a big-budget film today and it will surely include an amma pasam scene for “emotional quotient” and even an item number for the front-benchers. Why don’t they realise that a good, wholesome film, like the Pixar films, is good for everybody? There’s no way a Frozen became a billion-dollar film without a few million adults enjoying it too right?
SR: Good point. I’d think that filmmakers are starting to consider that now. Every director or producer these days talks about how they’re targeting “children”. Their logic is that if a 10-year-old wants to watch a film, he’d obviously drag along his parents. So if you sell one ticket to a kid, you’re also selling two more. Which is why big films like Remo and Maari are working at the box office.
VM: Oh Maari was a hit? That’s news to me. I wish they would stop “targeting” kids like you’d phrased it. They should instead make films just for them. Kochadaiyaan could have been a great start, but it needed to have been marketed as a kids film for it to succeed. I felt that was the case with Puli too. What would have been good children’s films became something else in the greed for the houseful opening weekend.
SR: I’m afraid we no longer have directors who can write with that innocence any more. It’s all about packaging now. For instance, despite the violence, Anirudh was chosen to compose the songs for Kaththi because Murugadoss overheard the kids in his apartment going crazy over his songs. If he’s recognised the importance of kids watching his films, should he really be naming every other film after a weapon?
VM: I don’t believe children’s films are a director’s game. It’s more about the producer. You need visionary producers to back children’s films and then market them to the point where kids are attracted by them. For instance, I could single out Kabali as a marketing masterpiece, just for the way the film reached even the littlest of kids.
SR: Let’s float a start-up that focuses on bringing out Pixar quality films here in Tamil Nadu. After all, a lot of the animators are from here…
VM: I can already see it… as long as Shark Tale doesn’t become a Saraku Tale. Or a Finding Remo instead of Finding Nemo?
SR: Oh yeah, I’d be interested in watching a Thaai Story too.
