Headcount Hysteria

In the new Malayalam movie "Ividam Swargamanu", Sreenivasan plays a wonderful cameo as a lawyer cum social activist. In perhaps the best scene in the whole movie, Sreenivasan speaks about a burning issue that pains his heart at a junction using a loud speaker. There is absolutely no one listening to him except for the character played by Mohan Lal who is waiting to consult him about a case. When asked why he wastes his time, money and energy on a speech when there is no one watching him, Sreenivasan says "If I just wanted to attract a huge headcount, I could just have performed a cabaret."

It is fitting and proper that Sreenivasan should say it because you know it comes from the master-satirist/movie maker's heart. To me, that one line defines the difference between the Malayalam movies I had been brought up on as a child and the horrid bollywood movies I am forced to watch now. Of course Malayalam movies today are no better. The last movie I saw - "Happy Husbands" - is a remake of "Masti" my cousin tells me. You can imagine how bad the scene is when I tell you it received tremendous applause and the brilliantly made Kerala Cafe went largely unnoticed by the folks in Kerala.

The sad part is that it is not restricted to the movie industry. Somewhere down the line my life too has been affected by the bollywood syndrome. I do not do what I want to do. I do the thing that gets me the maximum Gandhi-headcount in my wallet. I want a happy family life. Job security is the most important thing to me. So what if I am not doing something I like? I am a part of the majority. And in the age of democracy, the majority is always right, just like our elected political leaders. I am not even wasting my talent. I am just burying it safely. When my master asks me, I shall return it to him. For now let me just watch another bollywood movie.