Essays

The Cinema is a popular form of entertainment today. Young and old, rich and poor, boys and girls throng cinema halls in hundreds to see a new film. It seems they see all new pictures; they are not selective. They have some leisure and they have to do something anyway. The cinema is becoming popular with the masses in spite of television. More and more cinema halls are coming up. There is not a city that does not have a number of cinema halls. It has become almost the only means of man entertainment and cinema halls have become popular places.

The movies take away a person from the hard realities of life. He forgets his trials and tribulations and worries during that time. He is then in a make-believe world. He is in a dreamland and shares with the actors and actresses their joy and sorrows.

The cinema has an educative value as well. Historical pictures recreate the past for us. We get a fair idea of the times, the dress which the people wore, and the language they talked in, the customs they followed and the type of life they led. Pictures like Mughal-e-Azam, Joan of Arc, War and Peace, Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music, King Solomon, Bandhan, Sholay give a vivid picture of the times.

The news reels and documentaries add to our knowledge of day-to-day events. Subjects like geography and history become more interesting owing to the visuals. Extreme pictures awaken in us a feeling of disgust against the social evils still prevalent in the country that are shown. Nevertheless, mass entertainment is provided.

The cinema however is not a pure blessing. It has its evil side too. Some movies are indeed very harmful. They depict scenes that corrupt the minds and spoil the character. Such pictures have done the greatest harm to teenage students. They steal money of their parents to see movies. They try to copy the hero or the heroine and dress likewise. They neglect their studies and take interest in talking about the role of different film stars and music personnel and their lives. Television is coming up in competition. The Censor Board has a role to play in cutting nude and sex and violence scenes.

If producers keep in mind that pictures leave a deep affect on young impressionable minds, they will produce pictures of real merit. But the trouble with them is that good pictures and artistic pictures have seldom a good run. The public taste has become so insipid that the same old theme—boy meets girl—have some difficulties and unite in the end—proves a box office hit. But there is no moral or ideal or good storyline.

The need of the present time therefore is that pictures should aim at improving the public taste. This can be done by depicting scene of idealism, chivalry, patriotism bravery and adventure against odds. Sex, nakedness, crime and violence should have no place on the silver screen—these corrupt and corrupt wholly and damage the social fabric no end.

Do You Know?

— Hollywood is a term that denotes the US Film Industry throughout the world.

— Indian Film Industry is known as the 'Bollywood'.

— India produces the largest number of movies every year.