Why Red Carpet??

Recently I was looking at winners of the 54th Film Fare awards and was startled to that Bollywood called pre-show interviews as Red carpet interviews. I don’t know why they have to do that. It seems like the Hollywood bug has bitten the Film Fare awards too. Film Fare awards are the finest in Indian cinema and its unfortunate that it’s lost its originality. I am not sure who the organizers are trying to impress here. They are not increasing their viewership in America as they are not interested in knowing which Bollywood movie is the best of 2008.

Yeah there are few Americans who watch Bollywood movies but that’s about it. They are not going to be interested in the awards in India. Are we trying to impress the Indian Audience? I am not sure because how many Indians in India do actually watch the Oscars to know what Red carpet means. The actors and actresses behave as if they are in Hollywood with their dressing and interviews. I hardly saw anyone wearing Indian costume in an Indian award. None of the actors give interviews in Hindi which seems to be out of fashion.

So by talking in English they are already cutting out more than 50% of our own people watching the show as they don’t understand what’s going on most of the times. Unfortunately the quest to gain International attention seems to be affecting Bollywood big time. They have to realize that the NRI’s are not Americans but they are Indians who have settled in America. We don’t care about the Red carpets and the fashionable dresses which the actresses wear. We see it already in the Golden Globe and the Oscars and I don’t think we need to see the same in Film Fare in India.

An Indian award needs to be Indian that’s what everyone wants. The shows on Television and awards need to first cater to the Indian audience and then to the International community if they actually watch the show. By aping Oscars in Film Fare awards Indian movies don’t become world standard. To get International recognition India need to make movies which are world standard rather than doing such ridiculous things which aren’t going to impress anyone but the Bollywood themselves.

I am really happy that the south awards are still maintaining the traditional approach and yes we don’t call it Red carpet yet. I hope that it remains this way. Indian film industry needs to be Indian first which I guess is a message lost on most of the actors and organizers. India has the talent to make an impact on the world stage but that can only be achieved by quality in cinema.

It’s unfortunate and saddening to see that we copy everything that happens in Oscars and none of the legends in cinema seems to talk about it. Recently Amitabh said that he thought calling Hindi cinema Bollywood is a derogatory as its copied from Hollywood but its seems like copying the Oscars doesn’t seem to affect anybody. Red carpet is just one of them. I guess in few years time the Hindi audience will turn their back on their own awards as it would seem alien to them. I hope that the organizers realize the same and maintain some Indianness in these functions.