How to make a blockbuster -101
Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 1:42AM To date, this blogger has not made a movie. His entire videography experience is limited to movie maker clips under ten minutes!
As Confusius once said (he said a lot of things and I am not sure if this is one of those things) "Every ass has a hole!" and along those lines, I have a little primer for how to make a blockbuster movie, purely based on watching movies that went on to become blockbusters or bankbusters.
1. Do not go overboard - on anything. Be it makeup, stunts, dialogues, accents, length of the movie, anything!
2. Do not insult your audience - even if you are doing something that is not normal, make it look possible under the assumptions of the movie. In other words, don't violate the rules of your own movie.
3. Find your target audience - You cannot please every type of audience, even if you are a universal hero! Go right or go left!
4. Screen time - One person showing his face for 80% of the movie, even if the face is disguised brilliantly, severely, grotesquely, is still cloying! Give other people in the movie a chance to participate! It is a movie, not a one man stage show.
5. Movies are expected to have a coherent flowing storyline and relevant dialogues. While they are not a must, they do help. A movie is not just a showcasing of acting talent. If one is capable of multiple disguises, you could technically do 36 five minute skits with 36 different makeups and string it all together and call it a three hour...."talent show"!
Why do I suddenly have the urge to write all this? Well, just came back from watching Dasavatharam, the movie.. sorry.. the Kamal Hasan talent show!
I am upset that he did not play Hilary Clinton or Barak Obama!
Well, maybe in the sequel Beesavadharam, where he plays 20 roles in the same movie, he will consider those two characters!
.
Kamal, dasavatharam, indian movies, review
Reader Comments (11)
Sundar
How much did you pay for the ticket 15$, after debacle of Sivaji and Billa I have stopped going to theaters. Will wait for the DVD.
Atleast with Sivaji, one can say paisa vasool for a typical Rajni movie.
Ganesh, Yes. I did pay 15 bucks.
but I would not say there was no paisa vasool..
Watching Kamal in 6/10 roles was good.
The movie had its Kamal moments, just like Sivaji had its Rajni moments.
I will confess this. I knew that this was going to be less movie and more "Kamal Talent show" based on the trailers and the publicity and hype for the "first time, one man, ten roles!" thing. But how can an actors actor not see that his facial expressions are useless behind makeup that makes his face look like Frankenstein?
Dasavatharam - Kamal as CIA dude, Bush, Tall dude and Japanese dude would have been real paisa vasool..
Wow ! I am still getting past the line of "Every @@@ has a hole" to ending it with Kamal.
Did you like it is it worth going?
V
It is DEFINITELY worth going.
There are some segments of the movie that are big screen worthy.
But if you are going with very high expectations of a "paisa vasool", you might be disappointed.
If you go there to watch Kamal act, go.
You can still come out feeling good, if you are a Kamal fan.
These days every Tom, Ajith and Barath act in multiple roles with different makeup, but if one guy pulls it off with such class, it is Kamal!
Unfortunately, he tried to see how far he can push it.. it is almost like "thinking aloud".. he should have stopped at acting like people from the subcontinent..
I could bear Ranji as white dude, black dude for 5 mins in a song and two scenes in Sivaji. But if Ranji would have acted as a black dude for 30 mins in Sivaji, I would have come out spitting pan on the sidewalk!
:)
So is Dasavataram far below the hyped expectations??
V, the reference to every @$$ and the hole is a reference to myself having an opinion on the movie..
not to Kamal!
:)
It is easy to sit back and critique a movie.
Jeevan, I would agree.
HI sundar,
here in Toronto, all tickets sold for the weekend.....so, got tickets on Tuesday for 5 bucks!! @ cineplex....my husband is a fan of kamal....hope he wont get disappointed.......
thanks,
Jay
The last line is hilarious...ROTFL!
Sometimes I feel sad for Kamal!
But..whatever..!! 15$ at IMC6 stinking...( It is better than Naz8 though)..is not worth it!
So what was the damage ? Did you go with your family?
Jay, you wont be disappointed if you are a Kamal fan.
:)
NV Sir, San watched it in nice Bereyessa 10!! She is extremely thrilled with the movie and actually is fighting with me for saying that this "could have been a much better movie if Kamal had stopped at 6 avatarams!". Whatever!
Both me and the MIL got to watch it at IMC6 in the small theater. It was not bad because the crowd cracked some pretty good jokes and were cheering for Kamal, Asin, Hanu, etc.
I don't want to add spoilers, but in two weeks plan to just post all the jokes the crowd cracked during the movie..
48 bucks. One happy camper. Two people who came out saying "not bad, but could have been much better"
technically brilliant...
alavukku meerinaal amirthamum nanju..
Hope Kamal gets that in his next movie!
Beesavatharam cracked me up!! You are not too far off with the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama expectations!! :-).
- Shree
Hi Sundar
Just got back from Chennai. Tried desperately to watch the movie there and couldnt. The hype is CRAZY. There are 45 shows running in Mayajaal EVRY DAY and we didnt get tickets to a single one!! That said, I always knew this would one BIG ego showcasing thing...And yes, I agree about Kamal teaming up with Crazy Mohan and making a simple, enjoyable movie. That seems to be the only way he can give hits.