Observe and grow up!

Until a month or so back, I have considered myself to be a very serious, non-versatile story writer. Not that, I have accomplished the success of writing on every genre but have managed to come out of \’dramatic\’ genre. Whenever I start writing a story or whenever some thread sparks in my mind its always, an ultra serious – dramatic genre. I did try at times to write something comical but it either become farce or have a complete turn around into a very serious plot. This was an irony because I am a huge fan of comedies and love to tickle the bones through my visuals. This was also a limitation in my creativity. But now, I think I have learned the way to come out of this. Not up to a great extent, though.

The success formula of a film is very simple. The crowd should be able to relate themselves to the story. This is the biggest challenge and also the biggest blessing to a film maker in Kerala. If you look outside, you often come across fantasies and exaggerated story lines but how often has a fantasy film succeeded in our state? Barring \’Ithihasa\’ nothing has emerged successful in the last few years in the fantasy category. People here want the characters in the films to be next door and their representative. This is exactly the reason why Suresh Gopi rose to Action Superstar with his police roles, Dileep and Jayaram became a \’Janapriya naayakan\’ (Popular hero) and now Nivin Pauly has become Viral Pauly. On the other side, this is also the reason why the likes of superstars and megastars have gained a lot of criticism over the last few years. Its interesting to read with this what the sensational writing duo, Bobby-Sanjay had to say about their only flopped film. \”We wrote the script of Casannova seeing Mohanlal as a star and not an actor\”. Defines it right?

So coming back to my small world of dreams and stories, when I decided its time for me to come out of dramatic genre, the first two films which came to my mind are \’TP Balagopalan MA\’ and \’1983\’. Okay, I am not comparing the two lead heroes in the film and provoke the fans. I am just having a look on the stories. Both the film had protagonists which represented a common man. There was a series of such films in 1980s along with \’TP Balagopalam MA\’ and all of them had the hero in a very simple and representative image which everyone could relate. In the case of \’1983\’, its nostalgia which won the market. I closely observed a lot of such films to understand the theory of success. Then I started thinking of something and slowly I found myself coming out with good comic elements. But it didn\’t take me too much of time to include drama in it and make it a serious thread!

I am not getting into story writing or film making. Like always, I present my point through writing about films or cricket because these two fields are the only ones I have a vast knowledge in. If you ever feel limited with your talent or thoughts, the first quality you should have in yourself is the quality of observance. Watching is not observing. Its like the difference between hearing and listening. A person who closely observe something will always have the advantage of having a better wisdom. No, I didn\’t say this. This was said by a lady who recorded the highest IQ for a human being from 1986 to 1989, Marilyn Vos Santa

Oh and by the way, just keep this in mind. If you come across someone who is very silent, don\’t mock him/her because silent ones are the most observant people!