Are elders idiots on matters of cinema?

 

                                                         To analyse  the topic

In the website someone has attempted to portray the elder generation as ‘not-so knowledgeable ‘on matters of cine-industry of their times. It is unfounded since all youth have sustained the same interest for such items. Truly they were as much informed as are the present day youth. What does not meet the eye is not ‘non-existent’. The then youth did not visibly portray what they knew. To be frank, they augmented more information than any present day counterpart. Please note: Cine news was a taboo in magazines and radio. In sharp contrast to what we see now, the top technicians in every arm of the industry were unparalleled wizards of their craft and had their fans as well. But the household and the society at large treated cinema as an unhealthy diversion despite its then orthodoxy in subject and treatment. It was a no-nonsense era in every sense. No parent would allow the wards to browse even the lone “Pesum Padam”. Much later came,  “Bommai” - the exclusive pictorial magazine on cinema. All big banners had a permanent team of technicians on their payrolls – a mechanism of cornering talent for themselves. There were no filthy gimmicks of fabricating stories to conceal the actors’ inability. The film stock employed for film-making was of a very low ASA rating. Only the really talented cinematographers can handle those films. With no technology to lend support, all craftsmen brought forth excellent products in audio or visual items. All out-door work had to rest on the mercy of Sun God. But excellent blending and skillful balancing of light have been dexterously handled. Film institutes did not flourish, as none wanted their children to be associated with cinema in any manner [except film production as a hereditary avocation] No project was launched on borrowed finance. There was no pampering of stupidity. Only sustained efforts helped achieving Stardom. Single-movie heroes were not this many. Money was a rare commodity and extravaganza was nearly  ruled out.                 

 With so much of constraints, cinema had to live on performance and not on high-tech publicity. Sensible story tellers alone made a mark. All technicians relied on techniques and not on technology. All people of our times know these by corroborative assembling of facts. My submission is non-display is not a sign of low or no knowledge. With media blare and glare cinema now enters our homes feeding all information. Our young men assume to have become knowledgeable and try to say the elders did not possess these skills. Comparisons should be on level playing fields.  The mass media, TVs, CDs internet, print material and cell phones feed us. In our times we had to search for items without being “caught” by elders. I want our youngsters to acknowledge the fact that the elders [we the then youngsters] do not curb any of your effort even if it is cinema. Don’t you feel that your ambience is liberal and permissive unlike the tight restrictive days of our times? Kindly recognize that the earlier generation that grew under check, now does not impose the same on you and is permissive to your efforts. Silence should never be misconstrued as innocence or ignorance/ incompetence God bless you

                                                                                                                     Prof. K.Raman