In an age of instant viewership or readership for all sorts of media, the teams behind the numerous mediums expect the unexpected in a matter of a few hours or minutes sometimes. A news item, its authenticity be dammed, becomes an instant rage with one single telecast. Likewise, an erroneous article, or a scandalous interview is purposely feeded to the masses to elicit a response to something that's co related to another end product;a movie for example. More often than not, it hits the bulls eye, given the volatile nature of the multiple cross sections of the society. Anything goes in the name of 'breaking news'. Times are such that a viable model of business has been carved out by the wily and often highly paid strategists looking to make a mark in their chosen field; nobody is 'safe' without results, however qualified they be, such are the times. Quality in all fields, be it ads, movies, print media, television etc has gone for a toss. The formula is simple, make a downright crappy product and place it in the hands of a team of fancy degree holding team of 'professionals', they will brain storm over litres of coffee in some suburban five star and pronto!, you have a delightful plan to sell it overnight to a hype mongering consumer. Before anybody realises what the hell is being 'marketed', the makers are flush with tons green bills. Win win situation. Read an absurd 'news item' the other day about a bloke from Mankhurd who fretted and fumed to get his ticket money back after watching 'Ek'. The makers had apparently advertised that those not satisfied with the movie will be reimbursed their hard earned money. The said ad also kicked a bucketful of muck at the review writers, claiming that, when certain films being given a bad rating, it does not affect its box office performance. The makers went to the extent of pointing out that 'Dev D'which won a rarest of rare 5 star rating, didn't do well, whereas a movie like Golmaal Returns with 2 star rating proved to be a winner. What! that's a comparison? Its like comparing Charlie Chaplin to apna Jonny Lever. Forget about talking sense, these chaps do not understand what sense means. They want their nonsense to be highly regarded. By the way, if the ratings didn't matter, then why the hell do you raise a cry about them? Well that's the plan i guess. Make some noise, someone's ear is going to prick. If anything bears a semblance of sense, its the reviews of some truly dedicated critics. Yes it is easy to criticise,but then that's the voice of truth. We should be ready to hear the truth after giving our best shot, the sounding boards are bound to echo with the glaring bloomers commited.
And promises of simply giving money back will not help, you need to promise a decent entertainer to yourself before calling over the 'hustlers' in tie-suit.