TINSEL WORLD

From Sampath’s Desk:

  

 

TINSEL WORLD 
 

Not long ago, with the advent of audio and visual mediums blending into what became ‘cinemas’, the 'sui generis' attraction of people for the talkies ruled the roost and had a sway over the masses for decades, which has now started losing much of its sheen and, today, the movies are not seriously taken by people as much as it used to be the case once, although truncated patronage still continues.

 

For centuries, people had entertainment in communion with nature. They mostly patronized a slew of sources of simple yet effective entertainment that were passed on from one generation to another, spirituality being the mainstay. It included devotional music, classical singing/dance programmes, common rites and rituals, temple festivals and related activities,  spiritual discourses, etc. Subsequently, sheer entertainment became the norm no matter whether they had any values or not! 

 

With civilization starting to flourish and spreading its wings all across the world, mankind began looking beyond the necessities of life - food, clothing, and shelter. Thus came into being (evolved over time little by little and in phases) the sources of entertainment - music, drama, fine arts, hard/soft skills, etc. intertwined as they were at least in one way or another with each other. Activities and interactions at places of worship, which bound people together, created avenues of spiritual advancement and also entertainment, with some forums and formats of moral, ethical, and philosophical discourses remaining a part thereof that incidentally developed people's knowledge and furbished their intellect. They obviously had strong doses of in-built divinity, promoting the inevitable co-existence with mutual trust and interactions among people that kept the flock together with the social fabric uniting and bringing them on a common platform. Besides offering rendezvous for social networking and societal engineering, they offered a mélange of chores, rites, and rituals that acted as a link between people from different backgrounds. People had the right mix of religious flair, fervour, and entertainment. Street-plays ('Therukkoothu' (in Tamil) of the yore) and other dance programmes were the typical presentations with emphasis on Bhakti cult at the core that was nurtured by the society for centuries.

 

With the efflux of time, the world of entertainment underwent transmutations, one after another with mode and medium changing from time to time. Subsequently, cinemas surged ahead of all other known traditional modes of entertainment to become a strong medium with life messages of values and virtues with social and societal relevance.

  

Spiritual discourses, classical and devotional concerts, debate forums, Kavi Sammelan (poetic forums), stage-dramas, etc. that once remained the main intellectual entertainment were subsequently overwhelmed by films screened in theatres. Cinemas came to occupy the center-stage and remained the main means of entertainment for long. Initially, pantomime movies (without characters speaking) entertained people. Thereafter, background music and narrations were provided to the audience. Then the talking and singing characters on the silver-screen took people dumb-stricken, amused, and amazed, plunging them into a wonderland of thrill and exhilaration of sorts. People became flummoxed as they exclaimed thus, “How come persons in shadows looking real on the screen could speak, act, sing, dance, etc.” Due to its attractive and fascinative potential including grand success at the box office and more particularly, its prospects and promises for earning huge money the film world came to be called by different names such as shadow industry, tinsel world, dream world/industry, entertainment industry, showbiz, Broadway, motion picture industry, the stage, theatre, theatre world, the bright lights, motion picture, moving picture, celluloid world, footlights, and whatnot! For it was a milestone achievement par excellence in the annals of the film industry in India, initially in black and white, and later on, in mind-catchy magnificent colours that treated the audience to an astounding, fantabulous, and glitzy onscreen entertainment never witnessed before. No wonder, movies have been ruling the roost in the entertainment world.

Not without a valid reason, the cine world mesmerized people for decades and people patronized it on a large scale. Yes, many movies of the past carried relevant storylines and songs not just for entertainment but also for giving moral education to people. Many characters in the films and songs, especially the philosophical numbers, did motivate and inspire people. And, that's why the cine actors/characters became the darlings/heart-throb of people. 

Sensing that films provided name and fame besides huge money, some artists exploited the lucre of the tinsel world that pivoted a mass following. That many artists could do well both in the film world and subsequently in politics pulling crowds is a glaring pointer. Since artists in the celluloid world were already popular, no wonder, a charismatic artist could mystify, beguile and carry away people in general and zealots in particular. They had many fans for their swashbuckling, flamboyantly adventurous, swaggering, and blustery actuib performances in the movies.

 

Star/hero worship which was at the pinnacle for decades is now slowly but steadily becoming a thing of the past. The waxing period seems to be over and the waning era has already set in. It is sure to sink in never to reappear, as the present younger generations have many modern marvels lining up today to entertain and cheer themselves up with a network of knowledge, information, intelligence, entertainment, etc. available around in abundance. TV and its paraphernalia, the broadband-enabled mobile magic on hand revolutionizing the entertainment world, web-world with its treasure of knowledge products, edifying outputs, enlightening values, information dissemination portals, ‘make-life-easy’ value-added services, etc. have upgraded and enhanced the quality of entertainment adding intellectual elements and properties. The gizmos - cell-phones, desktops, laptops, tablets, etc. today provide a lot of entertainment stuff with intellectual value additions, reducing the status of the present-day theatres to probable assignation spots only for the lovebirds! 

 

Nowadays, films are not viewed very seriously, because not only there are alternatives and substitutes to serve the purpose, but the present-day movies themselves are not all that good, if not altogether sub-standard (barring a few). The passion is miserably missing of late. Yes, the craze is close to dying down. The silver-screen has been divested of its grandeur, and splendour once it enjoyed to a great extent.  Moreover, good aspects of the films of yesteryear are absent in the films of today. Today’s films are almost bereft of any real-life values they once carried. The big-screen movies have also surrendered, conceded, and lost their shine and sheen to small-screen serials to a great extent for obvious reasons.

 

Technological advances in other segments of the entertainment industry have constantly been tossing down the sway the cinemas had over the masses earlier.  The cinemas that once had a huge following for decades are heading toward subdued patronage, if not to the brink of complete extinction in the immediate future. However, it is bound to happen slowly - sooner or later. That is the undeniable ground reality today, whether one accepts it or not? Yes, the magic of the tinsel world is fast on the wane.

 

                  
R.SAMPATH

15/2/2021