By Murtaza Ali Khan
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| Film Journalist Deepak Dua |
Ever wondered what it takes to become
a professional commentator on cinema? Would you like to watch movies and get
paid for it? Would you like to interview your favorite film personalities? If
writing about movies is what you love then can you fully dedicate yourself to
it? How feasible is film criticism as a full-time profession? These are the
questions that we often receive from many of our readers which include young
cinema enthusiasts keen on taking up film criticism as a profession. In an
endeavor to seek out the right answers we have started a special series wherein
we would be interacting with some of the leading film commentators in the world
and try and get them to talk about their success stories. How they got started?
What inspired them? How they overcame the various challenges? What is it like
to have tasted success? How they keep themselves relevant despite the changing
dynamics, etc.?
Now, we consider ourselves really
fortunate to be presenting you with someone really special for the second part
of this series (Read
Part - I with film journalist Aseem Chhabra here). Deepak Dua, who will
be completing 25 years in the field of film journalism this September, needs no
introduction. After starting his journey at YMCA, Delhi, in the year 1993, he
has never looked back. Other than his association with some of the country’s leading
film journals, newspapers and magazines, he has been closely associated with radio
as well as television. Some of the publications that he has been associated
with include Hindustan, Amar Ujala, Hari Bhoomi, Chitralekha, Filmi Kaliyan, Outlook - Hindi, Rashtriya Sahara, and Shubh Yatra, which is the In-flight Magazine of Air India
Airlines, among other. Apart from cinema his other passion is travel and he frequently writes
travelogues which can be read in publications like Hindustan, Hari Bhoomi, etc.
Currently, he is writing/recording a series of audiobooks titled ‘Sunehra Daur with Deepak Dua”
for a leading Swedish publication Storytel.
We would like to extend our heartfelt
thanks to film journalist Deepak Dua for making himself available, despite his
busy schedule, for a detailed one-on-one interaction and for sharing his
thoughts/experiences in a most candid and elaborate manner.
Q1. You are about to complete 25 years in the field of film
journalism. How did the journey start?
A.
It may come as a surprise to you that I was never a compulsive movie watcher.
But we have this tradition in the family wherein the parents used to take us
out to the theatres every time a good film released. By good films I mean films
made by Children Film Society. I am reminded of films like Bal Shivaji. Also, when Gandhi
came out I remember the entire family went to watch it. Tapasya was another film that the parents took us out to watch. It
wasn’t very frequent but and such family outings happened about a couple of
times in a year. Then during the final years of my school, around the late
‘80s, the films although they were tasting success they somewhere they lack the
quality. Watching those masala films I realized that ingesting too much of such
films could cause indigestion. That’s how I gradually developed an
understanding of what is good or bad in movies. Then during my college years I
really started exploring cinema, carefully choosing to watch rare gems.
It
was the time when the parallel cinema moment was coming to an end we had a new
hybrid kind of cinema which despite being offbeat was finding success. Here I
would like to name films like Lekin, Rudali, Salim Lande Par Mat Ro, Maya
Memsaab, etc. and commercial cinema
was also producing some good films like Heena,
Prahaar, Gardish, Angaar, etc. All
these films would have a strong influence on me and in a way helped shape my
thought process. I was also reading a lot of literature in those days. Also, I
had developed a habit of reading newspapers. The film critic of Jansatta, Mr.
Manmohan Talkh, had deep influence on me. After his retirement, Mr. Shrish
Chandra Mishra took his place. He has been among the leading Hindi journalists
of the country and his work has had a very strong influence on me. So during my
college years I started contributing letters to newspapers and also got
associated with some radio programmes. Basically a communication channel had
started for me with the world of media.
Since
I had Commerce background, I decided to pursue Mass Communication before making
a foray into the media. Just after enrolling into the course at YMCA, I visited
the Jansatta office looking for an internship. Mr. Shrish Chandra Mishra
recognized me immediately as I had been regularly contributing letters to the
editor. It was under his mentorship that my journey as a film journalist began
to shape up.
Q2. As someone who has seen film journalism
very closely, how do you think it has changed over the years?
A. Things
have certainly changed greatly. First and foremost the relationship between the
film star and the film reporter has changed considerably. Now, there are two
ways to look at it. On one hand since the number of people covering cinema has
increased it has somewhere diluted the quality of relationship that the celebrities
traditionally shared with the journalists as in those days there were limited
number of journalists who would regularly interact with the celebrities. They
were the people who had great understanding of cinema and it was their love for
films and not glamour that brought them into film journalism. Earlier we never ever
asked a film star for an autograph but today we have Selfie Journalism.
If
we look at the positive side then I can tell you that today there is great
level of accessibility. As today we have new means of communication, it is easy
to reach the film stars today. Earlier it used to take several weeks before we could
fix an interview with a star. Today you can even contact a star or the manager
on WhatsApp and get done with the interview very easily. Also doing detailed
interviews which allow the journey of the star to come out well is much easier these
days. That’s why I feel that today, more than ever we can have great celebrity
interviews if the interviewer has the right skill set.
Q3. You not only practice film journalism
but you also teach it. Tell us about this other facet. Also, tell us what an
aspirant must do in order to embark on a journey in the field of film journalism.
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| Deepak Dua's review of Dangal in Class VIII book |
Q4. Some of the film reviews are too heavy on the story and the plot while others are heavy on analysis. What according to you are the characteristics of a balanced film review?
A. Well
it actually varies from person to person. Even some very senior journalists
believe that it’s important to reveal a major part of the story at the very
beginning of the review itself. But I personally believe that a review is not
just about giving trivial information about the film. A review has to do more
with providing a point of view on the movie and its related themes. Rather than
giving the names of the artists it is more important to comment on the nature
of their work. It is about highlighting the merits and demerits of work of the
writer to begin with and then the director’s ability to translate into a motion
picture, and editing and various other aspects. Also whether the actor has done
justice to the character or has added more value through his ability to
express. I feel the focus ultimately should be on the subject and its
execution.
Q5. In today’s age when the information
is so readily available on the internet how important is the job of a film
critic?
A. The
job of a critic has always been important and it will always stay important
that way. Sometimes filmmakers say that they don’t make films for critics but for
the common audiences. The fact of the matter is that the critics are a part of
the same audiences. On the other hand when a critic gives your film a rating of
4 out of 5 the next day you mention about it in the advertisement. This means
that the filmmakers do take pride when a film gets well received by critics and
they consider it worthy enough to share with the audiences. Now a review may
not be able to fully convince a viewer to watch a film or decide against it but
it certainly affects his/her opinion as to whether he/she should watch a film
immediately or can even afford to watch it later or if it can be skipped
altogether. So, at a subconscious level, it will always stay with him/her that
a particular film has been panned by the critics or has received critical acclaim.
 |
Film Journalist Deepak Dua at a recording session
|
Q6. How do you go about writing a
review? How long do you take to write one?
A. Well,
to tell you the truth, a critic has to deal with several kinds of pressures. If
we typically talk of a film critic writing for a newspaper then he/she has to
deal with the strict deadlines. So the time between watching the film and the
deadline is often not sufficient and this can seriously affect the quality of
the review. I myself have gone through the process during the stint I reviewed
films for Amar Ujala. I remember I hardly used to have one hour to write and
submit the review. Another kind of pressure that a critic associated with a
media group has to deal with is from the marketing side. Often a critic is
under pressure while reviewing films from the big banners. If a critic is
somehow able to overcome the various kinds of marketing pressures then he/she
can definitely write a good review. As far as I am concerned there have been
occasions when I have written reviews in as much as 30 minutes. But I prefer to
have at least 2-3 hours for writing a review.
So ever since I have started my
blog ‘cineyatra.com’
I have started following an approach wherein after walking out of the theater I
deliberately try to stop thinking about the film. This allows me to completely detach myself
from the film as the visual medium is capable of to putting you in a state of
awe that can unjustly influence your objectivity. So I let the froth settle
first. If I watch the film at night then I don’t think about the film until the
next afternoon. If I watch the film in the afternoon then I usually start
reviewing the film only in the evening, so that I at least have 2 hours in
between where I try to divert my attention from the film. Another important
think that I both practice and preach is that a critic shouldn’t read other
reviews before writing his/her own. After taking the aforementioned break I
start recalling the film in my head and thus begins my critical analysis that
culminates in the review. This allows me to overcome the initial awe or
disliking, thereby allowing me to critically examine the film to the best of my
abilities. I look for the small things that if executed well can do wonders for
a film. As critics we should be able to spot the minutest of the flaws as well.
Ultimately it benefits the viewers if you are able to do a good job as a film
critic. The key is to be open-minded. We all are bound to make mistakes once in
a while but if we are honest and let go of the biases and prejudices then it
allows us to write consistently good reviews that can stand the test of time.
Take
for example a film like Jagga Jasoos.
At the time of its release so many critics wrote it off but today more and more
people are opening up about the film. The moment we resort to narrow-mindedness
we compromise our ability to objectively examine a film. Sometimes, we have commercial
blockbusters which mint several hundred crores at the box-office and yet six
months down the line no one would remember about them. So the review of a film
should ideally take things like re-watch value into consideration as well. So commercial
success isn’t everything, for cinema’s impact goes much beyond and as critics
we must be farsighted. As long as a critic is doing his job with honesty he/she
doesn’t really care about anything else.
Q7. Having written for India’s leading
newspapers and magazines over the last couple of decades you chose to start a
film blog a couple of years back. How do you see this transition?
A. The
same question was asked to me by Google as part of their initiative to promote
Hindi blogging. This was when I was invited to Google’s Gurgaon Office. I had
told them that a blog allows me to establish a direct contact with my readers
unlike any other medium. Now, I have reviewed films for All India Radio and DD News also
and have written reviews for various websites as well, other than magazines and
newspapers, etc. I used to post a few lines from my reviews on Facebook and the
response of the readers used to be both immediate and overwhelming. So
gradually I started posting longer reviews which started getting even better
response from the readers. Then many of my friends started advising me to start
a blog instead so as to reach an even larger audience and I must say that I
have never regretted my decision.
Other
than the reach and responsiveness, the blog actually acts as an archive that’s
easily accessible for one and all and for absolutely free. You just need to
search for the name of the film along my name and you will be able to read the
particular review anywhere, anytime. And once you have come to my blog through
the search engine you can easily access my other reviews as well though the
archive or the search function on the blog. Also, it allows me to revisit my own older reviews
very easily and this way I am able to assess myself critically as well, from
time to time. When your review gets published in a newspaper it reaches to over
one lakh homes but also those people aren’t interested in cinema but the readers
who regularly come to your blog are the ones who are actually interested in
cinema and your views on it. That’s what
makes it so special.
But
as the expectations go up you have to be very careful with what you write.
Since a lot of readers wait for my review and greatly trust my views I too feel
a greater sense of responsibility towards them. Perhaps, that’s why I take
slightly longer to write my reviews these days. And the challenge is not just limited
to writing the body of the review but even capturing the essence the film in
the heading itself. To tell you the truth my readers absolutely adore my headings.
You won’t believe that they message me if they ever feel that the heading isn’t
up to the usual mark. So it is a big challenge but at the same time it is
deeply satisfying.
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated!
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