An expensive fantasy far removed from reality

Douglas Everett’s quote would perhaps form the best  prelude to this blog post I am going to make: ““There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

The other weekend (November 1), my wife and I visited the famous Ramoji film city on the outskirts of Hyderabad city.

During the tour, Aslam – our very helpful guide, took us around several areas of interest.  He showed us the endless lines of sets and streets. Sets of village scenes, houses, planes, gardens etc. There was also one scene of ‘optimisation’ where the front entrance was that of the Bangalore international airport and the rear entrance of the same set was that of a major city hospital! All of them had only plaster-of-paris exteriors and were hollow inside. Each set could be transformed to look like anything just with a few tugs and pulls.

Aslam also said that some sets on the city premises costed a whopping Rs. 30 lakh to Rs.1 crore to make just for a 5 minute song sequence! It is rumoured that the costliest Indian movie ever made (Kamal Hasans’ Dasavatharam) costed upwards of Rs. 1 billion (with almost Rs. 100 million spent on charter flights and celebrity visits for promotional events). I just could not help but think – HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO KEEP US IN A WORLD OF PURE FANTASY!

Reality and Fantasy are of course matters of debate with no less a person than Albert Einstein himself declaring “Reality is merely an Illusion, though a very persistent one.” For example, while some may argue if it is essential to spend such huge amounts on keeping us transfixed to a world of fantasy that is far removed from reality, one look at the film city will tell you how many creative talents actually make a living honing their skills and sharing their genius with the world. Should they be denied their due?

The problem should perhaps be laid more at the door of the directors and producers. Maybe the correct path to follow would be not to take away the bread from the plates of so many who depend on this industry to keep us in a dream world and our dreads and fears at bay at least for some time. And yet use this pool of creative talent to make films that will help further increase human thought and free thinking – not just weave silken threads of fantasy to build ivory towers for people to ultimately lose their reality.