Against the Money-Laundering Machine
Recently we launched Contemplation Cinema movement. Earlier film movements by others mainly focused on creating awareness about art house cinema and experimental films. They emerged largely because of aesthetic differences. Their goal was to oppose the aesthetics of masala cinema and establish the idea of "pure art." But we should ask why these efforts have remained marginalised art despite their intentions. First, we must clarify the distinction between "Masala cinema" and "mainstream cinema." Mainstream cinema includes filmmakers like Bong Joon Ho, Scorsese, Hitchcock, Vishal Bhardwaj, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag, Shoojit Sircar, Selvaraghavan and Mani Ratnam and few others. These directors operate within the mainstream framework yet strive to craft their own unique aesthetics with minimal compromise. They are not the focus of our discussion here. Instead, I am referring to directors whose sole objective is commerce, those who take familiar, formulaic storylines...