Statutory Warning....

Movie makers today seem to be striving towards political correctness and social responsibility. I observed this in a couple of movies I saw this year. Pity they couldn't prevent the movies from being duds!

Political Correctness:
Its a bird..It's a plane...It's.......SUPERMAN. Superman Returned this year with a son in tow. The movie, sadly, didn't go on to make history.

There is one scene in the movie that struck me for its "Disclaimer" quality. Superman saves an airplane, incidentally carrying the love of his life, whose controls stop working. On putting it back to the ground, he tells the panicked passengers "....After all, flying is still the safest mode of travel!"

What amazed me was the striking stupidity in the way the statement was made. I understand what the director wanted to convey to his audience. And with people world over getting more and more scared about air travel, may be it was wise to convey the message. But, I can't get over the fact that you choose to show an airline in trouble and then have the hero say these words. (Statutory Warning eh?)

And, to think of it, if he were Superman, he would say "Don't worry about this minor snag. As long as I am around, you are safe." So much for Superman!

Social Responsibility:
"Anthony Kaun Hai?" - probably the worst-suited title that Hindi cinema has seen in a long time - was a decent movie, rather a tad too slow. Coming just before Munnabhai Returns, it was forced to carry a baggage of expectations, which somehow split totally across its seams and emptied the theatres of audience.

This movie has Sanjay Dutt, playing a contract killer, asking Arshad Warsi for the password to a hotel room safe. Warsi gives him a number like 1008 to which Dutt says something to the effect of "Birthday? 10th August? A lot of people make this mistake"

Hats off to Mr. Dutt but "where were the audience?"

Cinema, to me, is a great medium to dramatize what you want the audiences to take home. Diluting this with such spoken messages dilutes the effect and gives it a preachy after-taste.

And I thought this one was only for the cigarrette packs.