Santosh Pandit does not need an introduction among Malayali film viewers and netizens. In a very short span he has become quite famous (or infamous) for his tryst with film production, thanks to facebook and youtube.
Pandit’s (I don’t have any clue about such a Mallu surname) hit film ‘Radhayum Krishnanum’ is now a matter of wide discussion. By the way, let me tell you the word ‘hit’ only means that a film reaped revenues higher than the production cost.
I would not have bothered to discuss about Santosh Pandit and his venture as personally I do not feel this is a film that I would enjoy watching. What makes me write this is a recent discussion on Santosh Pandit in a leading Malayalam news channel.
The discussion is anchored by one of the celebrated female news readers of the channel. Apart from one person who has appeared in villain roles in a few movies none of the panelists are known to me and neither do I have any clue in what capacity they were there to discuss the issue. Santosh Pandit himself joins the discussion from a distant bureau.
There is a set of audience who claim to have seen Pandit’s movie. The question is why such a ‘sub-standard’ film became a hit. We are told that the film was made a hit by the viewers who have been rushing to the theatres only to abuse him. Pandit himself had said that he has been receiving innumerable calls abusing him for having shot the film. Audience cheers whenever the panelists come up with humiliating remarks about Pandit. They tell Pandit that the film was horrible and ask him not to make another movie.
As Pandit looks visibly uncomfortable at the mass tirade against him through the popular channel, one of the panelists terms him mentally ill. The participants applaud. Another panelist even tries to classify his mental illness.
Frankly, I could only find how perverted the panelists and other participants in the discussion were and how the channel was blatantly undemocratic. The anchor, who has been playing along with them, did not seem to have learnt the basic lessons of democracy.
Being a citizen of a democratic nation, Pandit has the right to use his money to produce a film and even don several roles in its production. Being a low-budget production, he has tried to market it through a cheaper medium like the internet. Now, it is solely the discretion of the viewers to watch or ignore his movie.
It is nothing but a perverse psychology that leads one to spend his own money to make a call or watch the movie only to abuse Pandit. Pandit has done no wrong to anyone by making a movie using his own financial resources.
Now another apprehension is whether this is signaling the doom’s day of Malayalam movie industry. But there are many who feel the hype around Pandit’s first movie cannot be sustained over time. If there are viewers who appreciate quality, good movies will be made.
Some find this as an indication to the displeasure of movie goers to the some of the super star-studded movies released in the recent times. In fact, if Pandit’s movie has become a hit it indicates that the number of perverts in the state is far more than we imagine.
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