I don’t know why I’m writing this article. I don’t even know whether it is going to be of any use to you. I don’t think it would be altogether wise of me to say ’read on’. I don’t even think that it is a smart idea to read on in the first place. I don’t mind if you just close this window and do something else. I don’t mind if you don’t read any more, give me a Not Useful and blast me in the comments for a stinking negative introduction. I just don’t care.
All I want to do is vent out a few things that have taken their toll on me. I want to speak out things I’ve been trying to put forward here and there. I want to give it one last shot to shake you guys and force down your throats the things I’m wanting you to try. I want to be the rebel I’ve always been so horrible at being. I want to, for one last time, tell people to shut up and listen.
But I don’t know if anyone heard that. Shove it! It doesn’t matter... If you’ve reached so far, then you could go ahead.
I’ve met a million people here and each one of them said a million things to me. I’ve met blokes who wouldn’t care two hoots about what I wrote, just followed the general crowd and gave me a VU or a U and left. Then there were blokes who read everything I wrote and gave me a VU just because they thought it’s too un-nice to not do that. Then I met chaps who would of course read everything and still give me an SU or an NU because it was a major ego-issue for them to give me any other rating. And then idiots who came and NU-ed me without reading just because I’d NU-ed them in the past for writing stuff I didn’t find use of.
I don’t care one bit for anyone. I don’t care if you like what I write. I don’t care if you hate it. I don’t care at all. I’ll tell you what I care about...
Of all the people who met me, I noticed one thing. One thing in common with all. And that was conformism. Everyone, every god-damned person I met, wanted me to follow something. A style, a purpose, an implied objective, some rules, ethics, system and what not. Amol, I think your writing needs direction. Amol, I think your writing needs to have a logical flow. Amol, compartmentalize your review into points and present it. Amol, try to make your reviews interesting. Amol, your sense of humor is hurtful...
Amol do this and Amol don’t do that.
Yeah, I bet you’re thinking this is a self-centered review fit for a private diary. But hell, its not.
I’m not the only Amol. I’m not the only guy who’s faced this. There are millions of others on this site and elsewhere in the world. Millions who tried out something new, said something very honestly and tried to be themselves, being tugged and trudged to follow rules and to conform to systems.
Screw those systems.
You know what? You readers want everything spoon fed. You readers want people to read your mind first and write something that satisfies your shut-off intellect. You readers keep your mind and head closed, tight shut and completely narrowed down to a very slimy, restricted set of ideals.
Writers aren’t the only people who need to be innovative and open minded. It’s you chaps, the readers, who need to get some open-mindedness too! I mean, a writer tries out something new. He tries to be innovative. And half a million oily-breaknecks out there scoff him off because the writer hasn’t gone along the outdated, obsolete and irrelevant classicist ideals of theirs.
Oh Jesus, grow up! You can’t have the writers bellowing their chest out like idiots and you picking up exactly those things which appeal to your ideals.
Why can’t you keep your ideals flexible? Why can’t you keep your mind open for a paradigm change?
Of the five-thousand really innovative writers out there, there is only one Chetan Bhagat. Of the millions of innovative musicians, there is still one AR Rahman.
No, you readers are no patrons of art. Not at all. You are dumb. You keep your head closed. You don’t want to use it. You want a strict, unintelligent and dumb format presented. The proverbial ’’formula’’ stuff.
Amir Khan-- yes, yes! But a debutante-- no, you’d rather go watch a Tanushree Datta crap than go and take a look at Iqbal. Sheesh!
You know who’s strangled our art? You know why our entertainment industry is so stagnant in terms of style innovations?
It’s because of you!
They want to make money. So they bow down to your absolute dumb ways.
If you keep your head open, be prepared to use it while watching a movie, reading a book or a review, then watch. Watch... everything will become a thousand times better. A thousand times more artistic.
You readers! You audience! You listeners!
You Art Killers!
Did you hear me?