Time whizzes by and I, I write of glimpses I steal

Monday, September 18, 2006

A review on reviews

Are the Film reviews in our print media changing face? After reading the review of Naaga in Hindu's Friday Review recently, I am beginning to think so. It is likely that the movie is so pathetic that people need to be warned to stay away from the theatres. It is also possible that reviewers have a moral authority (and responsibility) to flame bad films and maybe Hindu always did write scathing reviews. Still, I find reviews like it unpalatable. I admit I know very little about the process of reviewing and much less about cinema. But as a reader, I find the tone of the review less objective, why, even almost arrogant.

This same review on a personal blog or community forum wouldn't look out of place at all. Thats what blogs and other alternate media are for. But on a newspaper that atleast I consider The National Newspaper, it is unbecoming. If you don't have anything good to say, and all you are going to do is trash the movie, then why take the trouble at all. Isn't it better to just not review it. Not every movie that gets to the theatres find a place in the Friday Review, do they?

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