Mistakes Indian Filmmakers Make While Making Fantasy Films

It won't be wrong to say that the fantasy genre in India has not been experimented upon, in comparison to other genres like romance, drama, and non-fiction. When I started looking for reasons as to why fantasy did not work as a genre in Indian cinema, my reasons boiled down to one particular line of thought. Around this line of thought developed more reasons linking eventually to the failure of fantasy in Bollywood movies.

The old Bollywood Hollywood debate

We often compare the cinema of India with that of the west, it would be a disgrace not to say that the cinema created by the west in this genre is less than grand. Hollywood has created fantasy films and TV series for the entire demographic following this genre. From The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter for a younger audience to Game of Thrones and The Witcher for adults, Hollywood offers an array of options for its viewers and it does it well.

Indian filmmakers are notoriously lazy

Coming back to Bollywood, there is no film or film series Bollywood has created that can stand against the ones put up by the west. One can blame this on the need of filmmakers to stick strictly to their tried and tested methods and genres. We can dump the blame on Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty who create similar versions of their movies again and again with a little twist here and there. 100s of cars fly out and 50 thugs failing to at least shoot down the hero is nothing something that qualifies as good cinema. Neither is the same old family drama and romantic saga concept of Karan Johar who finds newer famous faces every 1-2 years and ends up breaking all records and his movie is a blockbuster before it even releases. This is the first mistake Indian Filmmakers make. Indian filmmakers are notoriously lazy, not willing to experiment with newer ideas.

Blind copying is not the way

The second mistake Indian filmmakers make is that they copy the wrong things. Taking up ideas from another film is not wrong. Indian filmmakers have done it a lot of times, the one I can remember off the top of my head is Badla. With Amitabh Bachan, Tapsee Panu, and Amrita Singh in the lead, the film is a cut to cut copy of the Spanish film, 'The Invisible Guest'. Now, this is a good example of a copy. Unlike Badla, which is the best example I can think, there are many which will provide as bad examples of a copy.  God Tusi Great Ho is a copy of Bruce Almighty, and let me save you the trouble, it's a bad one. Action Replayy, another copy of an all-time class, Back to the Future, failed to create the magic the original one did back in Hollywood.
The point here is not to list down all the failures of Bollywood movies that have been picked up from Hollywood, the list would be quite long. The point I'm trying to make here is that Bollywood knows how to copy things, they just don't know what to copy. If the viewers want to see high tech features or ultra-advanced technology, a lot of Hollywood filmmakers are already at it. We don't have that technology and the audience won't settle for rip-offs. Sarkar may have been a copy of The Godfather, but it brought out the brilliantly talented Amitabh Bachchan and did what it could do best, portray a character well.

What is the point of a story if there is no story?

Whenever Bollywood has tried copying the fantastical movies and concepts from the west, they have invested their entire focus on over-filling the film with fantastical elements. The crowd is so much so, that they forget the simple fact that every movie needs a plot. Each movie is a story that needs to be told in the most interesting manner. As high-tech and outworldly as these effects may be, the point of a film is to tell a tale. If it fails to do that, then no matter how many dragons you let loose, or wizards with incomprehensible powers, centaurs or ghosts you include in your film, it will not earn success. Storytelling is an art. Some do it well, some never realise the simplicity of it, and some don't realise the potential of it.

To conclude this piece, I have listed down three mistakes Indian filmmakers make while making fantasy films. It is quite possible that there are many other technical ones I may have missed, but this captures the gist of it. There are a few examples of fantasy films in India, like Tumbaad, that show the potential of fantasy in India. All us fantasy buffs can do is hope Indian filmmakers take these ques and start creating. If not, we have Harry Potter to keep us entertained.

About the Author

Sharon is a full-time writer and part-time coffee tester and dog petter. She is often found reading fiction and obsessing over dogs. Sharon currently works as the Content Head of Binge Mad, a TV, Movies, and Books blog.