“The greatest trick film critics have pulled is to convince the world that they are relevant“

Long before I became a part of the Filmed Entertainment industry 20 years ago, I have always been heavily skeptical of film critics / reviewers. Most of this skepticism stemmed from the fact that my experience watching films over the past 40+ years, has almost never aligned with the views of the critics. I am what you would call – the ideal film watcher. I like all kinds of films. Even if one aspect of a film is good, I like it. I am able to ignore the bad parts and focus on the good ones.

Over the past 20 years, my skepticism has transmogrified* into empirical evidence. There are tens (if not hundreds) of films I have tracked over the years that have got 1/2, 1, 1&1/2, 2 stars from critics (a disgusting way to rate a movie, but whatever…), which have gone on to make millions and millions of Rs at the Box Office and have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Clearly people do not care what the critics have to say, or they lay more faith on the first-hand feedback from their friend / neighbour / work colleague / classmate on a movie, than on a ‘critic’.

Further, critics have done themselves no favours by ‘selling’ their reviews. There are dozens of stories – some first hand, some second-hand – all of which talk about the ‘paid reviews’ mafia run by film critics. Arrange a special ‘press screening’, feed them lots of food & booze and pay them Rs XX lakhs for a 4-star review. If you don’t, they will pan the film.

These stories have penetrated deep into society. I interact with close to 5000 students and parents each year – most of them M&E industry aspirants. Have been doing so for the past 18-19 years. I have seen the steady & secular decline in the credibility of film reviews among ‘the public’, so much so that most of them don’t know / don’t care who has written / said what about which film. They make their watching decision on a whole other set of criteria and reviews don’t even feature in their top 10 decision making criteria.

In the end, all I want to do is quote from one of my favourite movies – Ratatouille…

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.”
– Anton Ego, Critic.

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*Calvin & Hobbes fans will get this…