Childrens Cinema

Nationalist May 6, 2022 1447 0

Children need their own space. In most middle class households, children are getting addicted to the elders' addiction to TV Soaps. They too are watching the dark side of society, the jealousies, the egos, the anger, the abuse and are wallowing themselves in the helplessness of the victims of the above. In many households where this is happening, children are ageing much rapidly. They are thinking like adults instead of being just children. This is very disturbing. On the other end are children from the HNI class,brand conscious even when watching movies. They are more likely to watch OTT & are the main audience in Disney movies in multiplexes. Disney movies do not come to normal movie theatres these days, only multiplexes. A Lion King released in normal theatre and children given benefit shows would yield more audiences.

Children's movies need to be full of fun, frolic, bonding, friendship & values and make them laugh. They need to teach basic life skills to children subtly through the stories they tell. Children need to remain children, be true to themselves, be strong, self-confident and learn values. The need to be honest, be truthful, help others are values they learn in early childhood. Children's movies that focus on these through beautiful stories & happy families bonding together are the most liked by children. Magic & Fantasy fire imagination in young minds. In my childhood, we used to have week-long celebrations of children's movies in Delhi. I went to a similar week-long celebration in Pune. The movies screened in most of these festivals are in English or Hindi and rarely the vernacular since children cannot be expected to be reading from subtitles.

India needs more movies which allow children to think like children only, not adults, movies which penetrate and look into the world from the child‘s perspective, not just the animated western movies. The West does a better job than India in Children's Cinema. They just focus on telling a story. For them, the actors are not important as much as the story. Hence they have many coming of age movies, fantasy movies, fun movies, animals & animation movies, all intended to keep alive the child within all of us especially the children. It is nice to have fantasy & mythology as backdrop for children's movies but while they expand the horizons of belief and strengthen imagination of children, they subtly do convey strong messages. Very few attempts have been made to showcase early childhood problems of Indians kids in written format or in movies in the past.

For example, take the case of ADHD. My first novel which I wrote after years of research on ADHD, “The Peer '' narrated how early childhood socio economic events cause lifelong ADHD in some. Parents & Teachers across the country liked the book for no book till date has narrated the story from a second grade student’s perspective.. It is a screenplay awaiting to be converted into a Movie. Pasanga2 by Suriya too exactly focused on that movie. We need more books and movies addressing ADHD.

Regional cinema has explored many pressing issues affecting the kids. Kannada Muddhu Muddhagi movie by Sai Krishna Enreddy beautifully shown in a short film how quarrelling parents never realise the effect they are having on the child’s psyche. The child reminded me of Shamili in her childhood with mickey mouse braids in Pookaalam Varavaayi. She became friends with the bus driver. In Muddhu Muddhagi, the child prefers Granny instead of her parents. I wonder why we are not having any such movies at all. Most movies focus on Adult Issues, Crime,Politics & Romance and rarely do movies come which address the real problems of early childhood.Of late,there have been many coming of age teens movies. 90% of children’s early childhood problems continue into adulthood since they are never resolved in early childhood when they occur. It is brushed aside as a passing phase by the parents and school. In Udaan, we have seen how the lack of parents in rohan’s life causes rebellion in him. More repression results in more rebellion rather than obedience which parents expect through use of force. Those who cannot rebel internalise their grief creating inferiority and attention seeking children.

In India,marketing by big budget movies ensures that children easily remember Taare Zameen Par,Stanley Ka Dabba and Lion King but they will not have seen 101 Chodyangal. Young directors today are not saddled by burdens of the past. Hence they are able to innovate freely. Cinematography like in malayalam cinema or in stanley ka dabba is also important to make the movie very realistic. In Muddhu Muddagi, the camera is only focused on the child and other children and not even the parents are shown though the voices are heard. Directors should also explore web series. Short films are the best way to convey a lot. In 10 minutes, a lot can be conveyed instead of two hours movie.

We Parents need to find a way/platform to bring these excellent gems to the children & make it a perennial habit for all children. Maybe we need to have a Childrens movie period too once a month atleast in all schools. The Schools can play via OTT or through Youtube the movies. We parents should also come together to give directors a cause to make such movies. These are my thoughts which I wanted to share with u.