What does movie audience want?

Every film maker in the world is looking for an answer to this question. It is the holy grail we are all searching for and few find, albeit momentarily, and then it suddenly disappears putting the film maker in its quest again. The exit poll every friday outside a multiplex in a metro in India has pretty standard responses. Let’s examine what they are:
1. TIME PASS Hai: I suppose it means it is neither good nor atrocious. It baffles me because time is one thing which we can not replenish. Once gone it is gone. So this cavalier attitude about time pass specially by young moviegoers is rather disheartening.
2. PICTURE SLOW Hai: All films in cinemas run at the same speed of 24 frames per second. So it is not the speed of the projector, it is the pace at which story unfolds on screen. Different type of content requires different pace of narrating a story, but a remark like this from a youngster with attention deficit disorder condemns the film to everyone as B-O-R-I-N-G.
3. HEAVY PICTURE hai: It is not like the audience is asked to lift it. What it means is that it made me think about issues I want to ignore as it is not always pleasant to accept my share of the responsibility.
Leave alone the half-literate or illiterate movie goers, ( in filmspeak known as Masses), India’s literate and educated audience, (in filmspeak known as Classes), also proudly claim that when they go to the movies, they want to leave their brains behind. Is that entertainment? Without that brain, how can you have an emotional connect? It is that brain which keeps you engaged with what is unfolding on that screen.
From somewhat more articulate audience, there are other responses such as, PREDICTABLE hai, CLICHE’D hai, LINEAR hai etc. which I will try to analyze in the next blog.