The highs and lows of filmdom

Selective Audience

These are the experimental films, mostly made by new directors, with or without stars. The money spent on the making of such films is marginal and these movies generally have a niche audience. 

So films like Dev D and Wake Up Sid with big stars or Quick Gun Murugan and Peepli Live with not-so-known faces, fall in this category. This year has seen a number of hits when it comes to low budget films, like Peepli Live, Udaan, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai and more recently, Do Dooni Chaar. Though meant for a specific audience, these films run to packed houses and are appreciated by both critics and movie-lovers alike.

But when it comes to choosing between a high budget film starring the superstars of the industry or a low-budget film, what would the youngsters prefer? Metrolife finds out.
Vidya, a first year student of Christ University, is a huge film-lover. “Recently, I saw Do Dooni Chaar and felt it was really good,” she says. But Vidya feels the audience prefer films that are promoted or marketed well, in other words — high budget films.

“Most of the low budget films don’t get promoted well. Their opening is poor but they catch on later, once they receive critical acclaim. On the other hand, the promotions of big films, like Dabangg, are lavish,” she says.

“But if given a choice between a high budget and a low budget film, I would probably choose the high budget film before the release and the low budget one after the release,” she smiles.

Most people say they went to watch Peepli Live only because it was a film by Aamir Khan

Productions. “I watched Peepli Live mainly because it was produced by Aamir Khan,” says Vishaka, a student of Mount Carmel College. “The star cast of a film is very important.

Otherwise, the plot should be so appealing that it should  automatically draw the audiences.” Though Vishaka prefers a starry expensive entertainer over a low budget film, she thinks “low budgets films are beautiful”.

“Most of them are good with an interesting storyline,” she notes.
Vishwanathan Iyer, an associate system engineer at IBM, enjoys watching both larger-than-life and realistic films.

“I loved watching both Dabangg and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai,” he admits. “Nonsensical entertainers like Dabangg are good stress busters especially for working people while low budget films are talked about and get critical acclaim,” he admits.

“However, many of the low budget films fail to do well as they are not marketed properly.”