A different viewpoint: Of Flipkart sale and Bang Bang review

I haven't written for my blog for a while. The truth is, I have been involved in something else I had taken up. Something that I intend to reveal in a while. But, I would briefly catch up on two recent happenings that made me think a bit. I have a small viewpoint on the Flipkart Sale and the film reviews that Bang Bang received after it's worldwide release.

Much has been said and written about the Flipkart sale. Most of it is pure backlash. While I do feel that they could have planned better, in terms of better anticipating the demand, and accordingly worked around stock availability and server capacity etc., I do not agree with all the insinuations around cheating the customers w.r.t. to the product prices (i.e. the viewpoint whereby customers are creating a furore that Flipkart first increased the prices and then offered discounts). I mean, what did you expect? At the end of the day, they are here to do business and not charity. Who would sell at a loss? To be fair to them, they did not 'increase' the prices of the product; all they did was remove all discounts previously offered and bring the prices up to the MRP level in line up of their 'big billion day sale' when they eventually applied fresh new discounts, which in most cases were equal to if not higher than the previous discounts. Now, what is so wrong with that? Why is that unfair? Wasn't it pretty obvious that it would happen? Don't ordinary retailers and shopkeepers do the same before any sale? They too often remove all previous discounts just before the sale? They sometimes even remove the products from the current collection / stock in the hope of selling it at higher than normal prices after the sale? Why should Flipkart be any different? Just because online market is open 24x7 and the customers have access to other sites that do great business by keeping track of prices at various online retail sites by running an algorithm and no further effort of physically collecting data, is it okay to single out an online retailer for doing exactly what other retailers in the market do on a regular basis? The important part is that they did give huge discounts and whoever managed to get the products they needed, wanted or desired, cannot complain. (On a side note, I liked how Snapdeal was ready and prepared with counter-advertising - very interesting.)

Another happening in the media and the social networks lately was the cringe-worthy film reviews received by the movie 'Bang Bang'. The film which until its release was being hailed and touted as one of the biggest and most-looked-forward-to film of the year 2014, primarily due to its good-looking lead pair of Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif and their previously loved chemistry in 'Zindagi na milegi dobara'; was eventually the recipient of the choicest lambasting by the so-called film critics. Almost all film critics went overboard in writing how the film had no plot and only boasted of the stylized performance and chemistry of the lead couple; and that at least half of this couple (read Katrina Kaif) was only eye-candy and did not having any acting to boast of. Now, if I may question these critics, what were they expecting in the first place? 'Knight and Day', of which makers had formally and very candidly declared it to be an official remake of, was effectively at best a mediocre film with no plot at all and just a good-looking couple (Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz) exuding great chemistry, dreamy romance and some great stunts. Well, 'Bang Bang' had all that and an icing on the cake in the form of breathtakingly awesome dancing by Hrithik Roshan. Oh man! does he dance? The makers' marketing strategy too was all about promoting the hot lead pair with their screen chemistry romancing dreamily in exotic locations; some slick stylized stunts and Hrithik's great dance moves. So, again, did the critics expect Siddharth Anand et al to cook up a story for 'Bang Bang'? In that case, it wouldn't really have been the remake of 'Knight and Day' because the latter at least did not have a story to boast of. In fact, many of the sequences in 'Bang Bang' were a straight lift from 'Knight and Day' like Katrina being given injection shots which made her tell the truth despite putting her in a topsy turvy state; or Hrithik taking Katrina in front on his bike so that she could shoot the goons following them; or even Hrithik assuming a new identity and leaving his family behind to take up this mission and then secretly sending them money making his Dad believe he has won some lottery he did not even remember buying a ticket for; etc. As for Katrina, I wonder whether these critics were expecting her to come up with an Oscar winning performance. Well, looking at her filmography till date, I am just curious to know which of her films actually raised such hopes in the critics. Let's just be honest: Katrina cannot "act" and the film-makers do not hire her to "act". She is just supposed to look good standing next to the popular 'heroes' of her films who have the responsibility of carrying the film on their broad and strong shoulders. If they needed a 'heroine' who could "act", they would have gone for Vidya Balan but they didn't because they only needed their 'heroine' to look hot in a multi-neon shade monokini in a swimming pool or in a bikini top with a skimpy backless lace dress standing next to the gorgeous topless 'hero' who also can "act" well. 'Bang Bang' was only about two gorgeous good-looking actors and slick action. Period.

But, why do film critics always have to comment and harp about the 'plot' all the time, anyway? Do we really want all movies to have great stories and serious performance oriented lead actors playing complex dark real characters that make us think? No. Different movies serve different purposes. Some tell great stories and showcase great performances (e.g. Black and more recently Haider); some are great edge-of-the-seat thrillers with gravity defying stunts (e.g. Dhoom or Singham series); some are supposed to tickle our funny bone (e.g. Andaz Apna Apna); some are pure romance (e.g. Veer Zaara); some are only showcasing great locales (e.g. Chalte Chalte); and yet some are just pure mindless entertainers (e.g. Dabang or any of Salman Khan or Farah Khan movies). If all movies were serious plot based or social awareness based movies made to please the critics and get nothing less than a rating of 4/5 from them, I think, we the viewers would soon loose interest in movies. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.