READY For Some Critics Bashing

It’s been one week since Ready released at the theaters. The debate on its box office performance is already done and dusted. With about Rs 70cr nett domestic business, Ready has emerged as the third biggest opening week ever in Bollywood history. And going by ‘real’ consumer response, it is set to cross the 100-crore mark by the end of its third weekend.

However, if you had to rewind the clock back to the day of the film’s release (June 3), and read or watch the various reviews across newspapers, TV channels and websites, you will be excused for believing that Ready is the next Tees Maar Khan. 

That Ready will sink from Sunday onwards. That Ready is cinema that has no takers. That Ready is regressive, un-funny and the start of Salman Khan’s downfall. Indeed, you will be excused for believing everything that some of India’s most esteemed critics wanted you to believe.

It is fairly well known that critical acclaim (or the lack of it) and box office have no correlation. And that’s fine, because critics have to play a specific, expert role, not a trade journalist’s role. However, my problem with their approach starts when a critic begins to make personal attacks, ridiculing those involved with a film he/ she didn’t like, with little respect to the fact that like the critic is doing a job, so are the filmmakers and the actors – The tough job of making money at the box office by entertaining audiences at large.

Even more questionable is the tirade the critics’ community tends to collectively launch against certain individuals. Akshay Kumar and Anees Bazmee have been recent targets of such attacks. It is difficult to launch a similar attack against Salman Khan, given his recent tryst with blockbuster success. Yet, a few dared to do it anyway.

Personally, I immensely enjoyed Ready, despite its evidently laidback and over-the-top approach to filmmaking. But that’s not the point. Personal views can, and should, differ. The problem arises when certain critics try and enforce their personal views and sensibilities on millions of unsuspecting ticket payers.

A reputed critic tweeted about Ready: “No problem w/ mindless comedies, time-pass entertainers, as long as they are FUN. But lazy filmmakers who just rehash same old s**t...not fun.”

One of the problems with such comments is that they reflect a lack of appreciation of the business itself. A lack of understanding of the fact that eventually, a film is made so that someone can make money on it. Generally, it’s the same reason for which most businesses run too, including the newspapers and TV channels the critics work for.

The consumer has a different story to tell altogether. Ready has been immensely liked, scoring at par with Dabangg on our Word-of-Mouth Index at the end of the first week. And that indeed is the real story. And the only story that matters.