Ban the Bores......

The whole of the Indian fashion industry is up in arms. This because the Information and Broadcasting Ministry decided to ban FTV for airing topless models. Had they made the ruling because the content was boring, they might have had everyone's gratitude. It would not have been cultural arrogance then, but merely a friend suggesting what shows to avoid. This censorship, however, meant that even people who have never heard of the channel, or never actually watched it, began to miss it. That is the power of censorship - it can make you miss things that you never ever thought even existed.

In a way censoring boring content makes real good sense. Morality, or emotional disturbance or political incorrectness should no longer be the basis of censorship. Rather, it should be based on the sheer inability of material to entertain or inspire people. With that in mind the first piece of 'entertainment' that should go is Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Making song and dance, fist fights and car chases about love stories, I can bear. And even if the movie has none of those, I would still appreciate it. Before Sunrise and Before Sunset for example. But if KKHH was love, no wonder most of the people I know are opting for arranged marriages. And here's the disturbing part. The movie was watched by more people and won more awards than the others. So much for my taste in movies.

This brings me to an interesting observation. Its fine when you like the movies everyone likes. Or dislike movies everyone hates. But its far more interesting to discuss movies which you loved but everyone else hated, or the other way round. The Aviator for instance. Along with Scarface,  I Am Sam, Avatar and My Name Is Khan. Aviator and Scarface were far too long, I Am Sam was just like it's Bollywood cousin, Main Aisa Hi Hoon, completely pointless, I appreciate Avatar more for its use of technology to tell a story, not much for its story telling, My Name Is Khan came too late to the 'Muslims in post-911 world' scene and didn't do or say anything new what previous movies such as Shoot on Sight, Traitor and the like did or said. So why not ban them. Along with FTV of course.

What do you say?????