Image Problem of Manipur's Film Industry : Dasanihe !

By Ranjan Yumnam *

A cinema poster at the busy traffic point of Kangla gate/GM Hall

The other day I told my friends that I was making a music album featuring my own songs and myself in a cameo appearance. The reaction was astounding: friends looked aghast in disbelief as if I was about to commit a taboo act. As a music enthusiast, I have recorded gigs and those who have listened to them have appreciated my croonings, genuinely or in lark, and I hoped that turning them into music videos would find a larger audience for my artistic dabbling. In fact, I sang for a Manipuri digital film and AIR has been playing it regularly, sometimes on listeners' demand.

But the objections from my friends and well-wishers to the idea of me playing a marginal role in a music video have intrigued me. They thought I have gone out of my mind even to think about it. The reason they give for their outrage is that associating with Manipuri Film industry is not a respectable and wise decision and it will demean one's stature in the society. For better measure, they added, "lila falagi mi oiningbro, khara lemmo".

This little episode says volumes about the society's negative perception of the Manipuri showbiz and reveals a serious image problem faced by the Manipuri Film Industry and all those working under lights, camera and action routine.

It is an irony though. In spite of the huge cultural impact that films have had on the Manipuri society as a platform for highlighting important socio-political issues, providing entertainment to the people stricken with violence and enriching our daily social chatter, filmmakers and actors of Manipur have not been accorded respect and proportionate rewards they deserve.

Just ponder how Manipuri films have become an integral part of our lives: we start our day by listening to film music; we cheer on when our kids do a mime performance of their favourite actors; the entire family get together on the pretext of watching a Manipuri potboiler; teenagers pick up filmy lines and sometimes imitate the fashion and style of the stars. In short, the effects of Manipuri films have percolated into our daily lives, right into our bedroom.

However, the constraints under which the Manipuri filmmakers struggle to produce a film are depressing. If not for the sheer ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Manipuris, Manipuri films would have died a slow death. Chief among the constraints and drawbacks of this industry are the lack of a big market, decent theatres, piracy, the old-fashioned techniques of storytelling employed by Manipuri directors and scriptwriters and the not-so-commendable conduct of the actors in their personal lives.

Small market is a well-known problem. Manipuri films, a majority of which are in Meiteilon language, cater primarily to an audience in valley districts. And most people don't watch these movies at the decrepit theaters because these films can be watched in DVDs later in the comfort of home-free of cost, thanks to piracy. Most cinema-goers are now being profiled as rustic people from rural places, a tag which further shoo away those genuinely interested in a theater experience. Watching movie in a cinema hall in Manipur is not a cool thing to do if you want to be seen as urbane. This unfortunate categorisation of the cinema-going patrons in an unflattering demographic group has hurt the image of Manipuri films as a symbol of chic and happening.

Then the most under-reported Achilles' heel of the Manipuri films is its poor visualization techniques, or what we call screenplay. Movie is basically a medium of imagery and directors should draw upon the unique strength of this medium to tell a riveting story-through powerful images that need no melodramatic verbiage underpinnings. An image says a thousand words. In the Manipuri films, it's the other way round. Redundant dialogues of thousand words are juxtaposed on a lackluster setting that has no visual appeal. Films should be about exciting medley of sights and sounds.

A Manipuri film resembles more of a "Visual Radio" than a sequence of images crafted together in a meaningful order. If you play a Manipuri movie on TV, then close your eyes and listen to it, you will appreciate what I am trying to say: It's just a radio drama in a wrong medium. That's why all Manipuri films look and feel the same with the lips of the actors rendering the words in hundreds of identical close-up shots. I seriously believe that all Manipuri films originate from Shumang Lila and radio plays where the emphasis is more on the scripts then on the picturisation. So there goes another rating downgrade for the Manipuri films.

I don't know why the storyline of our movies are again out of sync with the modern trend. In movies after movies, hand-written letters are still exchanged between lovers in this age of email and mobile phones. Our scriptwriters seem to be caught in a time warp of bullock carts and they still use the primitive literary devices of the bygone era. Films should mirror the present reality and should not be used as a vehicle to humour the nostalgic Golden Age mentality for ageing writers.

A majority of our artistes are not well educated. I know this has no correlation with the performance of the actors per se. In fact, the biggest stars of Hollywood and Bollywood are school or college drop-outs. George Clooney never graduated from college; Katrina Kaif didn't complete schooling. The salaries of stars are so big in Bollywood and Hollywood that people don't care a hoot about their educational background.

But in the Manipur's digital film economy, actors cut a sorry figure and they hardly make any serious money out of acting. And since acting is not a long term viable career option, people from well-heeled and academically oriented families usually don't go into films, reinforcing the stereotype of actors as unlettered cute faces hailing from average family background. Next to joining insurgency, films are in danger of being increasingly seen as the last refuge of the unemployed. While film industry in other states is emblematic of exclusive glamour and glitz, Manipuri film business has turned into a cottage industry of the hoi polloi which has denigrated its prestige further.

Unlike in other big states with big markets, we do not have a cult of celebrities, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. Our stars are not followed by paparazzi. Crowd do not throng where they go and scramble for autographs (Manipuris are proud people who consider themselves at par with-at least not below-any other mortals). We don't have screaming fans who break security cordons to grab the shirts of the movie idols at movie premiers.

To address this attention deficiency gap, some local actors hobnob with politicians and businessmen to enhance their status but in the process they end up becoming reckless and indiscreet about their escapades giving credence to the myth of actors as modern day courtesans who can be bought at the right price anytime. You know as well as I do that this is a free country and it is well under their rights to do whatever they want, without breaking law and public decency, but the point is, their social antics behind the camera have not sent a positive message about them and that has defiled the industry as whole.

It's no surprising then that Manipuri filmmakers and actors are not respected. I have never heard of any parents of an IAS officer seeking the hand of actress for marriage, though she may have the looks of Scarlett Johansson or Aiswarya Rai. This general lack of respect for actors may be attributed to circumstances which are beyond their control, yet some of it is of their own making which we have discussed.

And that brings us to the question of whether I should make a music album and risk being branded cheap, undignified and unbecoming of a gentleman.

Dasanihe!



(Views expressed are personal and do not represent official position)

Ranjan Yumnam

* Ranjan Yumnam, presently an MCS probationer, is a frequent contributor to e-pao.net. He can be contacted at ranjanyumnam(at)gmail(dot)com. This article was posted on February 27, 2012.