Mayank Shekhar: Crackling race towards cult

Flop film dekhne jaa rahein hain Were gonna watch a flop filmthe boy behind me in the elevator tells his friend as we go up to the multiplex Kya pata humein hi pasand aa jaye Who knows we might love itsays the friendBoth laugh excitedly entering the theatre having obviously bunked school for a Friday noon show even while theyre aware that the movie Salman Khans Race 3 also starring Bobby Deol Anil Kapoor etc that they plan to devote the next three hours of their life to has already been panned by everyone since its release the weekend beforeWhen was the last time you did this Depends on how old you are of course I still remember my first time in a real sense similarly during middlehigh school And I was dying with every moment of that frickin flick Jeet also a Salman starrer with Sunny Deol in a more prominent role From scene one I began to vocally respond to the supposed rubbish on screen disturbing my buddy the most hardened Bollywoodbuff sitting next to meHe finally turned around like an able shrink and explained how I must watch the film for what it is step back go with the flow see what happens I calmly did Soon I could sense sheer genius in Sunny Deol stamping his two left feet on a rock Bhaicep battling the wind in the song Yaara O Yaara That 1996 songsequence if you search online youll figure has attained genuine cultstatus sinceWhat did I discover that day A line of thought that applies rather well for films as for people as in friendsfamily I call it the consistency theory The point of which is if movies like menwomen displayed a predictable consistency in their character whatever that trait may be in the case of a person say someone whos always without fail unpunctual scatterbrained oversensitive or a movie thats uniformly stupid sexist pointless or intellectually stimulating in earthchanging ways its far easier to accept them for exactly what they are And perhaps even love them for what they arentIts the ones that promise one thing and deliver another that seriously disappoint Which is probably why its inevitably more fun to sit through a film thats astoundingly great Gandhi or delectably trashy Gunda The middle ones leave you deeply unsatisfiedIs that how one defines cult Nope cults impossible to craftmeasure Intellect in such matters often appears like a lame defence mechanism against unpretentious basic emotions anyway For so much of what eventually survives collective discourse is related to a strange personal connect This is why journalistic reviews of movies at best guide some on what to catch that weekendyear Sometimes they appear worthless to begin with but wholly pointless soon after regardlessIf put a gun against my head to reveal my most favourite film ever I might just say Waynes World and that makes sense Likewise one of the worlds most watched movies right now totally panned by reviewers incessantly loved by viewers and that you may not have even heard of is the viscerally superfun teenybopper romcom The Kissing Booth streaming on Netlfix that reminds you of simple pics you craved for as a kid growing up Its a little like Karan Johars Student Of The Year or maybe Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or at least the same genre which also survives millennial memorySo yeah theres that unbeatable nostalgia part to cult How did Internet bring new dimension to the phenomenon By breaking down wellknown or lesser known films into awe striking vignettesvideos to build lifelong devotees around them You only have to visit I Love Trashy Hindi Movies the happiest page on Facebook and other equally active spaces to get a sense of a community developing cults on a daily basisThe line from Race 3 for instance Our business is our business None of your businesswas cult even before the films release Would the selfaware Salmans entry in the film in a cape diving from a skyscraper and then showing up in a threepiece suit with guns in both hands pointed at the screen assuming the audience clapping to his move or his climax scene fighting halfnude with Bobby also halfnude who whacks the heros torso in slomo after Salman has already launched minirockets from his bicepsmake the gradeDoes the extended catfight on the dancefloor between the heroines demand a relook any more than a bunch of Indian politicians rounded up to negotiate a deal so they can have their sex tapes back Anil Kapoor as the Bhojpuri speaking villain in return wants netas to hand him over Special Economic Zones or SEZs pronounced Says in their states so he can deal in both arms and drugs freely Or how about Bhais love story Orhellip Okay can go on foreverTo repeat myself from a foreword I recently wrote for Amborish Roychoudhurys lovely book In A Cult Of Their Own Bollywood Beyond Boxoffice Movies is also how we collectively laugh at ourselvesRace 3 guys I can promise after extensive research is the most welcome addition to the timeless canonMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to 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