Bollywood’s Stolen Concepts from Hollywood

This is in reply to #31 RMor,

Sir,

I greatly respect the things that you noted in the article. It is additional knowledge to keep on doing better. So a huge thank you for that. I'd like to inform you and the readers of this article that this piece of writing was not written as a journalist 'reporting' something, rather like a debutant writer. This article was published in one of the Influence Life Style magazine, and keeping in view of the readership of that magazine I was ordered to write in the way a blog is written. I published this on chowk after getting some great reviews on it. Not for exhibiting true journalism.

Nevertheless, I thank you once again for your insightful critique of the article.

Regards,
Zara Hafeez

When the objective of an article makes its appearance in the fifth paragraph, you can imagine what merit the work has. For a journalist/journalism student, this was a moderate effort at combining research from various sources. However, good journalism requires a keen insight in addition to deep drilling abilities, not to mention closely following copy editing guidelines.

For starters, CBS news, the Film Journal and PBS are not the authoritative figures on Indian Cinema. Neither do they have any reputable standing in Hollywood circles. These are merely fourth-hand reports being re-regurgitated for mass consumption. They are not meant to be referenced for feature writing.

For second-hand, you need to go to Stardust, Cinefare, Filmfare, Sight and Sound, Screen, The Hindu, Times of India, Femina, Critic, Cinema Senses, Cineaste, Box Office, Close Up, MovieJuice, Audience, Uncut, The Guardian Movie Section (I think that’s the name), Inside Film, Premier, Screendaily, or online sources such as Scriptmag, Rediff, Rotten Tomatoes, etc. For first hand, you pick up the phone and talk to an agent - any agent, anybody’s agent. There are agents available and open to all levels of reporting, their job is to represent their industry and nearly all do a very good job of it. Even if their talk abounds with gossip, or offers incorrect information, by being in close proximity to someone from that industry will rev up your journalistic instincts to root out other more reliable sources, hence offering credence to your contributions. And there are agents galore at any location near you.

It also helps when writing, as well as in basic courtesy, to put down people’s names correctly, especially if they commonly use a middle name or if those names are so well known (and beloved) as to raise immediate red flags in the reader’s mind, which will often serve only to wash away any vestige of creditworthiness. An example of misspelling in your article – Francis Coppala, correctly spelt Francis Ford Coppola.

Good grammar rarely prolongs pain, and if you use a title for one person (e.g. Mr. Aamir Khan), regardless of whether it is being utilized in a sarcastic sense, you must follow the pattern and give a title to all proper names. A rule of thumb is never to use titles derogatorily. Remember also to keep the tone of an article limited to one or at maximum, two, shades, in order to retain uniformity. No one enjoys kaleidoscope reports, even if they are about kaleidoscopes.

Lastly, comments such as “Who died and made them king?� have a special, revered niche in the sphere of blogging. A print reporter is not permitted such license.

However, regardless of the medium availed of, as a journalist, your first breath must be impartial, as must be your last.

Good Luck.

RMor.
Editor-in-Chief of a daily with a modest circulation of 40,000 during my heydays.

Just yesterday I was watching GEO TV program ``Parday main ranay doo``. They showed an old pakistani movie which many remember as Mollaa Jutt aur Noori Nath``, this mivue just like many pakistani movies was copied frame by frame by INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY, however the only difference was that indian version was in hindi and characters names & locations were changed. COPIED movie was called ``Humsay barkay kon`` featuting Dharmendar and Shatrukan Sinna.

C`mon indian why copy don`t you guys have orginality. There are thousands of pakistani movies which became Bollywood`s target. Pakistani film industry was indeed shortlived but we do mange to bring forth some remarkable movies, songs & music which are constantly being chage and modify to suit indian population.