curlynerdylady-blog

[curlynerdylady-blog]

THE STUFF THAT ANNOYS ME WHILE INTERVIEWING A CELEB!

It’s my first blog and the topic is quite trouble-maker, but here  I am just sharing my learning experience and not my advice.

I am film journalist, show producer and film critic for Marathi film industry since last 4 years. 

Feel free to express! 

I was watching few interviews related Mani Ratnam’s new film Kaatru Veliyidai which is set to release on April 7.  The lead cast of the film – Aditi Rao Hydari and Karthi – were interviewed by Hindu. For the self study, I was checking the type of questions asked by the reporter. Questions were absolutely simple. The thing which really impressed me was the way they have answered the simple questions with interesting details.

As a film journalist, I always put my creativity in making good questions for celebs. Many of Marathi celebs (specifically Marathi film directors) have complimented on the quality of my questions. But what did not work for me most of the time was the way my questions were entertained by celebs. It’s not a complaint, but the requirement of a film journalist. Most of the times, celebs lack good stories and insight for the film, and this results into boring interviews. 

In the interview mentioned above, Karthi and Aditi were asked a simple question – Which is the first Mani Ratnam’s film they saw on TV or in a Theatre? Both of them actually improvised the answer of  this question which could have been answered in a word. They discussed about that first film they saw, the characters in the film, the layers of the film as well as the characters. Also, how they found themselves into the canvas of the film. Eventually, the whole interview offers informative and entertaining content .

Here, the point is - Breaking the monotony in film promotion is not just the journalist’s job but also of the actor!  The few things that disturbed  me in last four years of my film journalism -

1 - ‘Tech Tech Tar bolayachay’ -

Most of the celebs set their mind with an idea that they just need to repeat the content in all  interviews. Even though the journalists ask different questions they will end up saying same stuff in every interview. So now it is two-way institutionalized process - ‘you know what I know and I know what you know’, that’s fine, but don’t make it obvious for the audience. Here we dumbed down the credibility as a whole.

2 – ‘Tu film baddal interview segment nahi karat?’ –

After doing 3-4 similar types of interview segments with celebs for same film, I would like to do some entertaining yet different. But celebs will always demand for that one monotonous 30 minutes interview where they talk all the same stuff that they have said before. Maintaining the diversity in the pattern of interviews is the need  of  the web, but artists do it as if it’s in their ‘To-do’ list!

3- ‘Ee he nako yaar mala nahi jamat he games type interview, aapan proper interview karu!’ -

As the web world is developing, we need to understand the demands of web space & audience are different than the television. Web is the medium which offers the feeling of ‘watching the video in personal sphere’, hence the content should be raw and less dramatic and non repetitive. I have seen celebs were annoyed because I did not conduct ‘the 30 minutes  interview segment’. 

4- ‘Me sagal bollo ki ekaa fatakyaat, aata kaay?’ –

Of course, I have seen the good quality in most of the highly popular stars – they don’t do long talk on one single question, they are too spontaneous on any question asked by journalists, sometimes they outsmart the reporter - which is healthy sign of communication. But, on the other side, I have met few celebs who fumble or feel offended by out of the box question. And sometimes, they give out all the information of a film while answering the first question. Few of them have a pre-set mind that they have to ‘copy+paste’ the same content everywhere.

So... these are my few concerns or hurdles while interviewing the celebs. I do not blame them completely, but at the same time both the sides – celebs and journalists – should understand that the good and enriching content will hold the audience. I am not talking about the box office success of their film. I am talking about niche stuff i.e. credibility of an actor! Audience should take their star little more seriously, like - he/she is just beyond taking a selfie.