From TV Shows to Box Office Miracles
In 2012, the number one superstar in the Indian film industry, Aamir Khan, tried to get involved in the field of television and produced a program "Truth Interview", which invited witnesses of sexual abuse of children, domestic violence, caste system and other unequal incidents to walk on the stage. The screen, telling their experiences, let TV audiences in India face the darkest corners of Indian society and became one of the most influential TV programs in India that year.
Aamir Khan's films began to reflect on social issues long before "Truth Interviews" aired. After the success of the show, he continued to focus on the topic of affirmative action in his next film projects. He accepted "Wrestle! Invited by the crew of "Dad" to play the father who trains his daughter to win the wrestling championship, the film has been widely acclaimed all over the world, especially in the Indian and Chinese markets, and has become a box office miracle.
Aamir Khan's new film "Mystery Superstar" is directly inspired by "Truth Interview". Writer and director Avati Chan Dean watched the real domestic violence incident mentioned in the first season of the show, and immediately found a mother and daughter during the preparatory work of the script. The daughter encouraged her mother to learn to drive and find a job. The two are dependent on each other, and this character relationship setting was used by the director as the basis for the story of "Superstar". Later, in the third season of "Truth", he saw the story of a young boy learning to play golf from social networks, and realized the impact of social networks on the life of the modern Indian middle class. The way the heroine of Superstar became famous.
The story ended up being a mix of affirmative action and great singing. The film was released in India at the end of last year, and once again received a double harvest of word-of-mouth box office. Indian child star Zeira Worsim played wrestling champion Geeta in "Wrestling" when she was a teenager. "Superstar" Aamir Khan collaborated with her again. She changed the image of an action actor with short hair and tough hair in the previous work, and more Add emotional drama to the characters, sometimes restrained and sometimes extroverted. The 16-year-old female singer Meghna Mishra, who sings for the heroine, is a rising star in the Indian music scene. Her voice is very similar to that of the star Zeira Wasim, and her voice and performance are perfectly combined with the help of audio and video editing. The story runs through beautiful music and songs from beginning to end, giving the film the entertainment and appeal of a musical.
Affirmative Action Issues in the Framework of Family, Mind and Society
There are similarities in the character relationship settings of "Superstar" and "Wrestling". Both stories refer to the problem of women's survival under patriarchy. Whether it is "Wrestling", the mother submits to the father's family authority and cannot change the way he trains his daughter to become The idea of a wrestling champion is that the "Superstar" family all obey their father, and the father can beat the mother at will, which directly and ruthlessly expresses the humble reality of women in the two families.
The difference is that female wrestlers in "Wrestling" face more social resistance. Although the father very much wanted a son at first, since the children are all women, he simply trains the girls in the same way as boys to help them win a place in a male-dominated society. Patriarchy helps in this story. A positive factor that pushed her daughter against social resistance.
And the resistance of the heroine of "Superstar" comes from the family and ideological level. The father is the absolute authority in the family. He speaks the truth and fights at every turn. The heroine's immediate family has become the biggest obstacle to her pursuit of dreams and a happy life. The situation in society is not much better - the famous singer played by Aamir Khan has hired a big-name lawyer, and his wife and her female lawyer spent a lot of effort to win the divorce lawsuit, as a vulnerable group of women still struggle for even a little more justice.
The problem presented by "Superstar" is even more severe, and the heroine needs to take the initiative to make more efforts for her happy life. This story is more full of equal rights than "Wrestling". Not only does her father not support her ideas, but it is also the source of domestic violence; in order to realize her ideal, the heroine needs to use all means to discover the deepest kindness in the hearts of strangers; And because she is a minor and a person with limited capacity for civil conduct, she must convince her mother to break the shackles of ideology and seek legal help in order to finally achieve her goal.
Social networks help ideological improvement
The coach who trained the basic wrestling skills for the "Wrestling" crew once mentioned that Indian society is still resistant to women's participation in wrestling. The significance of "Wrestling" is to convince everyone that women can not only participate in wrestling, but also in the sport. success. In order to defeat the public opinion, the father and daughter in the story worked tirelessly to train and compete, compete with authoritative coaches in the wrestling world, and obtain the qualifications to compete for their country. Until they stepped onto the stage of the Commonwealth Games, their results could not be recognized by the international audience. seen. The road to equal rights in "Wrestling" is traditional and difficult.
Fortunately, the heroine of "Superstar" has the support of social networks. The director saw in the third season of "Truth" that a little boy could learn at least 60% of his golf skills through social network videos, and then achieve good results in the game. He was greatly shocked and realized that social networks can affect a person's skills. The improvement can have a significant impact. Therefore, he designed the plot of the heroine of "Superstar" becoming an internet celebrity singer, which is different from the situation in "Wrestling" where the father and daughter overcome all obstacles to gain attention. As long as the mysterious superstar uploads the video of her singing to the social network, the whole world can see it immediately. .
In turn, the support of countless strangers around the world has become the capital for her to fight for equality and the premise that she can pursue greater happiness than ordinary women. When the heroine's mother had a showdown with her father, she directly took out her daughter's large number of fans as a bargaining chip, causing her father to de facto agree to the divorce. Without a talent for singing, she might settle for the status quo, enjoying the limited freedom her mother gave her; without a social network, she wouldn't realize how talented she is. This is more epoch-making than "Wrestling" simply relying on wrestling skills to pursue equality, with faster speed, wider coverage, and more epoch-making significance. With the blessing of the modern scientific and technological environment, the idea of equality will become a modern social ideology faster and better. the mainstream.
"Mysterious Superstar" is worth watching in the theater. In addition to enjoying the wonderful singing, "Superstar" can also inspire us to pay attention to the biggest movie stars in the neighboring Indian film industry, how to use their influence to spread positive energy to the whole society . I hope that there will be more good works that focus on social reality in the Chinese film industry.
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