‘Genuine storytelling is the one strategy to have interaction audiences as we speak’: Prasoon Joshi

Mumbai: With audiences spoilt for selection within the age of content material overload, famous lyricist-screenwriter Prasoon Joshi believes genuine storytelling is the one strategy to maintain viewers engaged.

In response to Joshi, storytellers discover it arduous to command the eye of the viewers, who’ve entry to a variety of content material throughout totally different mediums as we speak. “Everybody desires to inform their very own tales. However as we speak folks have so many choices. Once we had been rising up, Friday was probably the most awaited day. It didn’t matter what movie was coming; no matter was launched, we might go and watch it. It was a privilege to see one thing new,” Joshi, who served as CBFC Chief for 9 years, informed PTI.

“Individuals have content material indigestion now. So, it’s very troublesome to truly make folks watch one thing as a result of they don’t seem to be that hungry. They’ve been snacking on content material the entire day. So, it’s very difficult (to carry their consideration) and it’s much more vital that we keep genuine. Aside from that, we don’t have something,” he added.

Lamenting the shortage of originality within the movie trade, Joshi criticised the ‘herd mentality’ amongst filmmakers, saying they typically gravitate in direction of related tales and genres primarily based on what’s working on the field workplace.

“By following the herd mentality, what are you getting? Losses. So, what’s the choice? I feel the writing is on the wall. At the very least, for those who really feel that being genuine goes to result in losses, you’ll undergo extra from the lack of copying – that you simply didn’t do something new for your self and nonetheless made a loss,” he mentioned.

Joshi, who presently serves because the chairman of ‘Prasar Bharti’, was speaking on the sidelines of day one of many FICCI FRAMES occasion right here. He participated within the session, ‘The ability of an thought: Storytelling within the age of infinite content material’ on the occasion.

Throughout his session, Joshi mentioned artistic folks can draw from their experiences to stay genuine with their work. He recalled how private experiences led him to write down a few of the most memorable songs in his profession, together with ‘Dekho inhein os ki bundein’ and ‘Essential kabhi batlata nahin’ from ‘Taare Zameen Par’.