In the words of Richard Bach – the author of ‘Illusion’ a movie is nothing but an illusion which requires space and time to be experienced. So you pay for the ticket, you settle on in a seat and forget what is going on outside the theatre.  People watch movies and dramas for fun, for learning, for taking some lessons, and most importantly they identify with one of the characters in the movie. Same is the case while reading a book; we identify ourselves with one of the characters in the novel.

Moviegoers and readers identify with stories through the characters. The most powerful way to reach an audience is through the characters’ emotions. For only when we connect with the characters on an emotional level, the communication becomes deep and meaningful. Well-written scenes that include characters’ emotions allow the audience to absorbedly take part in the story and bond with the characters. In our real life, we meet and interrelate daily with other people. Unlike in stories, many of these interactions are fairly apparent. While some audience rather enjoy a more distanced, intellectual challenge, many others want to engage with characters in books and movies on an emotional level. Through the character’s emotions, experience, learning etc the audience live their lives.  Writing, plotting, editing, etc is not a joke. It requires great talent to script a story, choose the right actors to emote those characters, a great writer to write dialogues, a great editor to edit scenes to reinforce significance of emotion in creating a persuasive story.

A movie requires developing the character’s emotional development as it leads to their ultimate transformation at the overall story level. It needs to portray the character’s more transitory emotional reactions at the scene level. Often writers get stuck by staying in the character’s head and “telling” what the character thinks. An emotion, on the other hand, has a strong physical component and is primarily felt in the body. The writer is able to “show” emotions through how the character relates or reacts to conflict. Emotions always tell the truth. Most of us in real life are capable of handling ourselves when things go well or working in our favour. But, when we are thrown in some sort of disaster, conflict, roadblock we find out who we truly are. This same principle applies in stories. Moviegoers and readers alike want to participate in dramatic stories to learn how characters respond emotionally when things turn disorganized, challenging, and stressful, when all is lost.

Storytelling involves more than lining up the action pieces, arranging them in a logical order and then drawing conclusions. Yes, dramatic actions pull moviegoers to the edge of their seats. Emotions such as conflict, tension, suspense and curiosity hook moviegoers. Yet, no matter how exciting the action, the character’s emotional reactions and emotional development provide an appeal. Any presentation with a strong human element increases the chances of audience identification. Why ‘Gone with the wind’ is still a great movie? The reason being – the Costumes for one, Vivien and Clark Gables performance, the way the movie shows hard times and a woman of great demeanour – the protagonist isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty to help herself and her family survive. The courage it takes to survive. The great romance between Scarlett and Rett Butler and it shows how a woman draws her strength through her feminity. The romantic pairing of the fabulous Clark Gable with Vivien Leigh is absolutely unparalleled in cinema history!

A Bollywood movie like ‘Hum Dono’ 1961 which Set in the period of World War 2 on the backdrop of India-Burma war, Hum Dono is not an out-and-out war film as might be the notion, but more of an emotional drama. The central plot had classic conflicts ranging from the rich-girl-poor-boy formula to the identity swapping in the double-role premise. However, while these may appear as clichés today; in the scheme of things in1961 these were still one of those innovative plot-points which went on to be trendsetter and subsequently stereotypes in Hindi cinema. Including myself I know at least another hundred people who love watching this trendsetting movie for reasons such as Dev Anand’s emotional acting, the storyline, songs, superb dialogues so on and forth.

In a compelling story line, the characters grow and change step-by-step because of the dramatic action. This growth is not meant merely on a physical level. Often, in their enthusiasm of showing off high-tech special effects, moviemakers and writers forget the power of character emotional development. The challenges a character faces must effect the character emotionally, and the deeper the better. An effective way to keep track of these strongly growing steps is with the use of a Scene Tracker. I would like to make reference of a great movie such as ‘zinadagi na milegi dobara’ directed by Zoya Akhtar. We can easily identify with one of the characters of the movie. That’s the power of powerful storytelling.

Movies often rely on star power alone without taking the time to develop the characters in the story. Even so, the audience may feel an emotional attachment to the star. Ultimately, however, unless they emotionally identify with the main character as a character, the audience will ultimately detach from the film.

Ultimately, the reason why we would want to live sensationally through the lives of others, be it a fictional character or a real person, is because we find others’ lives more interesting or exciting than ours. We find their roles interesting because we see the characters on screen achieving something that we want for ourselves and our life, but have yet to fully achieve that yet.

Men and women grow up expecting to be the hero of their own story. We are all characters in other people’s stories, and so other people are characters in our own. We all see the world through our lens in the end. We have a world where girls grow up identifying closely with male heroes and putting themselves into the heroes’ shoes, understanding and relating to them. Do you think boys grow up identifying with women characters at all? Yes, even they do.

Look at 1978’s Superman, what I can definitely say is that that movie has left a huge literary impact, even after all these many years. It still has influence around the world and has given studios the runway for future superhero movies to take place. I mean just look at the entire slate of movies lined up until 2020. For the most part, we have been given superhero movies with very similar story-lines, some just showing a guy and a group of people, gearing up for the final climatic fight against the BOSS level.

Our lives are changing, we are all moving at a faster pace. Who knows, maybe in 50 years time we may have flying cars and Smartphone in our brains. How would superhero movies work in the future? Would we see Spider-Man swinging from flying car to flying car? Yes, maybe. Will we witness Captain America being awakened from a 60 year sleep to find him in our high flying future society? We may. As human we are imaginative, emotional, quirky, inquisitive, we love, we fear, we feel jealous, we want to shoot somebody, we want to experience romance and what not….. What we cannot do in a real life we sit and enjoy doing all that on screen in a reel life.  Whether watching a retro classic such as ‘Tere mere sapane’ or turning out for the opening weekend of Man of Steel, there’s something special about going to the movies.

At home, distractions such as nagging kids or parents, ringing phones, texts on mobile, ringing phones, cleaning, and many other chores do not allow us to enjoy a movie. The theatre gives us an excuse to switch off for a couple hours and surrender to a completely immersive experience. It’s through this uninterrupted story telling that movies deliver their full emotional and creative intent.

As humans we enter the darkened theatre seeking three things: one, to expand our emotional bandwidth – in sense to feel sensations that we rarely experience in our normal lives; to reconnect with our higher selves. Two, to be reminded of what humans are capable of, in terms of both good and evil, and to alter course if we’re steering more towards the latter than the former. And, three, to be reminded we are not alone; through the collective reaction of others in the audience we realise that we are not the only ones wrestling with life’s challenges – there are many other like us.  And, therefore we watch movies.

Marathi theatre has always been regarded as one of the most culturally rich theatre traditions in the country. Right from the 18^th century the Marathi theatre has been present. It seems King Patwardhan of Sangli requested novelist Vishnu Bhave to write an evocative play for entertaining his guests and Bhave wrote ‘Sita Swayamvar’ which was performed on November 5, 1843, in that princely state. It was inspired by Karnataka’s folk theatre form of Yakshagana.

The Marathi stage has evolved in Bombay (now Mumbai) because this city has always been a business city; it had the infrastructure and money which helped the formal performers to grow. Because of the majority Maharashtrian workers community in the city who lived in the chawls the free time was used to practice dramas, keertans, pravachans and powadas. The artists used to practice in whatever space was available to them; sometimes varandahs, staircases and the open grounds. Lavanis such as “Mumbai Nagari Badi Banka, Jashi Ravanachi dusari Lanka” by Patthe Bapurao and Annabhau Sathe’s “Mazi Mumbai, Arthat Muumbai Konachi” were super duper hits those days. People flocked to the theatres to watch these lavanis.

Maharashtra has had long theatrical tradition, one of its early references is found in cave inscriptions at Nashik. Marathi theatre started flourishing in the middle of the 19th century. It includes forms like Sangeet Natak (Musical drama), Tamasha (folk dance), Ekpatri prayog etc. It continues to have a marked presence in the State of Maharashtra. Marhathi theatre is not famous outside Maharashtra; maybe because Marathi as a language is quite difficult and a lot of stress is laid on the richness of the language by the writers; the gamut of Marathi dramas ranges from humorous social plays, farces, historical plays, musical, to experimental plays and serious drama. We have seen the likes of Annabhau Kirloskar, P. L. Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, and Mahesh Elkunchwar, Bhalaji Pendharkar, Raja Paranjape, Annabhu Sathe, Vinda Karandikar, Arun Sadhu, P. K. Atre, Daya Pawar etc who were known and are known even today for their par excellence.  But, there is one big problem in staging a drama and continuing it for long time. We find Marathi dramas live a short life span, though some of them have great content. They are forgotten easily. Perhaps it is because Maharashtra faces multiculturalism and therefore the Marathi theatre takes a backset. Most importantly, Marathi theatre faces many political and social undercurrents. There is a sea change in terms of quality and context which are changing like never before. The conditions today cannot be compared to the previous decade.

Marathi Theatre can be described as never-ending energy; live moments, live interaction, superb dialogues, and great backdrops of stage, superb background music scores, and a strong tradition of 150 years which can never die. Besides, Marathi dramas are sharp, witty and very rich in content. They make you think even hours after you’ve watched a show. Marathi theatre is evolving with newer ideas, newer concepts and much more experiments. The new breed of directors is experimenting with forms of theatre. No other place in India has so much of ‘commercial theatre’ like that in Maharashtra. If you have three movie shows in Plaza, the theatre bang opposite to it, Shivaji Mandir, has three shows of plays on the same day.

The various genres of Marathi scripts are also a reason for people to watch plays. Comedy, serious depiction of the society, political satires, musicals, romantic, tragedy, rags to riches stories and mission – it has it all. Marathi theatre fascinates its viewers with its large variety.

The cultural connection of Mumbai and Pune with its regional theatre shows that the stage is not dying, it is experimenting and it has long way to go. It has managed to carve a special niche and that’s reason enough to say that there’s plenty of hope for the art in the state of Maharashtra.

Both cinema and drama are based on story. Both drama and cinema depend primarily on performers who resent and communicate the story to the audience. A stage play or a screenplay is like reading a novel. Dramas are livelier and thrilling as you see the actor’s performance right in front. The audience can clap and applaud the actors on the stage. The actors also in response give their best dialogue delivery, voice modulation, gestures thus bringing in more energy in the theater. Drama is on the spot. There are not takes and retakes; it delivers effect on the spot therefore it connects with the viewers more honestly. Drama is more difficult for an actor.

Both drama and cinema share certain common features; they both use sets, props, costumes, music and other sound effects. Communication is the essence in both drama and cinema. Even in the silent era, films relied heavily on human speech that was understood through contextual instinct; a combination of gesture, facial expression, and lip reading; and inserts of printed, projected text. If a drama is dull or boring viewers crate a commotion whereas if a cinema is boring they simply walk out of the theatre. Bothe cinema and drama have their fan following. Everybody cannot enjoy drama; an audience that has been raised on films, do not enjoy dramas.

Marathi theatre has come a long way. While Gujarati, Hindi or English theatre is ‘merely weekend theatre’, catering to the thinking and upper class, Marathi theatre is all about the masses mainly because of the way it gets people to relate to the script. Mumbai and Pune are hubs of Marathi plays. In Mumbai and Pune, there are these niche classes of people who usually do not miss watching a play every week. Mumbai is the economic capital and Pune is the cultural capital of Maharashtra state. There are at least 15-20 theatres in Mumbai which host only Marathi plays right from Prabhadevi to Thane: Rabindra Natya Mandir, Shivaji Natya Mandir, Ranga Sharda, Dinanath, Gadkari Rangayatan and many more theatres are witness to the love Mumbaikars have for this art form. And in Pune: Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir, Bharat Natya Mandir, Sudarshan Hall, Moreshwar Hall, Yashwantrao Chavan Natya Mandir etc are famous for Mrathi drama lovers. Mumbai and Pune showcase the love for performing art relatively much more, compared to other cities like Bangalore or New Delhi which relatively have fewer auditoriums.

The amount of theatre that is being done on the commercial as well as parallel stage in Marathi cannot be compared to any other regional theatre today. It is facing some technical, political and financial problems today, which I am sure, will be sorted out sooner or later. The Marathi theatre scene is the most happening in the whole of India.

The beautiful and elegant Julie Andrews is an epitome of talent. She is an English film and stage actress, singer, author, theatre director and dancer. She made her debut in 1948 on the West End as child actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in a 1954 production of ‘The Boy Friend’. But, she raised to eminence in musicals such as May Fair Lady and Camelot. In 1957, she appeared on television with the title role in the musical Cinderella, which was seen by over 100 million viewers. She personified Cinderella’s character.

Julie Andrews portrayed poise, power, dedication, sophistication, grit and modesty of women through her various screen roles. She played so many shades of women’s individuality in her numerous characters:  a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying as a postulant to become a nun in The Sound of Music, a young Cockney woman who sells flowers in My Fair Lady, a magical and loving woman who descends down from the clouds in response to the Banks children’s advertisement for a nanny. She is not only firm in her use of authority, but gentle and kind as well in Mary Poppins and many more subtle yet potent roles. In Americanization of Emily she played a noble British war widow who falls for a feckless US soldier. This was the first of the big American Julie Andrews films after leaving Camelot on Broadway. The film gave her an opportunity to demonstrate her talent as an actor.

With her mahagony hair, her glowing, porcelain-like skin, eyes framed by long lashes, a straight nose, full lips – she seemed the picture of perfection in her each movie. When she smiled, the world would sigh with gratification. When she laughed, her fans would laugh with her. And when she wept, the whole theater would want to comfort her.  She won an Academy Award for playing the title role in Mary Poppins and was nominated for her performance in The Sound of Music. She won numerous accolades and wards in her long career.

She mentions in her biography ‘Home’ that she had lived in a bad slum area of London; she recalls that as very black period in her life. She had to live with her stepfather who was violent and an alcoholic man. Her parents parted their ways during the World War II. Andrews lived briefly with Ted Wells – her step father and her brother John in Surrey.

In her later life, Julie Andrews experienced a huge personal setback in the late 1990s, when her vocal chords were damaged during an operation. While she never regained her powerful, sharp singing voice, she continued to act in films and television movies.  She is an inspiration to the womankind because she had to deal with some major challenges in her life. Instead of those experiences breaking her, they made her strong. She became a successful woman; she used her problems as stepping-stones. Julie Andrews has large fan following all over the. In my opinion, she is the most beautiful woman.