THE ARTIST sweeps Oscars: Underlines importance of claiming silence in our lives

	JEAN DUJARDIN IN THE ARTIST

THE ARTIST swept Oscars for 2011. It happens every year that at Oscars a film or the other sweeps the award, and this year it was the turn of THE ARTIST to win it. But 2011 would go in the annals of Oscars as a monumental year, as it is after a really long time that a film which does not have dialogues, has been shot in black and white has been able to conquer all other competition to emerge as the ultimate winner. THE ARTIST won the awards in Best Picture, Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Original Score and Best Costume Design.

In the era of cacophony of sounds where electronic tools and applications are used with impunity to create cinematic experience, THE ARTIST ventures into the realm of silence, and forces the actors to let their performance fill the void of sound. Sound and its manifestations have become so pervasive in our day to day life, that a film which underlines the importance of silence in life was destined to sweep at the Oscars. After all, do we not consider state of silence as the ultimate level of bliss, and when it is being underlined through a cinematic expression the audience is sure to lap it up.

THE ARTIST, usurped the performances of George Clooney in HUGO, which was a 3D Film produced by Martin Scorsese, and Brad Pitt’s MONEY BALL. As a matter of fact till October 2011, the anticipation in Hollywood was building around a competition between George Clooney and Brad Pitt for the best actor, but the French film THE ARTIST usurped all the competition and emerged as numero Uno.

It may appear paradoxical, but whenever the cinematic fraternity has focused on the business of performance art as cinematic expression, the product has been lapped up by the public all around the world, and THE ARTIST is no exception.

THE ARTIST has been situated in an era where sound is going to make its debut and the existentialist dilemma that an artist of silent era is besotted with, and how he faces the new situation. THE ARTIST could mesmerize the audience as also the members of jury at the Oscars owing to the fact that it also focused on dance, one of the core sectors which get interpreted in one form or the other over the years. In THE ARTIST the artist, leverages on his dancing potential to tide over the emergence of new paradigm aka sound in the business of film making.

The makers of THE ARTIST have relied on the maxim of keeping it simple, and it is this mandate that has facilitated THE ARTIST to emerge as the cult film for all times to come.

For the Hindi film industry or for that matter the Indian film industry which feels that sound in all manifestations is the key to success needs to stop and ponder as to whether should they not stop their reliance so much on sound and let the performance of the stars speak, bereft of the accompaniment of the background music. Success of THE ARTIST is a poser to new tools of sound that are used in the cinema halls by the exhibitors to make the film a “sound” experience. If a silent film succeeds what would happen to the acoustics and other devices that are used as marketing devices to bring the patron inside cinema halls?