Celebrity Column: Don't follow trends...make them, writes Sajid Khan

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is a blockbuster! Finally, Akshay Kumar has broken the bad spell of flops from the last few months. Hooray for the returning theatre audiences, who had vanished after Baahubali. Desi films and the hero playing an ordinary, middle or lower middle class man films are the trend. So, they say. NOT TRUE!

I love movies as much as I love life. But when I’m gone, I want to be buried in a cinema compound. My tombstone should read — ‘Here lies the greatest film buff’. The one thing that I’ve learned in the four decades of watching movies in cinemas is that trends are short-lived. From fashion, hairstyles, technology to cinema. Arre yaar, topics and people trend on Twitter every hour! The reason I’m writing this today is because I strongly believe that Sultan, Dangal, Jolly LLB 2, Toilet didn’t become blockbusters ’cos the hero was a common man. They worked ’cos they are damn good, entertaining films! Period. Today, the audience picks and chooses which movie they want to see in cinemas. Their choice is made when they see the trailer of the film. If the first look catches one’s fancy, then people will not miss that film. Then, of course, the film must deliver what the trailer promised. But if the trailer isn’t liked, then very rarely will a film take an opening, no matter how much it trends!

The film industry, like most industries, also follows trends. That’s why we see 90 per cent failure. The 10 per cent that succeed are the ones, who make trends, not follow them. For better or worse, try being different rather than following a trend — in your professional and personal life. Just remember, the last three letters of the word trend are — END.