WHAT IS A PLOT?

Today suddenly , this word… ‘PLOT’ sounded a lot more interesting than before. The word just got stuck in my head …. PLOT! And I thought I should write about it. 

What could a Plot actually mean? There are various reasons why one makes a film. 

Personally, I make a film only when I have something to ponder about. 

It could be an image, an incident, a character, a phrase, a sound, a news event..the list goes on. Different filmmakers make different films for different reasons. 

Some want to explore the medium of cinema, some indulge in form, some like telling a story, some like retelling a story, some make a film to not tell a story at all, some make films to entertain..so on and so forth. Whatever the inspiration is to make a film, it all boils down to identifying the PLOT ultimately.

 ‘What is the plot line for my film?’ is one of the most favourite obsessions of a filmmaker.

I personally feel that  a good plot line should actually help a viewer understand that the film has more to it than the plot itself. The unsaid is important too. 

It is true that the plot has got to be interesting for the audience but engaging the audience in  the plot itself should not excite the filmmaker so much that he forgets communicating the bigger ‘aspects’(I choose this word for want of a better word) that he would want to communicate or explore by way of making the film. 

But in a mad rush to outbeat previous records of collections at the box office, filmmakers seem to have morphed the meaning of the word ‘PLOT’  to their convenience. 

For many filmmakers today, the word PLOT has actually turned into a ‘PLOT’ of a different kind , a ‘CONSPIRACY’ literally wherein the filmmaker, the writer and the producer  all sit down together and PLOT… the next punch line, the next whistle moment, the next thrill and in the process lose opportunities to explore the deeper aspects of their original PLOT. 

So.. what actually is a PLOT today after all?….