Syd Field: Bollywood Songs Are Distractions

Syd Field is a top name in the screen writing world. He feels that Bollywood movies are great but songs are not great. In fact, according to him, songs are distractions to the enjoyment of the movie. I just saw his interview in rxpgnews.com. Here is a part from that interview:

A: Frankly speaking, I haven't seen too many Hindi films. I have seen very few. Recently I saw 'Rang De Basanti'. What surprises me is that in between a story suddenly I see song-and-dance sequences and sometimes I forget the story before that sequence. It is nice to be entertained but sometimes songs are not correctly incorporated in the story and are distracting.

A: I will categorise Hindi films in two parts: one, which has too many characters, songs, music, etc. In short a complete entertainer. The other type is 'Rang De Basanti' - a strong story with a social message that inspires and touches you. I would like to believe in the latter kind of story telling.

So, Bollywood directors have something to learn about their movies. I know they will not learn since no body wants to change the winning combination. Songs give a lot of money to the Bollywood movies.