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Why We Need Authentic Storytelling

As a race, humans do a lot of posturing. Most of our life is spent in acting out roles and putting on various masks or facades.

You have to tolerate idiots with a smile, if they are rich or powerful or senior in age. Whatever rot they say, you nod your head in agreement, knowing fully well its all bullshit.

The media feeds you crap in the name of news, you lap it up. Politicians mouth nonsense, but you can't protest. Businessmen sell you false dreams, and build empires.

When you see clouds and feel like dancing, you have to pretend to show interest in studying.

Mothers may get incensed by their children's bullying - to the point of telling them to get lost, or throw them out of the house, but pretend to grin and bear it. Mother's love, after all.

You know everything is going downhill, yet have to put on a brave face. What will people say if you start acting crazy? 

We live out lies, subscribe to other people's definition of success and happiness, and wallow in the misery of fabricated untruths. 

Why Genuine/Authentic Storytelling?

Now, since our whole life is full of lies and falsehoods, whether it is in the narrative fed to us, or in whatever we get ourselves to believe in, something should be left untouched.

Stories are that place. Yes, they are make-believe, often made-up, but something in them should ring true. Whether it is a film you are watching, or a book you are reading, or music you listen to, or a painting that you admire, unless there is authenticity, you forget it the next day.

The moment the creator starts play-acting or posturing, the art becomes fake. And you can see it clearly in the book or movie or artwork. It isn't for nothing, the creator is given God-like status. 

It is a world they create - depicting a universal truth, some fundamental, visceral reality that their work is expressing. That is the reason why Tagore and Shakespeare are still relevant. Why Chaplin scores above countless slick comedies made later. Why Ibsen and Brecht and Tennessee Williams stand tall. 

Can you forget Bicycle Thieves or Casa Blanca or Pyasaa or Apur Sansar in a hurry? Can you fail to be touched by Shakespearean tragedies on stage? When you see Sunflowers, don't you wonder how Van Gogh's genius had to struggle with his demons? Isn't Monalisa's smile still an enigma? Premchand's or Sarat Chandra's stories still bring tears to our eyes.

The least a creator can do is to be authentic towards their craft. Honest with storytelling, unfettered in expressing. Only then, the work will endure.....     


#AuthenticStorytelling #RealArt #GoodLiterature #HonestArt

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