Readers Write In #848: Have we aged, or have the standards dropped?

By Ashwin Kumar

The other day, I was on the phone with a friend. We both used to buy DVDs and watch movies together back in the early 2000s. As we reminisced about the films we were discovering then, he remarked: “I don’t know if we’ve really aged, or if the standards have fallen.” That line stayed with me and that’s why I picked it as the title for this piece.

Disclaimer: This is in no way connected solely to the discussion of the movie Coolie, or the related threads. I’ve only glanced at those conversations. I’m yet to watch the film myself and I’d like to watch it before forming an opinion. But these thoughts have been surfacing in me for quite some time now. 

A new Kannada comedy film called Su from So recently released. My mother and wife found it hilarious, and reviews seem to echo that. Yet when my aunt and cousin watched it, they were not impressed. Their reason? They had seen much better comedies – in films of the past, or even on stage.

That got me thinking: if someone has been exposed to a higher standard, does that enhance their sense of mediocrity?

A person who has watched finely crafted cinema over the years may look at something like Jailer and wonder why the world is celebrating. For them, it feels ordinary. And then comes the dissonance: Have we aged? Are we out of touch? Or is the bar genuinely lower today?

The same thought struck me while revisiting A. R. Rahman’s music. His songs carry such layers and intricacies. Place them alongside Anirudh’s scores, and to some ears it may feel like noise – yet it’s widely celebrated. Again, the same tug-of-war: is it me who has lost touch, or has the richness itself gone missing? Are we confusing popularity with quality?

But what about food? Taste feels far more personal. Can we really say a certain meal is “higher quality” in the way we can with a film’s craft or a composer’s arrangements? Or is food an exception, where quality is inseparable from preference?

And then there’s the flip side. Sometimes a movie the public dismisses as mediocre excites you. Maybe it has something that appeals to you in particular: a staging choice, a narrative layer, or even a personal connection it strikes. Perhaps it’s the result of having watched a wide variety of films, which lets you spot nuances others miss. Or maybe it’s simply the mood you were in, or the crowd you watched it with.

Liking or disliking a movie, I suspect, is as complex as human beings themselves. Which is why this dissonance never really melts away.

These are not conclusions, only ponderings. What fascinates me is the tension between quality, taste, and resonance – and how the celebration of something “lesser” can either alienate us, or, in rare cases, make us feel uniquely connected.