We never stood in queues to buy movie tickets. You see, dad worked in a film distribution firm. He always knew cinema hall owners. My childhood was full of eavesdropped info on which movies had the right combination to be a hit and which did not and if it would do well in city or rural parts, Bengal or Bihar and interspersed with few eye-popping stories such as this:“Appa, you went to see Sridevi?”
“Yes, a producer and me, we went to her house.”
“What did she give you to eat?”
“Oh, she fed us a big masala dosa. It was very tasty.”
The thought of Sridevi serving my dad masala dosa somehow made me like her more.
As I grew up, I learnt the art of dropping in at dad’s office with my best smile, asking to see a movie. He would call and check with a hall manager and soon I would be trotting away happily. I would rush up the stairs, into the manager’s cabin and get ushered to a seat set up hastily in between sections. I never bought drinks or popcorn. The manager would inevitably send me a Thumbs Up and popcorn while the rest of the folks would be staring at me if perchance I was a celebrity. I loved the attention as always. After the movie, I would skip down the stairs back to the cabin to give my review of the movie (in dad’s style): what was the audience reaction, how long can we expect it to run, should we edit out any section.
When dad and I went for “dad n I” trip to north-east, we stayed with and met mostly cinema hall owners and distributors. I learnt about Assam and ULFA kidnappings through the stories in the movie business community. When we pushed further into Manipur, we stayed in a room above a cinema hall and enjoyed dinner with a local owner. Any trip that we took in my childhood inevitably led us to other members of this community. It had seemed a forever community then.
Today, as I book my movie tickets online (I still like watching movies alone), I know things are different. No one will know me in the hall, at the gate I will be searched, and I will have buy my own popcorn and make my way to my seat-L-5, as the ticket says.
Dad has stopped watching movies in theatre. An era has passed.
Wow, that is such a lovely story, nostalgic. The era of halls has gone, but I still go watch a movie in the hall. And yes, I watch it alone
ReplyDeleteLoved this :)
ReplyDeleteCinema theatres have always fascinated me from childhood. Charm of single screen of those days can not be imagined now. Would like to share my blog post on Cinemas of those days-
ReplyDeletehttp://srayyangar.blogspot.in/2010/06/cinema-those-days.html
Sure an era has passed and the nostalgia could be felt in this post, Bhavana!
ReplyDeleteI get to watch only in multiplexes. So lucky you! Yes, those days were special. I loved the connect and the community.
ReplyDeletethanks:)
ReplyDeleteLoved the post!!! What an experience! Nothing compares to today's multiplexes.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rahul!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much movies have influenced your life? Especially the art of story-telling and painting a picture through words?
ReplyDeleteI didn't go to too many movies growing up but when I did, felt it to be a very special experience and each of those movies made huge impacts on my life. Also, I love to watch movies I liked many times over (when you know it's good, you can't be disappointed, right?)
Now that I think of it...perhaps it did influence storytelling. However, I watched movies only when I was older. As a young girl, dad hardly allowed us to watch movies.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that you watch movies that you have loved several times! I somehow can't. but perhaps I am never attached to the movie per se but to the experience of watching it--when, with whom, how. And that to me can never be replicated. I have a story for each fun movie I have watched and even the bad ones I have watched. On how I have left the movie midway as my resistance to its storyline. On the movie that I watched in Nandan, Kolkata when most of the city was under water and I had to wade through knee deep water to get to the theatre. Or watched my first public adult movie, The Piano at 17 at an International Film Festival (uncut version) alone. After the movie the drop-dead silence in the crowd whereas I wanted to scream and say how well I had understood the symbolism of the Piano. Oh well, I could write a post on watching movies... :)