About Watching Movies...!
Movie watching has always been a
passion with us, particularly anywhere in India, ever since the discovery of
motion pictures. This passion has always been independent of the conditions of
the movie theaters or the environment of viewing. All of the cinema halls in
India were single screen till about two decades back when multiplexes and malls
came up in the major cities. In the small towns cinema halls or movie theaters
were abysmal—people smoked and spat inside; they talked and roared with
laughter anytime; seats were congested and there was an acute problem of
craning necks; there was no air-conditioning and the wall or ceiling fans made
it all the more noisier; no lounges outside, only holes around and most of the
theaters looked like warehouses. However, we never complained about the lack of
such amenities, mostly because we had no access to better environment to
compare with. Of course, in the metros or in the major cities the theaters were
much better, and once in a while we enjoyed a day out in the nearby big city
watching a movie. Further, the ticket rates were damn cheap even after
considering the value of money those days. Black marketing of tickets for super
hit movies was also rampant. On many an occasion we got obsessed with certain
Bollywood (read Hindi) movies, and failing to watch those caused us great
distress.
Such scenario still exists in the
semi-urban and the rural belt of India where better amenities cannot normally
come about because of the fact that local people never want to pay more for
watching their favorite movies. Single screen theaters exist also in the
metros and major cities even after the conversion of most of them to shopping
malls.
We remember the quintessential cycle rickshaw armed with a loudspeaker and fully covered with colorful posters moving around the roads and lanes of the small town
advertising the release of a movie every Friday in the sole cinema hall
there.
Once in a semi-urban area in a
state of India the first ever cinema hall was to have its first show. As it
happened we went for that very show. A huge crowd with tickets waited eagerly
for the main door of the theater to open. The moment it was opened people
rushed towards it trying to enter falling over each other. The knowing ones
like us smiled thinking, ‘Why rush, pals! All of you have genuine tickets and
you have the right to watch the movie!’ Such was the spirit of going for a
film.
The ticket counters were normally
all concrete affairs with a hole to push in your hand and another hole above to
communicate. In the first few days after the release of a blockbuster there
used to be huge queues. Sometimes not willing to wait longer we joined the
queues. Black marketers of tickets used to climb over us on the side railings
and push in their hands forcibly for bulk tickets. Everybody took that as
normal and maybe the counter managers were in league with them. Because of
their steals most of the times we failed to get tickets, and still not willing
to say quits we followed them around to bargain out a reasonable deal. Advance
booking queues were even worse and that too for a very short time. Some cinema
halls allowed ladies to come by the side and push in their hands alternately
with the queuing males. Once I pushed my hand in through the hole when it was
actually the turn of the ladies. The counter manage was indeed very smart—he
was able to recognize even my much younger hand and roughly pushed it out!
Whatever be the conditions, those
days it was immensely enjoyable to take maximum pains to watch a movie.
Besides, that time there were not many choices for entertainment with no
television or cable channels, and therefore, going out for the movie theater
was always a special and yet the usual occasion. Whenever guests came to stay
with us we the children always tried to persuade them to take us to the movies.
And, more often they obliged!
The scenario has changed a lot over
the last few years in the metros or the big cities and in some smaller towns
too. Movie going nowadays is more of a consumer activity. The advantage of the
multiplexes or the super malls is that even the most affluent classes now come
to the theatres to watch movies along with consuming a whole lot of packaged
eatables. It has also become a costly affair that needs careful planning for
normal viewers. As we mentioned earlier movie fans in various towns and cities
of India still resist the changeover and prefer to flock to the existing single
screen halls to enjoy at much cheaper ticket prices.
The charms of movie-going in the
olden days linger on still...!
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