After a long time, I watched a Tamizh movie, at home though. "Maanagaram." I was busy baking bread for friends, had to be up till 1.30 AM and I needed something to keep me occupied. As is wont, everything in my present triggers memories of my past. Imagine the black and white cyclotron that endlessly loops itself towards the centre, the classic way movies used to indicate that the story line was moving in the flashback. That cyclotron looped in front of my eyes!
Earliest memory of watching a movie? "Moonraker" with my Appa. Yeah, yeah, Moonraker -a Bond movie that my dad took me to when I was barely in my 3rd grade. Wonder what the censors or the theater security would have thought of a 7 year old watching a Bond movie! I didn't understand a word but just remember a lot of flashing action and those girls who barely wore any clothes. I don't think my dad would have worried much about age appropriate moving watching either. I wasn't born in a era of over analysing what children ate, saw or played, only the marks you brought home in your report card mattered. Children were presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
So, it was not unusual when a gang of us girls went to watch movies like "Benji" and "Superman" in the theatres in the neighbourhood. The tickets were probably just 2 or 3 rupees. I also remember that it was during one such outing with the girls that I was pawed by a male for the first time ever. I was a child, barely 8 years old and here was that man, much older than me, had a beard and was rubbing his hand on my thighs! Introduction to sexual harassment began at a movie theatre.
I watched "Billa" and "Ninaithaale Inikkum" in Roxy Theatre near Kilpauk with my cousins. Both were housefull shows, MS Viswanathan's full throated Jagame thandhiram, sugame mandhiram song, Poornam Vishwanathan taunting Rajinikanth with keys of a Toyota car key, Jayaprada's terrible wig and indecipherable head shake are etched forever. Billa was the first of only 2 solo Rajini movies I have ever watched in a theatre but more on that later.
"Shankarabharanam" and "My dear kutti chaatthaan" were the only two movies that we, all 5 in the family, went out together to watch. The boring India news reel, Indira Gandhi getting off a plane, shaking hands with Leonid Brezhnev - you just had to watch it before you get on to any movie. My dear kutti chaatthan was the first 3D movie and it was fun to fumble with the glasses they gave you in the theatre. Appa took me to watch Ek duje ke liye (was a Kamal Hassan fan and always will be) and later "Simla Special," another Kamal starrer, a day after my Chittappa got married. I don't remember if my dad took my brothers out separately as well but I remember watching quite a few movies with him. That run ended when I cried at the climax of "Omar Mukhtar," when a little boy picks up Omar's spectacles indicating continuation of his struggle. My dad vowed never to take me for a movie again and sure as hell he didn't.
ET was a movie I watched with awe, bicycles flying, ET curing wounds with its glowing finger and the unforgettable line, "ET go home." I went with neighbours from our RBI Quarters in Besant Nagar all the way to Albert Theater in Egmore, all by bus.
Many more movie memories come to me.
"Hum," an Amitabh Bachhan movie which I watched with more than 20 girls from the Cauvery Guides Group and the song "Ek doosre se karte hain pyaar hum" became a campfire "must" song for a few years to come.
"Singarvelan" with Stella Maris classmates and boys in Alankaar theatre with a friend Ramya not understanding any of the double entendres in the movie and asking for explanations at every turn.
"Annamalai" with the Leo Club gang, all of us standing up in our row, singing at the top of our voices along with Rajini - "Ade nanba unmai solven."
"Mahanadi" with Viji's father REB Uncle and we were both so upset by the movie and the hardships the protagonist had to go through, Uncle sulked for days after that. Parts of the movie really did hit you in the guts. I also watched Schindler's List with him.
"Rangeela" - downing a pitcher of beer in 45 minutes at Peekos, puking at the grounds of Lido Theatre in Bangalore, I watched (actually, I barely saw anything) that movie slumped on Suman Nambiar's shoulders.
A couple of movies we watched at Prarthana, the only drive in theatre in Chennai with a full crowd of Viji's friends and their parents, her family. Only, Viji was away in the US. We packed a lot of food, menu planning and cooking efficiently handled by her mother. We had a blast of a time.
"Minsaara kanavu" - watched at Albert Theatre with my e-mail pal from the US - Vaidee Mahadevan on his visit to India. This was in 1997. 20 years on, that remains my only meeting with him. Ever.
"Rush Hour" - my first movie in the US. I saw this with Brinda, Naini, Meghnath and Raghu in AZ. I whistled and clapped when Jackie Chan came on the screen only to be met with stern disapproval from Naini, "This is not India. Don't make any noise in US movie halls."
"Lagaan" - The tables turned when I took Faith Ripple to watch this movie in Kansas. A movie hall of Indian, hooting, throwing papers up, clapping and screaming for a make believe cricket match between poor Indian farmers and their oppressing overlords, the British. I told her, "This is how we Indians watch movies."
"Boys" - bullied a colleague to get first day tickets at a theatre all the way at Mayajaal, nearly 30 km from where Satish Chetty lived only because he had to watch this movie before leaving for the US that evening. We walked out within half an hour unable to bear that movie for even that long!
"Spiderman 2" - watched it only after the second half began thanks to Sakthi arriving late. But, a memorable encounter with a little boy was part of my blog post http://vaanmughil.blogspot.in/2009/04/children-of-streets-cheese-balls-and.html.
The last Tamizh movie I watched in the theatre was "Kanda naal mudhalaai" in Abhirami theatre in 2005, if you didn't take into account "Kakka Muttai," which is a children's movie and Surya's first ever outing to a movie hall.
"Udta Punjab" and "Piku" happened thanks to sneaking into movie halls after sending Surya to day care, the former with a friend and the latter with Sakthi, who bunked work claiming to have taken his wife to see a doc. Oh, the things we do to catch a recent flick!
I have watched movies in theatres, with pirated & legit CDs, at home on my laptop or in the TV. Seen some movies alone and plenty with friends and family. I have laughed, cried, cheered and jeered. Many people watch movies and remember the actors, dialogues, songs and some sequences. I remember the many other little things around those movies. In fact, those memories are stronger than what I have seen on the silver screen. What are yours?
Psst... I have never watched a single Star Wars movie, never seen Sholay. And, not a single Rajini movie on the screen since 1992. There. Proof that not all Tamilians are raving mad.
Earliest memory of watching a movie? "Moonraker" with my Appa. Yeah, yeah, Moonraker -a Bond movie that my dad took me to when I was barely in my 3rd grade. Wonder what the censors or the theater security would have thought of a 7 year old watching a Bond movie! I didn't understand a word but just remember a lot of flashing action and those girls who barely wore any clothes. I don't think my dad would have worried much about age appropriate moving watching either. I wasn't born in a era of over analysing what children ate, saw or played, only the marks you brought home in your report card mattered. Children were presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
So, it was not unusual when a gang of us girls went to watch movies like "Benji" and "Superman" in the theatres in the neighbourhood. The tickets were probably just 2 or 3 rupees. I also remember that it was during one such outing with the girls that I was pawed by a male for the first time ever. I was a child, barely 8 years old and here was that man, much older than me, had a beard and was rubbing his hand on my thighs! Introduction to sexual harassment began at a movie theatre.
I watched "Billa" and "Ninaithaale Inikkum" in Roxy Theatre near Kilpauk with my cousins. Both were housefull shows, MS Viswanathan's full throated Jagame thandhiram, sugame mandhiram song, Poornam Vishwanathan taunting Rajinikanth with keys of a Toyota car key, Jayaprada's terrible wig and indecipherable head shake are etched forever. Billa was the first of only 2 solo Rajini movies I have ever watched in a theatre but more on that later.
"Shankarabharanam" and "My dear kutti chaatthaan" were the only two movies that we, all 5 in the family, went out together to watch. The boring India news reel, Indira Gandhi getting off a plane, shaking hands with Leonid Brezhnev - you just had to watch it before you get on to any movie. My dear kutti chaatthan was the first 3D movie and it was fun to fumble with the glasses they gave you in the theatre. Appa took me to watch Ek duje ke liye (was a Kamal Hassan fan and always will be) and later "Simla Special," another Kamal starrer, a day after my Chittappa got married. I don't remember if my dad took my brothers out separately as well but I remember watching quite a few movies with him. That run ended when I cried at the climax of "Omar Mukhtar," when a little boy picks up Omar's spectacles indicating continuation of his struggle. My dad vowed never to take me for a movie again and sure as hell he didn't.
ET was a movie I watched with awe, bicycles flying, ET curing wounds with its glowing finger and the unforgettable line, "ET go home." I went with neighbours from our RBI Quarters in Besant Nagar all the way to Albert Theater in Egmore, all by bus.
Many more movie memories come to me.
"Hum," an Amitabh Bachhan movie which I watched with more than 20 girls from the Cauvery Guides Group and the song "Ek doosre se karte hain pyaar hum" became a campfire "must" song for a few years to come.
"Singarvelan" with Stella Maris classmates and boys in Alankaar theatre with a friend Ramya not understanding any of the double entendres in the movie and asking for explanations at every turn.
"Annamalai" with the Leo Club gang, all of us standing up in our row, singing at the top of our voices along with Rajini - "Ade nanba unmai solven."
"Mahanadi" with Viji's father REB Uncle and we were both so upset by the movie and the hardships the protagonist had to go through, Uncle sulked for days after that. Parts of the movie really did hit you in the guts. I also watched Schindler's List with him.
"Rangeela" - downing a pitcher of beer in 45 minutes at Peekos, puking at the grounds of Lido Theatre in Bangalore, I watched (actually, I barely saw anything) that movie slumped on Suman Nambiar's shoulders.
A couple of movies we watched at Prarthana, the only drive in theatre in Chennai with a full crowd of Viji's friends and their parents, her family. Only, Viji was away in the US. We packed a lot of food, menu planning and cooking efficiently handled by her mother. We had a blast of a time.
"Minsaara kanavu" - watched at Albert Theatre with my e-mail pal from the US - Vaidee Mahadevan on his visit to India. This was in 1997. 20 years on, that remains my only meeting with him. Ever.
"Rush Hour" - my first movie in the US. I saw this with Brinda, Naini, Meghnath and Raghu in AZ. I whistled and clapped when Jackie Chan came on the screen only to be met with stern disapproval from Naini, "This is not India. Don't make any noise in US movie halls."
"Lagaan" - The tables turned when I took Faith Ripple to watch this movie in Kansas. A movie hall of Indian, hooting, throwing papers up, clapping and screaming for a make believe cricket match between poor Indian farmers and their oppressing overlords, the British. I told her, "This is how we Indians watch movies."
"Boys" - bullied a colleague to get first day tickets at a theatre all the way at Mayajaal, nearly 30 km from where Satish Chetty lived only because he had to watch this movie before leaving for the US that evening. We walked out within half an hour unable to bear that movie for even that long!
"Spiderman 2" - watched it only after the second half began thanks to Sakthi arriving late. But, a memorable encounter with a little boy was part of my blog post http://vaanmughil.blogspot.in/2009/04/children-of-streets-cheese-balls-and.html.
The last Tamizh movie I watched in the theatre was "Kanda naal mudhalaai" in Abhirami theatre in 2005, if you didn't take into account "Kakka Muttai," which is a children's movie and Surya's first ever outing to a movie hall.
"Udta Punjab" and "Piku" happened thanks to sneaking into movie halls after sending Surya to day care, the former with a friend and the latter with Sakthi, who bunked work claiming to have taken his wife to see a doc. Oh, the things we do to catch a recent flick!
I have watched movies in theatres, with pirated & legit CDs, at home on my laptop or in the TV. Seen some movies alone and plenty with friends and family. I have laughed, cried, cheered and jeered. Many people watch movies and remember the actors, dialogues, songs and some sequences. I remember the many other little things around those movies. In fact, those memories are stronger than what I have seen on the silver screen. What are yours?
Psst... I have never watched a single Star Wars movie, never seen Sholay. And, not a single Rajini movie on the screen since 1992. There. Proof that not all Tamilians are raving mad.
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