Random Ramblings!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Love at first bite.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Goodbye 70mm!
ANAND THEATRE |
SANGEET THEATRE |
Five times a day the bell would ring, starting at 9:00am. Showtimes usually 9am, 12noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm, depending on the movie played. Like disciplined factory workers, we'd queue up and enter the hallowed chambers, ready to be entertained!
Interval...!!
Menu:
Chai / Coffee
Cola / Gold Spot
Limca / Citra
Chips Packet
Popcorn
Veg Sandwich
Veg Puff / Egg Puff
Alu Samosa / Chhota Samosa
Mirchi Bhajji
Ice Cream (Chocobar, Mango Duet, Vanilla/ Strawberry Cup)
They'd quickly wrap the eats in square-cut pieces of newspaper, hand us the drinks ... and balancing 17 items between two hands, two elbows and 32 teeth, we'd make our way back to the seat. (God help you if your girlfriend wanted something else after the acrobatics). The bell would ring again, signalling the second half. Rush Rush Rush!!!!
Chomping and sipping away through the second half of the film, we'd go through the run of emotions again! The lovebirds holding hands tight over a narrow wooden armrest when Tom Cruise said "You Complete Me" in Jerry Maguire, groups of guys whistling away at Sharon Stone uncrossing her legs in Basic Instinct, and families bonding together over the Sound of Music. Those were the days!!
Razed to the ground. Taking with it, memories of so many lives intertwined with every reel that ever ran through its projectors.
Sangeet was witness to first dates, bunked college days, awkward couples on their first movie outing after an arranged marriage, boys hoping to some day date the girl smiling a few seats away, women checking out charming army officers on their day off, kids ecstatic at finally being able to watch The Lion King, middle-aged couples spending a quiet evening with each other at a romantic film... ... ...
These weren't mere movie-halls. They were the foundations of the cinema lover I am.. along with thousands of other people. They were our classrooms, our textbooks and our exam centres. We'd celebrate cinema there every Friday... and almost every other day of the week.
The story above repeated itself every single day, for decades, across single-screen theaters around the country. Each one has its own story, it's own chunk of history, in its own language!
Anand Theater was Sangeet's Hindi-speaking cousin in Secunderabad. It did play a lot of English as well, but my most memorable film there was Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I'd watched it almost 25 times there... often carrying a mandolin with me, just to show off!!
Two landmarks of Secunderabad that I grew up around, have now vanished, along with so many others around the city... dismissed to being chapters on websites reminiscing the days that were.
Hyderabad had Skyline and Sterling, now converted to residential complexes, the grand old Maheshwari-Parmeshwari theaters (now Big Bazaar), Nataraj (now a furniture store). Some still celebrate glorious openings of regional cinema. Other single-screens are being converted to multiplexes.
But that era is fading away. That glorious age when stars became superstars based on single-screen success!
Today's stardom is like today's fast food... quickly prepared, tastes amazing at the first bite, but isn't the real deal (or meal..!).
Somehow, that samosa doesn't taste the same in a Multiplex!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
24 HOURS OF A MAHINDRA EXPERIENCE
Very Happy.
Life Or Something Like That...
15th May 2012.
In a train after long!! Pune-Hyderabad! Woke up to sunlit fields, villages and platforms zipping by... munching on idli-vada, sipping chai while listening to Pareshaan (Ishaqzaade) & Paani Da (Vicky Donor) on loop! Much-needed little break before I plunge head-on into work once I reach.
Such sheer difference between the forced silence of air travel (often shattered by a wailing kid) and the whole-hearted conversations with strangers on trains, amidst screaming chaiwallahs, loud friend-groups, haldiram-munching businessmen and kids running from one end of the coach to another, smartly dodging the luggage jutting out from under the seats!
That arm rest between seats on a flight has witnessed more silent adjustments of elbow space, than actual conversations between two stranger co-flyers sitting next to each other.
The closed restrooms on an airline where we have the privacy to repair and redecorate the masks we wear VS the open basin on a train where we jostle for space between three other passengers trying to spit out their toothpaste.
I love both worlds!!
The simulated convenience of an airport and the in-your-face nakedness of the Indian train travel.
At Pune, I was looking out on the platform book store for Archie Comics and Tinkle, my standard purchases before every single train ride.
Didn't buy them this time.
The Macbook Pro and the iPad have replaced that need.
Guess what!!! I just broke out into a song.. danced in that narrow passage between the berths, like I did with my friends and cousins when we travelled together. Hung from that step ladder, arms stretched out in jubilant celebration, while doing all the Shammi Kapoor twists and turns.
Did it in my head this time.
Didn't stand up.
Nobody saw me do it... except me.
That entertainer in me was probably born on a train, on one of those wedding journeys. No speakers. No microphone. No sound check. Just raw emotion.
I want to rewind.
No time now. Station's here. Gotta get back to life. Or something like that.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Coloumn for Hyderabad Times 10th Anniversary!
O-M-G!!
I finally discovered what Lord Ganesha likes best about Hyderabad. The one single reason why he makes it a point to descend from the heavens every year, stick around for a few days, enjoy the love, the food and then brave the murky waters as he returns home up there!
Lord Ganesha loves the jukebox festival that happens every year in our city. As he sits or stands or dons those numerous poses on that sacred pedestal, all through the day, he catches up on the latest hits from across the world.
Believe it or not! I’ve passed Ganesh pandals playing Justin Bieber’s Baby Baby! Outrageous as it sounds, it is true. Lord Ganesha sure doesn’t carry around an iPod but his playlist is better updated than most radio stations.
In case, any sculptor is reading this, Lord Ganesha with an iPod, laptop and a PSP sounds like a cool design for next year. After all, he is the eternal Indian Idol.
One look at the 16-year old blonde “baby” or ET’s first cousin, Lady Gaga, we know music has come a long, wicked way since U2, Pink Floyd, 4 Non-Blondes or even the Back-in-the-street Boys.
Currently, neither world peace nor the search for alien life or new fuel alternatives is of paramount importance. The brains at Pentagon, Scotland Yard and even the world’s greatest research labs (no, I don’t mean the mountains of Afghanistan) are all worried about Bieber’s voice cracking. What will happen? What calamity will befall the world? Will he end up sounding like a beaver? Or will he also resort to lip syncing? (Oh, but he already did that at the MTV VMAs right?) Anyway, he trends more than anyone or anything, dead or alive or unfunny on Twitter.
So, there isn’t much I can say about him, except that he joins an elite group of the most famous blonde celebs in history that includes Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson… both known for their huge… uhh fan following.
Of course, Hyderabad also has its huge list of celebs. You’ll find them online.
On Twitter are all the stars we love the most and least in our very own Tollywood. Be it, Rajamouli, Mahesh Babu, Siddharth, Jr.NTR, Genelia, Ileana down to the B/C/D lists and even the avoidable ones, our stars have found a whole new e-dimension to stardom, on the mobile phone.
140 characters have taken over our 70mm lives. Not to forget that there is more drama in the Twitterverse than we can find in a film these days.
The big question is... ‘How many minimum followers do you need to be a (self) proclaimed “celeb”?’ The only thing about numbers is that they are best when you can’t count them. And this holds true for both twitter and the box office.
Talking about box-office, a film that flops on the big screen, seems to become a hit on twitter screens. Everyone loves discussing a flop down to its gory details. Recently overheard a conversation between two deconstructionists “@hiddenname OMG, why did he do that film? I’m going to follow the director and tell him.” … and the usual #hashtags that follow.
There have been so many “OMGs & God bless” every second that I wonder if Lord Ganesha is already here on twitter.
How many minimum followers would Lord Ganesha require to be proclaimed God on twitter? How will twitter verify his identity? How many fake accounts will start in his name? I’m thinking of doing one myself – “@iamtherealganesh I’m back Hyderabad. God bless. Really! :)”
The best part about playing God?
You get to tweet just 11 days a year.
Everyone follows you.
Everyone RTs you.
OMG!!
Aamir Khan is God!
Please RT.
@AnujGurwara ..
(with inputs from Justin Bieber fan @rajeshmacha)