Confessions of a Movie Maniac
This is my first post on Passion for Cinema as a PFC author. I had already contributed some posts through Projekt IView, but this is my first as a full fledged author. Honestly speaking, its kind of overwhelming to me. That i am in the league of some of the best writers, critics and movie makers. That i am rubbing shoulders with Anurag Kashyap, Revati, Sudhir Mishra, Kundan Shah online. And most importantly, i dont have to wait for some time to see my article being published on PFC.
So comming back to the title, how and when did i become a movie maniac. Well i was crazy about movies since a kid. It also helped that i come from a state, Andhra Pradesh, which has the largest number of movie theaters in India, and where every small town has a decent theatre. But as a kid, movie going was strictly regulated at home. Only English movies, that too blockbuster stuff like Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Guns of Navaronne, Mackennas Gold. Telugu masala movies were a big no no, and while my parents never liked the Hindi masala movies much, fortunately my mamas used to religiously watch every new Hindi movie, that came into town, and so i would tag along with them. Telugu movies were allowed only if they were mythological or historical kind. I would quite often feel jealous of my class mates at school, as they would talk about the latest Telugu movie blockbuster starring NTR or Krishna( ANR , Sobhanbabu were only for family audiences). Oh yes, and Amitabh Bachan was a universal favorite, Don was one of the biggest hits in Andhra Pradesh, and even though many could not understand Hindi, the Gulti audiences saw this movie again and again. Almost every saloon in Andhra Pradesh, had barbers offering an Amitabh hair cut. But movie going during the school time, was a once in a kind affair. You had certain fixed dates to see movies, the last day of exams, festival seasons or when there were no exams.
My father was a big time fan of English movies, and he would make it a point to catch the latest Hollywood flick in town. During my childhood, we were a huge joint family, along with my parents, my mom’s 3 brothers, my grandma stayed with us. So dinner sessions would see my dad, narrate the story of the latest English movie he had seen. And movie discussions would go on into the night. It was these dinner table movie discussions that really turned me into a movie buff. There was no cable TV or internet, but life was certainly much more fun. On entering engineering college, things changed. My mamas had got married, and all were leading their own lives. And unlike school days, when movie going was only on certain days, in engineering college it was different. During that period, we had two category of movies “Legal” and “Illegal”. Legal movies were those which we informed to our parents, after all we had to be the good boys in front of them. And illegal movies were those, which we watched while bunking classes. In fact even when college was not there at times, we would still go to college, just to slip into a movie. Of course such visits would also mean looking out to see, if any familiar uncle or aunt, was also there in the theater. And yes, scrimping money to watch the movie in the front row, or borrowing from friends.
But it was the 90’s that transformed me into a full fledged movie maniac. That was the time, i had started to work. And that was the time i entered into the 20’s, meaning i was now a proper adult. But most importantly it meant, that now i could no longer be apologetic about going to movies. Since I was earning, I now no longer needed to be dependent on some one for money. And i enjoyed this financial freedom, by just watching every movie in town. Hollywood sci fi, action, comedy, Telugu masala, Oscar winners, award winners, horror flicks, Bollywood masala, art house whatever caught my fancy. And that included sleazy soft porn flicks too. At times would end up watching 2-3 movies in a single day. The movie theater became my second home. And no i just did not stop at watching a movie, if some movie really interested me, i would not rest, till i caught some of my friends, and then we would discuss it to death. At times we had totally heated debates too, especially with Forrest Gump, with some of my friends calling it dumb. Also the cable TV revolution and movie channels, meant i could catch movies at night times too, when every one was asleep. If I were to do a bar diagram, showing movies watched per year, i am sure the period during 90’s would look like a mini Manhattan.
So what kind of a movie lover i am? Honestly i myself don’t have a clue. I feel pretty comfortable watching a Govinda-David Dhawan comedy or a Mithun flick. I love a Saving Private Ryan as much as i do a total masala flick like Where Eagles Dare or Die Hard. I love Tim Burton’s movies as much as i do enjoy watching Hrishida movies. I even love rom coms like Dil Hai Ki Maanta Nahin as much as i do a gory Reservoir Dogs. But i do have certain favorite genres Hong Kong action movies, sci fi movies, Hitchcockian style thrillers, horror flicks. And certainly not very enthusiastic about rom coms or chik lit stuff.
“Does the movie make me feel involved?”- That is the major factor, for me when watching a movie. For all it’s dazzling special effects, Jurassic Park left me cold, but to date i still feel a lump in the throat when watching the climax of E.T. While i did love the Gumpisms, the dragging climax, made me want the movie to end soon, but whenever i see The Shawshank Redemption, and Red reading the letter, and the “Hope is a wonderful thing” message, i just wish the movie never ends. Shahrukh’s death scene in Kal Ho Na Ho, left me cold, but i still get the goosebumps whenever i listen to Babu Moshai, comming from the tape recorder in Anand. Again it is pretty much a very personal thing. I dont know if i am an elitist kind or mass kind or class kind. All i know is that i am a passionate move lover at the end of the day.
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Welcome, Ratnakar! Looking forward to lots of wonderful posts from you!
welcome maniac
welcome Ratnakar..looking forward to many more maniacal posts!
Just replace the words like Andhra by Maharashtra and the article seems to be my story. Only that my dad never liked movies ( Holly/Bolly ) and used to take me along and sleep or take a ride with me alone in the theatres.
Congratulations Ratnakar!!!
Congrats Ratnakar…
Hope to see more interesting articles from you…
@Ratnakar,
Welcome to the team.
Hope your passion and openness and absence of predecided biased to watch the cinema give us many many many posts.
Welcome again and all the best.
Thanks to all who commented. I am looking forward to a great association with PFC.
Welcome Ratnakar! As long as you remain a movie maniac your passion for cinema will not diminish.
@Arun,
Dont give false hope:)
Jo janma hai wo marega bhee, be it passion or fashion or motion or commotion:)
—
recalling Sholay here where that Gabbar Singh’s man in the village tries to mislead villagers when reads letter of Gabbar Singh, after the death of Sachin.
Kab tak jiyoge tum thakur aur kab tak jiyenge hum, agar ye dono is gaanv mein rahe.
—
Kab tak rahega passion if cinema comes too costly and at the cost of consuming costly time also?
—
an audience is fine. he can watch films but to write about cinema and that too continuously and when one is not associated with filmmaking needs some strange and special energy. First watching takes costly time and then writing about that watching and when nothing has to come back and only film’s director and actors will get some benefit and not the writer.
—
You are right in being maniac, one has to remain a maniac to maintain this passion.
A mad man on the pattern of Gulshan Grovers Bad Man:)
———-
One side of the issue.
Inkenti Rechhipo..
Ayye…late ga vacchavu kaani tandurust ka vachhavu…( Late Came, but, healthy cummed/came)…welcome to PFc Ratnakar…lots more to hear from you..a welcome addition on PFC..gulti ala reeeeeiii.. eheheh
Nice to see you as an author now, Keep writing..!!
@ Rk Sir
My take is passion woh cheez hai, jiska maut ho hi nahi sakti.
So many movie makers and artistes, have passed away into time, but their passion has passed from generation to generation.
Well nowadays i am not as passionate as watching a movie in a theater, mainly due to exorbitant ticket rates, but there are other means, like the DVD and TV, where in fact i can explore a wider variety and genre of movies.
Jahan tak mera sawaal hai, i am not a full fledged movie critic, i make my living doing another kind of writing, writing code ;).
Working as a techie, could drive you insane at times, what with the crazy deadlines and long hours of work, and writing is what has kept me sane for 8 long years ;). And i hope that my passion for writing, does not die out.
@ Krishna: maava, ika kaasuko aithe.
@ OM: telugodi debba majaka, manam eppudu anthe, edhaina late ga na digutham, kaani oka saari digamante, eha choosuko. yeah Gultis rock.
Tanul, wb, Jahan, Oxy, Siva, Arun,Dpac,kcp thanks a lot guys.
రత్నాకర్,
తెలుగు వారికి తెలుగులోనే స్వాగతం.
అన్వేషి గారు, మీ స్వాగతాంజలి కి నా దన్యావాదములు
Thanks for your email, I am here now. I missed the discussions we had earlier. Lets restart. I am running a Kurosowa festival for me- Already saw Roshomon, Yojimbo, Red Beard, High & Low, Dersu Uzala, Seven Samurai. Waiting for Ran and few more.
Clearly, i am indebted to you to generate my interest in gangster & crime thriller genre, hence its of my own benefit I keep in touch with you.
Remember your ‘Heat’ review? I am a owner of the DVD now. One of the best gangster movie I saw ever.
Wish you a long innings here.
Cheers!
~fe*~
* old habits die hard
Hey FE, welcome to PFC, and do hope to see u out here more often dude. We have a great group out here, and would love to see u as part of it.
like to translate and post it to a hindi blog?hope you permit me.
you are right, passion is one thing that cant be killed, even when we don’t feel its presence any more it still keeps burning in our soul…..
welcome to pfc..
@Ratnakar(15),
Its a nice area to think upon.
As I have been seeing Anything related with Human being loses its lustre be it passion or profession. There are sessions. (talking about ordinary people).
Things do matter. as you say now you are not as passionate as you used to be to watch a film in cinema hall. Economics is one reason here. with any reason that passion has seen a change.
One of my friend, who was always mad about seeing first day first show, has not seen any film in cinema hall in last 4 years.
Can we find more passion than love in humanbeing’s life? when love happens people say a lot of things and at that time they truely believe in what they say but life proves them liar because passion is diminished in real life.
what was exothermic reaction earlier becomes endothermic reaction and one has to put ingredients to maintain those kind of emotions and to cherish that kind of bond.
same is true with every kind of passion. It does not live longer on its own and one has to put ingredients.
Unless one is Dev Anand, a filmmaker goes in depression with avoidance of audience or less success to his films. A passion which is dependent on other/s can not be maintained on our own.
an independent passion can stay. a passion towards life can stay but not a passion towards any art or any other thing which is not essential to live a life.
To make a film is still a different thing and its a team work and emotions can be rationalized, its even difficult for many to follow the blogging continuously if readers dont respond.
I have been watching many leaving in last two years and reasons can be any, it can be pressure of something in real life or problems in real life but that passion of writing about cinema goes away which one feels when starts writing.
Somewhere it becomes dependent on others.
If one can make it independent of others then surely can maintain it for longer.
else it will change its form. Mahadev ke tarah khat hee likhane ke kaam ayega:)
anyway, except few people (other than photoframed featured authors) hardly anyone is related here with film world (making, criticism etc). All earn their livelihood from different kind of jobs in different kind of areas.