I always used ro be a very profound lover of movies from a very young age. Perhaps the first movie I saw as my memory lane goes by is Sarapancharam starring the late superstar Jayan. I don’t remember seeing Nazir sir and Sathyan Master in the theater that much. Later I started watching movies by Mammookka and Lalettan. Adiyozhukkukal, Ivide Thudangunnu, Atiratram, New Delhi, Kanamarayat..and the list goes on. There are many such early movie experiences we had when we were young.
In the earlier days, we used to watch movies sitting on the bench, right next to the screen… Back then, the only times we get to go to the theater were during the midsummer holidays, church festivals, and when someone in the family was getting married and the newly wedded couple take all of us to theater for a new movie release… Good Old Days..! I still remember the kids set have the bench reserved for such shows.. !
Those are the days when Mammootty, Lalettan, Rahman, and Shankar were acting their hearts out on the screen, and the fight scenes would still be hilarious… Standing up, clapping, shouting, and then the shouts of those sitting behind saying “Sit down there” were all normal…
As I grew older, my way of enjoying movies also changed. The boring scenes in the movie itself and the unnecessary song scenes started to become annoying….and thats the time we sneaked out the theatre doors and took a smoke break..Then the time pass by when we started growing from the bench to the seat and from there to the back seat and then to the balcony..!
More than the actors in the movie, the movie grew into the era of super stars. Along with that the fan boy in us too started to grow big. Discussions and healthy arguments between friends and other groups, where fans gather became a regular art form. Cinema enjoyment grew into the way of imitating their stars. The way they dress,the way they smoke, their unique style of holding the whiskey glass etc..
Social media and other forums too grew alongside were discussions and reviews about the film, paid promotions and degrading, fans associations, and welfare communities and so on.
Cinema has grown into a huge commercial culture in many ways. From single screens to multiplexs, cinema has become one of the major center of entertainment of the society. Big corporates like PVR… movie experiences have grown into manifolds. Films that were released with a budget of thousands have now crossed lakhs and reached hundreds of crores.
Despite this, there are still a group of aficionados who enjoy watching films at their peak with genuine enthusiasm and excitements. There are still admirers of good content, story, narration and technology… The collections of the film on its release day reflect this to some extent. It is encouraging that there is still a group of people who enjoy watching their stars on the silver screen with the same feeling they enjoyed sitting on the bench in the early days. I am for sure is one among them.
Aside from the mobile lights and muted phone conversations that are seen here and there when the movie starts in the cinema hall, the cinema theater is still a charm. The applause, the whistles, the shouts of “Fight him!” when the villain has been beaten to red and blue by the hero and the heated discussions about the movies and it’s moments, about the cast, about story etc after the movie are still active.
The history of cinema enjoyment was transformed into a note through my own experience …
With loveA fan of cinema!
VV
