I am someone who passionately watches FDFS of movies every Friday with a gang of friends. When there are two films, we watch back-to-back shows. It is movies that made us what we are today. I would have been an ardent movie buff even if I was in some other profession. I’ve been badly missing the theatre experience since the lockdown. I have enjoyed watching movies in different formats at various types of movie halls, including touring talkies. I remember watching the MGR-starrer
Puthiya Bhoomi
in a tent kottai when I had gone to a village near Chengalpet for an NSS camp from college. I can still vividly recall the excitement of the audience whenever MGR appeared on the screen.
The 3D film
My Dear Kuttichathan
was another movie which I enjoyed watching with friends in Alankar Theatre; the movie hall had some beautiful paintings adorning the walls. Watching
Enter The Dragon
at Anand and
Sholay
at Sathyam were other memorable experiences. I miss watching films in many of these theatres. I had a separate liking for MGR films in those days. We used to go to movies as a family. I enjoyed watching Sivaji Ganesan’s films, too.
During my college days, we used to go to movies at least once a week. In Loyola, there was a particular day when we had only three periods, after which we would go as a group to watch films in Leo and Midland theatres. Watching English movies with a knowledgeable crowd at Leo theatre in 1983-84 was an incredible experience. After turning a filmmaker, it’s a different experience watching interesting scenes which I’ve directed on the big screen. Sitting in a theatre along with the crowd, laughing and crying with the characters on screen, is magic. I’m quite hopeful of things returning to normalcy soon.
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