Back in the day, the terrible Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi would remain lovingly etched in my mind because it dared to disrupt my quotidian routine for a time-bound half-an-hour. I watched Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime, and immediately lost its train of thought because I was on to Aarya on Disney+Hotstar. Indian serials that earlier showcased squabbly mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law in tacky drawing rooms have suddenly adopted snazzy production values. But also deeply concerned-because I’m pretty sure I’m going to forget what exactly happened in the first four chapters… what if I confused it with Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries on Netflix? Nothing stays anymore even great shows and movies blur into nought in my consciousness.Ī few days ago, I was watching the riveting The Head, an HBO original, but four episodes down the line, I realized this was one of those slow releases, not a binge I’d have to wait for the next two weeks for the final two episodes (it’s a six-part series). I’ve lost track of plots and twists as I navigate overpopulated platforms, watching whatever catches my fancy. In late March, I capitulated like a row of pins flattened by a curveball, and am now hooked to the single-minded pursuit of endless entertainment.
Till a few months ago, I had steadfastly refused to fall prey to the excesses of mindless OTT bingeing, falling back on my vast DVD collection whenever I wanted to enjoy cinema. Or when my grandmother told me how the ladies who sat in dress-circle seats at a My Fair Lady screening (sometime in the 1960s) got a vanity case each. Or when a bunch of us college friends had watched (a re-run of) The Exorcist armed with extra kathi rolls (those days, you could easily smuggle in outside food), so we could busy ourselves eating if the going got too scary. Like when, as school kids, we were not allowed to watch an “Adults only" film, and how we sidled, shame-faced, into a neighbourhood theatre to catch a “wholesome family" one. I’d remember lines, scenes, actors’ names. Growing up, when movies were an outing, a treat, I never forgot a single film. It’s simple: Most of them are housed within mall premises, and there’s something distinctly unholy about cinema being reduced to a stopping point on a retail trail. In markets like China, for example, where screens are being reopened in a phased manner, only re-runs of popular films are being shown, since new offerings cannot be granted a sliced-and selective-audience.įor me, the grandeur of the big screen had in any case been on the decline since the advent of multiplexes. But I’m not so sure how the scene will play out once (and if) the covid phase gets over. Soon after, all theatres downed shutters.
SMARTY PANT DANCE MOVIE
Everyone continually sanitized their hands, and collectively heaved a sigh of relief when the movie ended.¬¬¬
Covid hadn’t yet checked in like that annoying guest who doesn’t want to leave, but it was lurking around the corner-so, inside the hall, all six of us looked at the other far-flung five with a certain amount of suspicion. Other than it being titled Thappad, the experience itself was like a slap in the face: There were six of us in an auditorium designed to accommodate at least 150. The last time I watched a movie in a theatre was in early March.
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