Monday, August 3, 2009

MMMOVIES, POPCORN & MORE...

After a very hectic month at work, all I can now think of is movies and more movies. So with this blog entry, I intend taking you on a brief journey of the engrossing world of movies and my own first-hand experiences which changed my life for the better. I must first admit that I am a total Hollywood movie buff and a very passionate one at that (similar to the appetite of some of the voracious readers). So passionate, that over the last ten years I have indulged in a fine home theatre and built a gargantuan DVD collection to save on the time and hassle (parking blues for sure!) of visiting the multiplex every now and then without regular company in tow. And the best excuse to own one is that multiplexes don’t run at my beck and call, whereas my home theatre does. So now I can watch whatever and whenever any number of times depending on the flavour of the day. I have noticed many affluent and the nouveau-riche owning the best of home theatres which are biting dust on their walls (I can exchange mine with them any day) as they are never viewed but just flaunted in their circles. However, I don't belong to that class at all. The visual medium is a truly enjoyable and gratifying exercise. As when one thinks of going to the Movies, then Popcorn, Coke and the Fun factor definitely come foremost to mind. But as my experience unfolds before you, then at the end of it all you would realize that there is a lot more to movies than just a jumbo popcorn. In my case the ‘more’ was and still is 'Enlightenment and Education', both with a big ‘E’, but not necessarily similar from the fiction/non-fiction books we all read. Some movies are a great inspiration to educate oneself on all that was undone in school. However, the so called educational movies I am referring to are not the boring documentaries but astonishingly, the mainstream Hollywood English films only and not the majority of bollywood trash we are subjected to more often than not. I have been watching the Hollywood stuff since the late seventies when I was in my fifth grade, but catching the American accent then was like a cat and mouse game. Still my interest in them didn’t wane and I continued my love affair with the enigmatic original stuff, Hollywood churned out year after year whether at Chanakya or Archana cinema in Delhi or on VHS tapes at home, many a times bunking school and college. I have very vivid memories about the first English film I ever saw. It was the John Travolta blockbuster “Saturday Night Fever” sometime in 1978. What a huge rage it was during those times. And you won’t believe it, that I had asked my favourite English teacher to get me the tickets for this movie as she used to stay next to Archana Cinema in GK-1, Delhi. She not only bought the tickets but accompanied me and my cousin for the movie. So as a bonus, even popcorn and coke was on the house :-).

But true independence as a Hollywood movie buff came much later, at the start of the new millennium in 2000 when I bought my first Sony home theatre and a TV to match. It’s another matter that both these purchases broke my back at that time. However, in hindsight it was money well spent. Since then my personal Hollywood DVD collection has swelled to over hundreds of titles (before my friends and relatives have other ideas, just wanted to clarify that I don't intend being in the renting or lending business though.…LOL). Moreover, I detest when people borrow my DVD’s and books but never return. My treasured DVD collection is spread across all genres from Action thrillers to Romance to Suspense and Horror flicks to War/Historicals and many famous classics. Earlier, I was mainly a fan of the action flicks as they are abound with fast paced screenplays and the accompanying car chases, fights, stunts etc. particularly look terrific on the big TV screen. Later in 2007, when I graduated to a larger LCD, I still restricted my DVD collection to a handful of action flicks and some classics. But then one fine evening while flaunting my new LCD and home theatre at a party, I had a very profound conversation with another movie buff. He had an excellent insight into the movies, Hollywood had churned out between 1940’s to 1960’s, a period abhorred by the gen-next and a lot others (including my wife) for being black and white and out of sync with our present times. But that was the time when movies relied more on outstanding scripts rather than the SFX (visual) effects of today and mind you some of them are really awesome and amazing.

So I gradually started doing my own research on the actors, directors and films of that era mainly on Wikipedia. Thereafter, I purchased some of the Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Rock Hudson classics and several other historical and war movies of that period. I enjoyed watching them all most days of the week, on my personal seven thirty evening show in the confines of my comfy mini theatre-like bedroom carrying over the backlog of some lengthy films to the next day(s) as I had strict orders from my wife and kids to vacate the room for their nonsensical TV soaps after nine pm :-). On a more serious note, the genre which has really intrigued me the most in recent times is definitely the ‘War and Historical’ category. As the cliché goes, “Rome was not built in a day” and how true it proved in my case. But it was well worth the wait to discover and realize the true potential of the Historical/War genre. I am completely enamoured by it and still continue to fall into its abyss. What an irony, as I use to dread history and the Battle names/dates in school. But now after exploring history through the creative and visual medium of films, I surprisingly (coming from an accounting background) have started adoring history, particularly of the World War era and the Roman/Greek Empires.

Now I would finally like to introduce you to some of the films which completely floored me and turned it around for me. I thoroughly applaud the style in which the American Civil War, the Russian Revolution, Napolean’s invasion of Russia and World War II have been beautifully blended with sweeping romances in ‘Gone With the Wind’, ‘Doctor Zhivago’, ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Casablanca’ respectively.The serious issue of rape and racial injustice depicted in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was definitely some enlightenment. I also admired ‘Cleopatra’, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Alexander’ which gave me a lot of insight into Julius Ceaser, the Roman Empire and the Greek empire respectively. Then films like ‘Passion of the Christ’ apprised me a lot about Jesus Christ and Christianity. So did the conspiracy aspect of US President John Kennedy’s assassination and the ‘Magic Bullet Theory’(stating how a single bullet caused all the non-fatal wounds in both President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally) shown in the film ‘JFK’ is just mind-boggling to say the least. Enthralling films of this genre were also made later in the 90’s by renowned directors like Steven Spielberg and will continue to be made. My education about the Holocaust (a period during World War II when about six million European Jews were brutally killed by Hitler and the Nazis), Hitler, the Nazis and World War II stems a lot from two of Spielberg’s heart wrenching blockbusters, namely the ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ alongwith the classics, ‘Life is Beautiful’ and ‘The Great Escape’. I hardly remembered anything about the history of these menacing yet passionate times from my school days where history till today is all about learning by rote. This education though didn’t come by me in just two to three hours of watching each of these films. When a particular film floored me, then the curiosity to know more and more compelled me to research extensively on the wars, famous historical personalities, the era they belonged to and many other finer nuances. The resulting exercise led me from one page to another on Wikipedia thereby enriching my knowledge like never before. I somehow never missed reading the voluminous books from which these films were adapted. If ever it would be possible to travel back in time like Michael J.Fox in the 'Back to the Future' movies, then I would love to visit the pre and post-war eras.

As they say, God has given us only one life and it will soon be past, so we ought to take out time to indulge in activities we relish the most (which I definitely did) and will continue to take out with the added bonus of conquering new territory to augment my faculties. It has given me a high very difficult to describe in words. The phenomenal exercise of watching these great epics has endowed upon me some purposeful education and left me a more compassionate and peace loving person at the end of it all. I vehemently think our generation should thank their stars to have not encountered the ravages, miseries and atrocities of the World War era and pay homage to those who did. Although terrorism is a new kind of war to be tackled in our times and maybe best left for some other time on this blog.

1 comment:

Nilima said...

I recently went through your blog and well,it both surprised and inspired me.I had always admired you for your intelligence but what amuses me are your creative writing skills and also your muse.Its nice that in times like ours,with opportunities galore,we are given an insight to ourselves and those around, of thoughts, skills, opinions,fears and feelings we all possess.For me writing works like yoga,I hope to you too, it brings the same kind of energy and liberation. All in all, great going.