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Guest column | Going to the movies is a thing of the past
Ensconced comfortably anywhere and everywhere, we watch numerous movies, serials, short movies and all kinds of entertainment, sometimes attentively,but most of the time half-heartedly like zombies
The period between 2019 and 2021 will be etched in the history of the world for rapid transformation and experimentation as the pandemic hit many commercial ventures, small and big businesses and employability.
Cinema, catering, tourism and hospitality were the worst hit. Due to a complete ban on gatherings, going to watch movies in theatres seems to be a thing of past.
However, such is human nature that we effortlessly and imperceptibly settle into new paradigms, accepting, absorbing, and digesting change, transition and shifts. The pandemic accelerated the change that was already in motion, albeit at snail’s pace.
For instance, in their quest for survival, many Bollywood actors, directors, producers have shifted to OTT platforms. Smart televisions with channels such as Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Max Player, and Zee 5 have entered our mind’s space and time in a big way.
Ensconced comfortably anywhere and everywhere, we watch numerous movies, serials, short movies and all kinds of entertainment, sometimes attentively,but most of the time half-heartedly like zombies. We have the option of leaving a film mid-way, to fast-forward the bits we find uninteresting, and to pause for a short break.
Though, there are so many things around us, we are still lonely, floating in a vacuum. There is a kind of ennui that we are unable to escape as this unabetted entertainment does not touch us and does not match in any way the joy of watching movies in cinema halls.
I still vividly recall the impact of Rajesh Khanna’s debut movie Akhri Khat (1966), which I saw in a cinema hall in Ludhiana. I was just five years old then, but the search of a 15-month-old child (that the director, Chetan Anand, let loose in the city, and followed him with his hand-held camera) for his dead mother made me cry so copiously that I refused to eat my favourite snack during the interval. The memory of the movie lingers strongly even after 55 years.
Sadly, the incessant trickling of films, serials and entertainment has diffused the effect of movies for many. It is as if the excess of visuality that is making inroads in our lives circles around on the surface, giving short-lived sensations and effects. They do not make an everlasting impact. With a large number of movies releasing on OTT platforms, we forget the names of the film we saw the next day.
There is no comparison to the joy we experience while watching a movie in theatres to the routine act of watching a movie at home or on smart TV. Going to see a movie with family and friends was so much more entertaining!
Sitting cosily among strangers, and quietly observing all the norms of behaviour could also leave a much better impact.
Covid has ruined one of the most favourite sources of entertainment and outing for many of us. Although, many actors, directors and producers have predicted that traditional cinema will revive and theatres and cinema halls will be buzzing with activity once again, I have my doubts. The joy of watching films in theatres may become history as most of us have gotten used to‘see from home’, and of course, it is economical too.
I belong to that blessed generation of cinema-goers that fully cherish the nuances of a well-crafted movie and do justice to the art of filmmaking. In times to come, this phenomenon of going to the movies may well become extinct.
sangeetahandadr@gmail.com
(The writer is a Patiala-based retired principal)
