When I look back on some of those nostalgic childhood
memories, what I remember vividly was that cold, chilly evening in Bangalore.
It was sometime in December of 1964 or January 1965. I was all of 6 years of age. I had accompanied my parents to watch my
first movie that cold December evening. I probably think that this was my first movie because the movie
had left an indelible impression on my conscious mind. The movie was in Hindi, titled “Dosti”. The movie was being screened in a makeshift
cinema tent, located near to my house which, used to be called a “picture tent”
or sometimes a “touring talkies” in those days.
The makeshift cinema tent was supposedly a temporary structure covered
by some heavy material (to avoid water leakage), that could be shifted easily
from one place to another; although this particular “picture tent” never moved
from its resting place, that was Tilaknagar (part of Jayanagar T Block
now), which was later converted into a theatre, Swagath Theatre, perhaps. The whole concept of the “picture tent” was to provide entertainment to
the masses in city suburbs and villages, where there was a dearth of cinema
theatres. Inside the cinema tent, at one
end, was a white large cloth stretched across a flat surface, acting as a
screen; the moving images of the cinema was projected onto the white screen
using a projector which, was placed at the opposite end of the cinema tent. The white screen had become dirty, with large
brownish patches, here and there, but still, the movie images looked fairly
clear.
The projector operator sat beside a whirring old model
movie projector on a folding chair surveying the crowds. In my young mind, the
projector operator was some sort of a magician; and the owner of the cinema
tent. The projector operator decided on
when the time was right to start screening of the movie and his decision mostly
rested upon the size of the crowd; although a definite timing was fixed for the
commencement of the show, which was 6.30 PM for the first show; this was rarely
followed in practice. A jarring bell was
sounded before the commencement of the movie, which delighted the whistling
crowd. There was a rush of “adrenaline”
in the audience, once the screening of the movie commenced. This was partly because of the excitement
created by the whistling and clapping from the crowds.
The main source of entertainment, other than the
movies, had been the “circus”, for many of my generation. The “Gemini Circus” was the most popular
“circus” which used to pitch its tent in the Subhash Nagar Grounds (Now the
Bangalore Central Bus Station terminus). However, the concept of “circus” which
was so popular during my childhood days seems to be fast disappearing.
Coming back to the movie “Dosti”, though a cult
classic hit of those times, the movie itself had a lingering melancholic impact
on me; the two main characters in the movie, singing on the streets of Bombay to
earn a living; had remained deeply etched in my memory for many years. The story of the movie had a serious depth of
intensity and the songs were evergreen classics. That apart, I hardly remember anything of the
black-and-white era movie, now.
The other quite vivid memory, I have, is that the
“picture tent” was full of mosquitoes; which were a constant source of
irritation to the loyal cinema audience.
However, the people were so enthralled and engrossed in the movie, that
they soon forgot all about the mosquito bites. There was also this frequent
disturbance happening within the movie tent.
People, who were coming in late to the movie, were constantly lifting
the tent on both the sides and leisurely strolling in as if they had all the
time in the world. Every time a person
walked in or walked out of the tent, their dark shadows danced on the cinema
screen; there were persistent shouts from the people berating them on the
disturbance; and every time the tent was lifted, the cold breeze from outside
drifted in, making us shiver and huddle inside.
During the mandatory movie interval, the constant play
of shadows on the movement of people, lighted up on the dirty white screen,
while the loudspeaker blared the popular hit songs of the season. People noisily rushed out, during the
interval, discussing the movie plot and characters. The interval reminded people to buy
groundnuts (or peanuts as it is called these days) to pass the ten minutes of
idleness. Those days there was no
concern littering the ground with the peanut shells. It was a given, that peanut shells and all
other food wrappers were left behind inside the tents, after each movie show. Only once, at the end of the day, I think,
the earthen floor was swept clean. The
jarring bell sounded again, signifying the end of the interval and resumption
of the movie.
While, we, as a family were seated on the folding
chairs in the back of the packed tent, people in the front class sat on the
rough earthen floor. We could see the
dust on the earthen floor rise and settle down every time a person stood up or
sat down. Some of the people who sat on the ground in the front, lighted a
cigarette or a bidi, to the consternation of the non-smokers. While some of the people objected, the
smokers smirked and did not even bother to extinguish their cigarettes or
bidis; they exhaled the acrid smoke with pleasure forming smoke rings.
Those idyllic memories of my childhood, watching a
movie in a “picture tent” has remained with me, perhaps, reminding me of a joyful
time when life was really simple, just black and white; and this brings on a
smile to my wry face.
It used to be a place where people would sink all the differences, economic, caste, and watch films together. I remember to have watched MGRs padakotti even though my mother tongue was kannada.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. My sister reminded me that our family have seen many more movies in this tent including some Tamil movies of MGR.
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