[Reader-list] Shlok ki Maa- Veergati, mamta

[mamta mantri]

Shlok ki Maa

yesterday was an interesting one. Eight of my students
accompanied me to the theatres to watch a film with
me.The group comprised of 3 girls and 5 boys,all of
them 19 or 20,upper middle class, a multiplex
generation, born and bought up in the distant suburbs
of Mumbai and never been to these places.
I asked them to see the posters, films and the
theatre, and then decide the film to be viewed. Super
had a Bhojpuri film (they said we wont understand the
film), Shalimar showed "Garam"(it looked obscene, so
no-no). Nishat showed "Fight Club"(we can watch it in
a multiplex, so no again). Alfred had"Judge
Mujrim"(they were oblivious to the existence of the
film, so again no). Gulshan had "Badla", but we
finally decided to watch "Veergati"(Salman Khan) in
New Roshan.
I finally bought 7 tickets for a mere 105 Rs.(Thank
god, i only had 100 Rs with me). Anyways, by this
time, two of them, bhuvan and tanvi, got very
uncomfortable with the place, and decided to leave
(they went to Bandra, where they felt better). 
Anyways, I showed them the place, the dargah, the
stage,and the projector and they were amused. All of
them kept on sipping loads of cola and discuused if
these products were genuine or fake. the discussion
lasted for a very long time, but they were still
consuming all of it.
we sat in the balcony and began with the film. But
they could not even watch the film till the interval,
and we left 30 minutes before interval, and sat in the
promenade-balcony, smoking gloriously and chatting.SO
I am writing about their responses, including mine, in
brief:    
1) Amit: He watched the film with real ease and
wathced other finer aspects of the film. He said, "I
have watched this film on cable at home","the class
difference is so starkly visible". He enjoyed every
bit of it. when Salman Khan got on screen for the
first time, the audience clapped, and he said, "it is
these claps that decide and make the hero." 
2) Khushita: she came with a consciuously open mind,
expecting the worst or unexpected, and felt better
about the whole experience. she said, "the audience is
very well behaved", "I cannot watch these kinds of
films"( she[and othe other girl] was refering to
'Salaam Namaste' as her kind of film). she remembered
her childhood, when she visited her mother's maiden
house in chawls, when she saw the neighbourhood. 
3) MOhnish: he was a little bored, but fine with the
whole experinece. He related it to his parents and
said," My dad watches and likes these kinds of films.
but my Mom, who has gradually refined her tastes,
would never watch these kinds of films. ( we all
agreed to the fact that our fathers, all of them enjoy
these films).
4) Janhavi: She counted the number of cieling fans(5
on her side),exhaust fans(5 in the entire hall), the
dust bins. she did not enjoy the film much, but did
like the place.
5) Varun: both Varun and Janhavi were pretty bored,
and requested me if we could leave.Varun did not speak
much, but was keeping a close track on the style and
fashion quotient in the film.
6) Ashutosh: he found the hall crampy and suffocating.
the seat was comfortable, but he did not find much
leg-space and got restless. he commented on the song
and dance sequence in the film and said, "What moves,
man!". 
7) Myself: i like salman Kahn anyways and i like this
film of his, so i was enjoying the film as well. but
what struck my attention was the fact that the
audience (the hall got housefull in 45 minutes after
the film started) watched the film with great
attention and alertness, not missing any moment.the
film looked like an extension of the place and
neighbourhood, i.e. Kamathipura. the mention of the
name of the neighbourhood in the film, evokes response
in the audience in forms of smiles and claps. for me,
the mythical cinematic space kept flowing into the
real, physical space outside the cinema hall(of
course, i felt like this, only because i saw this
film).

the group generally agreed to the fact that it is not
very hard to relate to these kind of films which
feature basic desires. they were impressed with the
well behaved audience, although not very comfortable.
they know such another world does exist, but seeing it
right in front of your eyes was a bit disturbing.they
did want to get out of the place as soon as possible,
of course, not without complementing me for the kind
of work that i was doing here all alone. the girls
found it credible.(while i write this statement, i
understand that the readers can misinterpret it, but
there is a context to it, which i shall put in
following postings). 

by the way, this is only a certain part of the
conversation which i thought was striking. i have
asked them to write their detatiled responses as a
part of the project exercise, and submit them with the
final submissions.              


mamta

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