Cinema and I

My relationship with cinema has always been something indefinable.

Last semester, one of my professors in her class said that “Cultures are always changing, something dies and something gets born again. Culture is forever being recreated. For example, let’s talk about theatres.”

She said, addressing the class, “How many of you go to theatres now?”

My friend group and I raised our hands in an instant (four people in total), and then I noticed that in a class of 38 students, we were the only ones.

She looked at us in a slight bewilderment and said, “You guys still go to theatres?”

There was a sudden sadness in my heart. She is still one of my favourite professors, but at that moment I couldn’t help but feel annoyed at her.

Cinema and I

Photo by Noom Peerapong on Unsplash

If I want to start my relationship with cinema, then I must start it from the time when I didn’t exist. It all begins with my mother, as she lived in the world of films. In the city of Banda, where she was born and raised, her school and education must have held some meaning, but it definitely wasn’t much compared to her love for movies and theatres.

On saturdays as soon as the lunch break bell used to ring, she was ready with her friend group to bunk the classes. If they got the show ticket for the right time, then they would watch the whole thing, and if they didn’t, then they would leave during the intervals¹. There is always some kind of shine in her eyes and a wide smile on her face whenever she talks about her childhood shenanigans. My grandmother wasn’t so fond of this behaviour as my mother was caught often in the act, but my mother couldn’t care less. For her, Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan mattered a lot more than some occasional scolding from her parents. Despite all the opposition from the side of my grandparents, her love stayed, and even the first thing she chose to buy with her first salary was a television. My parents moved out of their hometown in search of jobs and a better life. They ended up living in a comparatively smaller town which didn’t have any cinema theatre to offer, so every time we went on a vacation or to meet some relatives, going to the theatre was always on the list. Later, after some years, when the city started growing, and we ended up with 2 or 3 cinemas in our own town, the easiest way to spend time together was going to the cinema nearby and talking for hours and hours and presenting our own analysis and interpretation of the film we just watched.

My mother’s love for movies and cinema couldn’t help but become a part of my siblings and me. There are numerous instances where my parents tried to reduce our excessive screen time, but we always found our way out of it, no matter how hard they tried. Even now, when all my siblings stay away from each other, whenever we are on a call, one of the ways to initiate a conversation is always related to films and series. It’s interesting how, after being away from each other for years, it is the art that still joins us together.

There has always been a vast difference between my friends and me whenever it came to media consumption, not to say that I am proud of my excessive consumption, but that it has always been a medium to understand the culture, people, and to feel the emotions that are often felt unsaid for me. To this day, whenever I try to remember my time in my school, one of the memories consists of me trying my best to look at all the posters pasted on various corners of the city, some on the walls, some on the electric transformer, and some in unexpected places. All I used to do was stare at them and wonder if I should go with my family to watch it as they were passing by, as I would be sitting in my yellow-green auto on my way to school.

Those days have passed by, and now, just like my professor and my classmates, people prefer to watch movies in cinemas less and less. But it will never be the same with me. For me, it will always be an important part of my childhood and youth. It will always be something I look forward to on my weekends, and it will always be a way for me to have long conversations with my family and friends. Those moments of sitting inside a theatre and looking at your friends as they are amazed by the cinematic world will always be one of the most enjoyable moments for me.

I didn’t say anything to my professor that day, but now that I think about that day, all I wish to say is that it is we who keep a culture alive.

Thankyou for reading it.

1. In some countries, there is an interval in the middle of the film for 10-15 minutes as a sort of refreshment break.