Director's Cut - 2

I consider my contribution to the world of cinema to be - over! I have personally been instrumental in making close to thirty people watch Rashomon. (Akira Kurosawa/1950/Japan). Well I do not say all those thirty saw the movie only because of me; I just meant that I had a huge role there. The past one week has been quite tiring and exciting. Being the Secretary, Film Society here I am supposed to screen 1-2 movies every week. These were typically old Hindi or English movies. And generally only 4-5 viewers (including the person who is in-charge of the audi) turned out for these movies. A show is treated to be Houseful if the audience count touches the magical double-digit figure - ten. Sometimes due to the poor turnout I have even felt very lonely and scared in the Auditorium! Well...the only exception to that till the last week has been Andaz Apna Apna. (Rajkumar Santoshi/1994/Hindi). More than fifteen people had come to watch that rib-tickling comedy by the Khans. I too enjoyed the movie. I almost placed a "HOUSEFUL" board outside the auditorium.

To break the monotony and my loneliness in the Auditorium, I hit upon the idea of screening a few international movies. (International means - Non-English/Indian) It was a huge risk and I felt I was driving away even the regular 4-5 viewers. Anyway I was prepared for it. Even if no one else turns out I was sure at least two viewers would; my close fellows here...captive, guaranteed and helpless audience! A personal gain behind this idea was that over the past one year I had seen most of the movies only in my room, on my HCL desktop. So watching a few of those great movies in a "cinema hall" was not a bad idea. And I have this luxury only till this month-end, when my tenure ends and the new FilmSec would take charge. Things got going and I put up the itinerary for the week-long NIFF ~ NADT International Film Festival 2009.

The lineup was - Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico), Rashomon (Japan), No Man's Land (Bosnia), The Downfall (Germany) and Children of Heaven (Iran). I had also planned to screen Mongol (Mongolia). I had wanted to show only those critically-acclaimed movies that were also interesting enough; not the usual slow-paced, art-movie types. I thought, in that way I would help break the normal mindset that award-winning movies are either too slow or over-the-head.

Here are a few lines from the gmail chat I had with one of my good friends (GF) here...just a few nights before the inaugural show of NIFF.

GF: "if u had 2 do a festival 4 urself thn why waste our money on posters"

GF: "so a mixture is always good"

GF: "wht u r doing is social exclusion of those whose tastes dont conform 2 urs."

Me: "i am sure more than 10 will turn up on one of these days!"

GF: "show mithunda's Gunda... best ever B-grade movie made...it was the biggest hit in kharagpur."

I reduced my audience estimates after that chat. I found some sense in what that sensible GF was saying. I felt only the usual 4-5 would turn up to NIFF too. Being shown on weekdays....will even the usuals come? Question mark.

Day One. Monday. Dec 7th. Pan's Labyrinth. All my assumptions about the kind of cinema people would like to watch - were demolished without a trace, for the good. To my utter surprise quite a few number of people started pouring in and by the time the movie ended the count had touched..hold your breath...t w e n t y! Unbelievable! People were ready to take a few steps to drop in and see..."What's new?". Language was not a serious barrier. All that matters was a novelty factor to begin with, and to sustain the crowd all it takes is a gripping storyline and a beautiful narration. By the end of the show...everyone was thoroughly mesmerised by Ofelia's fairy world and equally disturbed by the evil Captain. Day One was a success! I had a good sleep.

Day Two. Rashomon. It is said that Rashomon made Hollywood stop for a while and turn towards Asia. Being shot in black and white I was not sure if it was a good choice for NIFF. Still I went ahead - just to tell everyone what made Akira - the Master. I also wanted to make sure that my friends had something to say when they had to come across the so-called connoisseurs of world cinema. It worked...more applause for Akira. My job was done. That was my greatest contribution to cineworld yet.

The story will continue...

(PS: On a special directive from that GF, I would like to make it amply clear that GF is not equal to Girl Friend. For this post, GF = Good Friend. This GF's name is Smarak Swain @ Mark Twain)