Fond memories are what they say stay with
you, while the rest of the memories just wither away with time. Most people
remember memorable holidays, achievements, happy moments with family etc. etc.
but me? Surrounded by over 15 cinema
halls in the area where I lived what else could it be but - films and films and
films...
Every weekend it was a fight to the finish
with my dad for a film vs a film. Let me
explain. It was those days when "A" certificates were given to most
English movies, even our 007 and if dad wanted a date with mom on a Saturday
evening to the movies then he better agree to a date with his three daughters
on Sunday. Otherwise there would be one foot raised across the jamb of the main
door to our house not allowing them to leave...and yes, that was me. The terror
who got dad to actually tear the tickets once.
Dad's favourite (sis Ruby, you know it is true) I got my way all the
time. Each and every cinema hall has a
memory connected with some film or the other so let me share my tryst with the
movies at some of them.
My childhood was spent in Khetwadi and
within 10 minutes of walking was surrounded by Super, Shalimar, Dreamland, Novelty,
Apsara, Imperial, Swastik, Naaz, Minerva, Opera House, Roxy, Alankar, Ganga
Jamuna, Majestic, Central and the very quirky Diana. Oh yes, there were also
those three-four not for family audience type theatres too like the Taj and
Edward.
Let me start with my pet peeve. Dad and his
loosing tickets... and believe it or not, it was always those of Dev Anand
films. He lost Johnny Mera Naam tickets, Tere Mere Sapne tickets and then he even
lost Jewel Thief tickets at the gym. I remember the day we stood inside Alankar
theatre near the door and watched Jewel Thief till Dev Anand sang "Yeh dil
na hota", while Dad went searching the dark with the manager to see if
anyone was sitting on our seats (oh yes, he remembered the seat numbers for
sure). Sadly, someone was occupying the seats...... so well, we returned next day to see
it. Surprisingly though, we would always ended up seeing his movies twice and
even thrice.
Here is where I need to mention the most
amazing theatre of all called Diana. Diana stood at the foot of the bridge on
the corner of Tardeo and when all the movies had run their silver or
golden jubilee course or otherwise, they would return to light up the Diana
screen. Yes, those were the days when movies ran to silver and golden jubilees
and there were many weekends, when there were no more movies left to see. That's
when Diana came to our rescue and it did
not matter if we had already seen the movie earlier. A second round of the same movie within a few
weeks never hurt us, the Dudhmul family. It was my job to run up the
stairs to the balcony, lie down on its wooden seats and spread myself across
five seats, cause there were no seat numbers.
Here is where Dev Anand entertained us many a times making up for lost
tickets.
Naaz, the cute theatre that stood in the
lane between Imperial and Swastik, has a birthday memory and an angry memory. In
1970, Mastana was released. It was one of those days when Dad said it was
houseful and I argued till he challenged me to book tickets for my birthday.
Off I go to the theatre and stand in the line and ask for tickets, but it is really
house full. Believe me when I say that
15 year old me stood there at the ticket window begging "Uncle, it is my
birthday and I want to see the movie". Voila, it worked because those were
the days when the theatre would keep two rows for whatever reason for
themselves. Triumphant I walked home with the tickets and shoved them under
dad's nose. On the other hand, mom threatened
to punish me for what I don't remember by not taking me to see Ganga Ki
Lehrein one afternoon, but of course, mom being mom forgave me. Here I must fast
forward to say sorry Mom for not getting
her to see 'Prem Bandhan' of her darling Rajesh Khanna. You see, I hated Rajesh
Khanna (sorry!!) and after all I was pregnant and having lost my first child,
Mom was trying hard to keep my mind off by taking me to the movies. All films done and it was down to Inspector Eagle
and Prem Bandhan..Inspector Eagle won.... but next when it was time for Prem
Bandhan, it was not to be because just as we were leaving, I took her to the delivery
room instead of the theatre.
Dreamland and its Bluff Master, 1963. Rainy season time and there is Pran pulling
Saira Banu with a whip around her waist in a song and suddenly out of the blue
in the dark, a shoe goes flying at the screen. My poor dad died a thousand
deaths looking for the shoe that I had flung at Pran.
The most glorious memory of them all is the
"Mera Naam Joker" premiere at Novelty. Mom used to work at the bank
on the first floor of the theatre building and Novelty had a huge footpath outside the
theatre which we could overlook. The day
of the premiere the entire bank staff, including me, stood watching the
unbelievable galaxy of stars walking into the theatre name it they were there,
waving out to us each time we screamed their name. Of all the stars that shone that night, I can
still see in my mind's eye the most beautiful Helen in a golden saree with her
golden hair in a high hairdo standing next to Dharmendra and Dara Singh for a
very long time waiting for someone...I ran down
to the foyer much later and saw Randhir Kapoor standing at the ticket
window and shoved my autograph book in his hand. While this remained a fond
memory, there was one very embarrassing one too at the same theatre. I had started working, in fact my first job,
and a friend and I got passes to the premier of "Majboor". In all my
glory, I was there in a beautiful purple floral saree and then the movie ends...I rush
to get a closer look at the Amitabh Bachchan walking out and then it happens, just as he is within arm's reach...the saree pleats come off as my foot gets
entangled in them...need I say more!!!
Opera House is where musical programmes
also happened in the mornings and my dear Pesi Kaka always took me and I have
autographs of Mukesh, Manna Dey, Juthika Roy, Chandru Atma, Geeta Dutt. Chitra
Dutt...so it is no big surprise that I am still at it till today with
selfies...(by the way I also have autographs of the likes of Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatughan Sinha, Jeetendre, Nitin Mukesh, Sanjay
Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Jaoften ya Bahaduri, Yash Chopra, B.R. Chopra to
the stalwarts like Mukhri, Nana Palsikar, Agha, Paintal, Ramesh Deo, etc. etc....
and surprises of surprises a forgotten autograph of Kalpana Iyer, who I met just
recently (amazing)....okay, I am going to stop gushing now... but now you know now for sure why I am the way I am...
Opera House too has one embarrassing
memory. The movie "Khamoshi" which mom took me to see along with her office
friends. I had decided not going to cry and why should I, after all they are
just acting and "they must have had a coca cola after the shoot" (my
exact words to mom), but damn, the flood broke at the end when Waheeda Rehman
turns mad and Rajesh Khanna beats the door to say he will wait for her.
National Anthem begins (yes, it used to be played at the end of the movies
then), the lights come on and there I am standing sobbing my heart out only to
be dragged out to be admonished by my mom.
Many many more memories are coming flooding
back as I am writing this....such as my little sister slipping on mud at the
corner of the lane just as its time to reach the theatre to watch "Spy in
Rome" at Imperial, or taking villain Ramesh Deo's autograph on the back of the ticket
coming out of Majestic theatre after watching "Shart" , or watching
"Do Dooni Chaar" at Swastik or pushing dad to take us to see "Jawani
Diwani" at Ganga Jamuna in our dirtiest clothes straight from a picnic to
Juhu Beach (oh yes, Juhu Beach was a distant far out picnic spot for us and
today I live close by). I even remember once dad bought tickets by mistake for
"Sinbad, Alibaba, Alladin" and "Raja aur Rank" for the same
day-same show and we stood near Super Cinema deciding which one to see and thereafter dad went and sold the other tickets and bought it for another day......Not to
forget those Indo-Pakistan war,1971 days when our windows were fitted with
black paper and sirens stopped us from venturing out and forced us to switch
out lights....we were at "Naya Zamana" in Roxy when the siren rang
and I remember being scared as the screen blacked out till the siren rang
again.. Marathi films were not my dad's cup of tea so I must thank my Pesi Kaka
for taking me to see all the Marathi movies of those stalwarts right from Dada
Kondke, Jayshree Gadkar, Nilu Phule, Ashok Saraf, Arun Sarnaik, Raja Gosavi and more...
The film industry has always mesmerised me especially
the hard work that goes on behind the scenes on the sets. I love to watch how
it happens. I have been on many sets and my craze started way back from 1969 on the sets of "Piya Ka Ghar" at Raj Kamal Studio on 19th
June 1971 to be precise (I have the entire cast's autographs and even Dilip Kumar, B.R.
Chopra, Yash Chopra who were shooting Dastaan there too). I recall Anil Dhawan had
just one line to say and that too he fumbled many a times, by which time I knew the
dialogue and the action required of sitting down at that precise dialogue. I
remember thinking to myself that I could have done the shot as required by the
director. No wonder I prayed to become a
film actor at the Haji Ali dargah that year but for God's own reasons it never
got fulfilled (ahem, a few short films done recently though...so maybe there is
hope still)... Oh yes, that being said, it is very clear that from that day till date, I am not shy of walking up to
any of the stars..... after all what worst, they can only refuse!!!
The craze has continued even after marriage
where with my equally film crazy in-laws family I would be at the Ambar-Oscar-Minor theatres
every Friday night without fail watching the latest movie. Of course, my craze continues till today and
even more so thanks to my best friend YouTube...I am done with most old movies
of 1950s to 1970s with not much left to devour now but the search is on way
back to the times of Raja Harishchandra, the first known feature film made in
India and I will go on and on and on because I am just one mad filmy keeda with a voracious stomach for meeting the stars
and revelling in entertainment industry from days gone by to eternity..... and living in hope to be up there on screen some day... even if as I joke, just to open the door to say "saheb, aap ko koi milne aaya hai"
