A critic’s lament
Without theatres, life feels untethered
WHAT IS A MOVIE-LOVER WITHOUT THE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE? COVID-19 HAS PROVIDED THE ANSWER – INCOMPLETE
The last film I saw in the theatres was Angrezi Medium. It was a preview on the Wednesday before release and the cinema hall was so packed that some people had to be moved to another screening that was starting soon. The audience was mostly film critics, entertainment journalists, friends and family of the cast and crew. I was sitting next to Irrfan’s wife, Sutapa Sikdar. There was the usual loud banter between colleagues, the munching of snacks and then, once the lights dimmed, the sharedjourneywiththecharactersonscreen.
The film was poorly scripted, but the joy of seeing Irrfan on screen again mitigated those flaws. When the end credits rolled, I told Sutapa to tell Irrfan that it was such a pleasure to watch him, and I left. I had no idea that I wouldn’t be going back to a theatre for weeks, perhaps months.
We don’t know when the Covid-19 pandemic will pass or what the world will look like after it. In the larger scheme of things, in this frightening time, the act of going to a movie theatre seems minor. But for some of us, it’s everything. As The New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis wrote recently in an article titled
The Moviegoer: Our Critic Misses Sitting In The Dark With You: Moviegoing is who I am.
Before the coronavirus, I visited a theatre at least once a week. We took this privilege for granted – the chatter, the high-calorie snacks, the big screen, the surround sound, the absolute darkness and the experience itself, of escaping so completely into another world. We especially complained about Friday morning screenings – that is when a producer organises a press show on the day of release. This meant rushing to a theatre in the morning and then rushing to write or record your review. Not being given more time to mull over a film and savour it felt unfair.
The current situation has made us keenly aware of what we’ve lost. The beauty of this job is that a version of it can be done under lockdown. There are hundreds of films and shows on streaming platforms. We can continue to watch and curate and I am eternally grateful to have that luxury. But what is a movie-lover without the theatrical experience? Covid-19 has provided the answer – incomplete.
One of my favourite theatre memories is watching Martin Scorsese’s epic, The Irishman, at Regal Cinema in south Mumbai during the Mumbai Film Festival in October. Regal is a gorgeous Art Deco, single-screen theatre that has been operational since 1933. That evening, the 1,000-plus seats were filled (the audience included Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, who had been snuck in). The irony was that The Irishman was produced by Netflix and would, in a few weeks, be available for viewing even on phones. But that experience of watching it with hundreds of passionate fans was magic. There was loud applause when the Netflix logo came on screen and when every major artist in the film – Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel -- first appeared. It was hard to hear the dialogue because the clapping was so enthusiastic. It felt almost like I was watching a Salman Khan movie.
Currently, 95% of movie theatres in the world are shut. My work continues but I feel untethered – like an umbilical cord has been severed. I cannot wait to be lost in that darkness again.