Thakur
Banned
- Joined
- 30 Aug 2013
- Messages
- 14,856
- Reaction score
- 8,575
When we are mourning every rupee in
the three hundred rupees we spent to
watch say a film like Humshakals, or
quietly switching on the TV when they
start airing Amar Akbar Antony for
the millionth time, we don't really
stop and ponder how parts of our lives
are tied to films. At least for many of
us. But the way we have engaged with
our films since Independence has
changed dramatically. Here's how A Tata Sky ad promoting its many
benefits.
DTH operators and retro-priced
movie: If you are a '80s or a '90s kid,
you'd know that the feeling of waiting
for Doordarshan to announce its
Sunday movie was only matched by
the curiosity about song number one
on Chitrahaar or Superhit Muqabla.
While there was immense joy when a
movie you missed (and you missed
them a lot back then) at the theatres
was announced, there was deep
disappointment if there was a movie
you didn't care about. Or had
watched. Remember how you waited
for a 'big' movie, which usually had
to do with Akshay Kumar displaying
his sportsmanship in the 90s?
However, a lot of that changed and
the excitement killed with the advent
of cable television in the nineties
itself. The DTH providers like Tata Sky
and Airtel took it just a step further.
Before you get to watch a movie on
TV, with a million ads in between,
they gave you the opportunity to
request it on their special channel.
And for less than 100 rupees! So while
you have to find other reasons to look
forward to Sundays, movie watching
for the broke Indian family just got
better!
The display at a video CD parlour.
Representational image. Reuters.
The video cassettewala and Torrents:
While the average, middle class Indian
kid in India would grow up on his diet
of Hindi films thanks to TV and the
theatre nearby, where do you think
they ended up watching Sound Of
Music as soon as they started to write
sentences in English? Here's your cue
to stand up and salute the friendly
neighbourhood video parlour, our
small gateway to everything foreign.
From the Wizard of Oz or My Fair
Lady as the monthly English cinematic
adventure in junior school or the first
video cassette of Citizen Kane or
Modern Times as the angsty college
fresher, the video parlour had them
all. Not to mention the odd Bond film
meant for the weekends when the
parents were away!
However, after a long, fruitful reign
despite the cable television explosion,
the video parlours had to bow out of
big cities in 2000s. Because the
Internet and torrents had taken their
place! Now we download movies more
than we watch them. http://m.firstpost.com/bollywood/sholay-in-theatres-dhoom-on-dth-how-we-watched-films-in-freeindia-1657601.html
the three hundred rupees we spent to
watch say a film like Humshakals, or
quietly switching on the TV when they
start airing Amar Akbar Antony for
the millionth time, we don't really
stop and ponder how parts of our lives
are tied to films. At least for many of
us. But the way we have engaged with
our films since Independence has
changed dramatically. Here's how A Tata Sky ad promoting its many
benefits.
DTH operators and retro-priced
movie: If you are a '80s or a '90s kid,
you'd know that the feeling of waiting
for Doordarshan to announce its
Sunday movie was only matched by
the curiosity about song number one
on Chitrahaar or Superhit Muqabla.
While there was immense joy when a
movie you missed (and you missed
them a lot back then) at the theatres
was announced, there was deep
disappointment if there was a movie
you didn't care about. Or had
watched. Remember how you waited
for a 'big' movie, which usually had
to do with Akshay Kumar displaying
his sportsmanship in the 90s?
However, a lot of that changed and
the excitement killed with the advent
of cable television in the nineties
itself. The DTH providers like Tata Sky
and Airtel took it just a step further.
Before you get to watch a movie on
TV, with a million ads in between,
they gave you the opportunity to
request it on their special channel.
And for less than 100 rupees! So while
you have to find other reasons to look
forward to Sundays, movie watching
for the broke Indian family just got
better!
The display at a video CD parlour.
Representational image. Reuters.
The video cassettewala and Torrents:
While the average, middle class Indian
kid in India would grow up on his diet
of Hindi films thanks to TV and the
theatre nearby, where do you think
they ended up watching Sound Of
Music as soon as they started to write
sentences in English? Here's your cue
to stand up and salute the friendly
neighbourhood video parlour, our
small gateway to everything foreign.
From the Wizard of Oz or My Fair
Lady as the monthly English cinematic
adventure in junior school or the first
video cassette of Citizen Kane or
Modern Times as the angsty college
fresher, the video parlour had them
all. Not to mention the odd Bond film
meant for the weekends when the
parents were away!
However, after a long, fruitful reign
despite the cable television explosion,
the video parlours had to bow out of
big cities in 2000s. Because the
Internet and torrents had taken their
place! Now we download movies more
than we watch them. http://m.firstpost.com/bollywood/sholay-in-theatres-dhoom-on-dth-how-we-watched-films-in-freeindia-1657601.html
wall
