No, I am not declaring my love for the bean beverage here. When we grew up watching English movies in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad, as an impressionable kid I placed the stars in some distant la la land, if not a better land (in hindsight). English movies in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad almost always translated into Hollywood fare. Minimal exposure, minimal knowledge almost fought with each other for the top spots among many barriers that separated us from the stars. The stars that delightfully adorned the silver screen when the lights were dimmed. These barriers worked only fine as the stars remained where they should and the cinematic orgies where they should, and it only made the concept of looking-forward-to more enjoyable.
So when movie channels started airing "making-of" videos in the mid to late 90s, cinema, in a small way,was slowly but surely ripped of its sheen. Everything was laid bare and naked, to its minimum and darn, nothing was left to imagination. It made a good fodder for the cynics who smugly declared "ah, we said so." A Batman of the early 90s was so different from its recent sibling, The Dark Knight of '08 which many reckon has been the best to have happened to man since sliced bread. Why? Apart from every other aspect, the recent installment has been one people have had most access to, and everything that has to be known has already been damning the very notion of mystery, and damning the idea that stars should remain where they are.
Cut to present and on a slightly different note, this place looks so Indianized, at least to levels that are perceptible, that nothing is a fantasy land anymore. You name a place here, and even before you spell its name, an Indian restaurant would have opened somewhere, or someone would have clicked a snap in front of New York Stock Exchange, or Golden Gate Bridge. May be the overfamiliarity with this place; the system, the pattern, the roads, the exits is the spoilsport. So I shudder at the thought of bumping into a Hanks or a Depp the next time I drive out of that swanky eat-out in downtown L.A., find a Carrey when I turn my head sideways in anticipation of a green light at a traffic island or worse, a Jolie on that famililar trip to Memphis! No exaggeration, I wouldn't want to be caught dead discussing pappu, pulusu, licking my fingers to glory all the while having Spielberg in the vicinity, if not the next table on my next visit to California.
Somewhere you start wondering if this is the same place that lodged the stars that adorned the silver screen when the lights were dimmed in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad.
So when movie channels started airing "making-of" videos in the mid to late 90s, cinema, in a small way,was slowly but surely ripped of its sheen. Everything was laid bare and naked, to its minimum and darn, nothing was left to imagination. It made a good fodder for the cynics who smugly declared "ah, we said so." A Batman of the early 90s was so different from its recent sibling, The Dark Knight of '08 which many reckon has been the best to have happened to man since sliced bread. Why? Apart from every other aspect, the recent installment has been one people have had most access to, and everything that has to be known has already been damning the very notion of mystery, and damning the idea that stars should remain where they are.
Cut to present and on a slightly different note, this place looks so Indianized, at least to levels that are perceptible, that nothing is a fantasy land anymore. You name a place here, and even before you spell its name, an Indian restaurant would have opened somewhere, or someone would have clicked a snap in front of New York Stock Exchange, or Golden Gate Bridge. May be the overfamiliarity with this place; the system, the pattern, the roads, the exits is the spoilsport. So I shudder at the thought of bumping into a Hanks or a Depp the next time I drive out of that swanky eat-out in downtown L.A., find a Carrey when I turn my head sideways in anticipation of a green light at a traffic island or worse, a Jolie on that famililar trip to Memphis! No exaggeration, I wouldn't want to be caught dead discussing pappu, pulusu, licking my fingers to glory all the while having Spielberg in the vicinity, if not the next table on my next visit to California.
Somewhere you start wondering if this is the same place that lodged the stars that adorned the silver screen when the lights were dimmed in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad.
2 comments:
Seriously !!!!! All the imaginations of the super posh Amreeeka I have had in my childhood, the land of vast parks and beautiful fountains and sexy ladies with red lipstick and high heels and wide swanky roads and glittering malls is reduced to THIS ?? This certainly is not the america, I knew or I thought I knew :(
I may partly agree to what you are saying, but that isn't exactly what I am talking about here :)
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