Memories of films past

Some random reflections of a film buff turned film critic about the ­English and Hindi movie scene in the city over the last half century and more.

From a teenage film buff in the early 1960s to being a film critic for a city newspaper for about 25 years, I have been a close observer of the movie scene in Madras over the last half century and more, specialising in English and Hindi films. And what vivid memories they bring back for me even as I continue to watch old classics on YouTube.

One of my earliest recollections is seeing Ben Hur at Odeon (later Melody) in 1961. Movies then used to be shown in the city a year or two after their initial release abroad and this was not just confined to English movies. Even Hindi movies were released some months (or perhaps even a year) after their release in Bombay and northern towns.
That same year I saw Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hain and Gunga Jumna, both at Midland (later Jayaprada) and Hum Dono at Star Talkies. The three were prestige home releases of the three biggest stars at the time, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. Naturally, they drew big crowds and had highly successful runs.

The most enduring memory of 1963 was seeing Taj Mahal at Midland and Mere Mehboob at Star. Both films in colour (a trend picking up at a time, when most movies were still being shot in black and white) and boasting super hit music by Roshan and Naushad. Predictably, they celebrated silver jubilee runs.

If there was one early phenomenon among movies that ran in the city it would be Aradhana. It enjoyed a golden jubilee run in 1969-70 at Little Anand. Rajesh Khanna was elevated to superstar status, Sharmila Tagore’s performance earned her a Filmfare award and S.D. Burman’s foot-tapping music was being hummed all over town. It mattered little to moviegoers that Shakthi Samanta’s film was a remake of To Each his Own, a 1946 Hollywood tearjerker that brought Olivia de Havilland the first of her two Oscars for best actress.

And can I forget the “friendly” competition between Bobby and Yaadon Ki Baraat in 1973-74? Raj Kapoor’s blockbuster was released at Midland and Nazir Hussain’s entertainer was on show at Star. Released about the same time, the two films celebrated their silver jubilees and then their golden jubilees. The dialogue and the music was played repeatedly on the juke boxes in restaurants.

But perhaps the most enduring memory will be the serpentine queues outside Sathyam theatre during the long run of Sholay in 1975-76. The queues were seen day after day, week after week as the popularity of Ramesh Sippy’s magnum opus never ceased. Amjad Khan’s dialogues, now part of filmy folklore, was on everyone’s lips.

With the coming of television, which made its debut in the city in August 1975, it was inevitable that there would be some sort of dip in the popularity of films. People preferred to sit and see the news and entertainment programmes at home. These were insipid and limited to a few hours, but TV being a novelty quite a few people became addicted to it even in the early years. Sure, an Amitabh Bachchan starrer still drew crowds, but there was little doubt that serpentine queues over an extended period as well as silver jubilee runs of films were going to be a thing of the past. The coming of cable TV in the 1990s ensured that.

The English movie scene was a bit different. Films sometimes were shown in the city a year or so after their original release and if there were censorship problems then it could even result in a longer wait. So city film-goers who loved English films had to be patient before they could see My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, The Graduate, Jaws, The Godfather and so on. The most popular were the James Bond movies which always drew crowds and had successful runs whether 007 was played by Sean Connery or Roger Moore. And in the 1980s and 90s, moviegoers made a beeline for the action films of Stallone and Schwarzenegger.

A phenomenon among English movies released in the city was MacKenna’s Gold. Nothing matched the popularity of this Gregory Peck-Omar Sharif starrer and it demanded a return viewing for countless moviegoers more than once. Released in 1970 at Devi it ran for some 40 weeks – something unheard of for an English movie – and people talked about the action scenes, the stunts and the stunning ­photography for years afterwards. It certainly struck a chord with the movie going public in the city like few films before or since.

Partab Ramchand
partabramchand@yahoo.com

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