The stars up close

THINK MOVIES. Think `janta'. After all `fillums' in India are made for the mass. The `Iniya Tamizh makkal' as Bharathiraja would say. Have you ever watched them from the angle, that the janta watches the movies - from close quarters, literally.

No wonder the Rs. 6-50 class audience and cinema has an intimate romance going on, over the years. In spite of the tickets that are skyrocketing to three digit figures, over the counter or veiled in `black', ever thought what was the scene like for the front-benchers?

Curious to find out, we set out to one of the better known theatres in the city to catch the action from close-quarters. It's `One Two Ka Four' from step one. We find out that the Rs. 6- 50 ticket is not available over the counter, but there's a friendly daily-wage winner who makes a living selling tickets for a premium, who gives us tickets @ Rs. 15 a piece.

The seat number reads AA, that's row one. Surely it can't get any closer than this. For starters, it is easy to find your way to the seat and get there, some advantages of getting a seat on Row one.

Yes, the seat does look dirty, it's torn a bit as well, probably sheltering a few bedbugs there. But what the heck, you have the luxury of stretching your legs, and not having to ask anybody to bend down a bit.

Next, the odour, there's this exotic smell of arrack or liquor (one of the two or maybe both) and chlorine when you realise that you better get watching the movie if that's what you have come there for.

The janta don't really mind the item numbers, some of them simply love it, they whistle while the others find the moment most opportune to take a leak or puff a beedi or a luxurious cigarette.

Some of them are too tired to sit back and actually watch. They decide to catch up on lost sleep, and make use of every inch of the air-conditioning that they have paid for.

That's when you also spot the guy who sold you the tickets sitting back for a snooze.

But that was the case for a Hindi `fillum'. And it occurs to you that watching a Tamil `filim' sitting in the front row would be a totally different experience.

The whistles, the screams of `thalaiva', the intermittent claps that drown the dialogues... Well, maybe we'll save up that story for another day.

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