As children, we were allowed to see only one movie a month. Another unwritten rule was that all four of us had to go together. With two older brothers who were interested in English movies, I ended up seeing only Hollywood films for a very long time. From "Mackenna's Gold" to "The Guns of Navarone" to "Patton" - we saw them all. My father would drop us off at the theatre and pick us up after the movie even if it was a busy day for him. In Coimbatore those days, most English movies were screened at Central Theatre or Rainbow. I remember we had once gone to see a movie at Central, and the elderly usher turned out to be my father's patient. During the intermission, he brought us tea in white porcelain cups, a rare treat!Later this rule was relaxed, and I started accompanying my mother for Malayalam movies, usually for the morning show. During the 70's, most Malayalam films were tragedies, and I would come home with puffy red eyes and a terrible headache! Malayalam films were usually screened at Srinivas Theatre which was situated quite close to the railway line. Sometimes, during the movie, a train would whistle past and we would be forced to watch the movie without audible sound. Added to the ambience, I would say!
Seeing Tamil movies at our neighbourhood theatres Sivasakthi and Sri Valli were quite an experience. Sivasakthi had sofas for seats, quite convenient for a nap if the movie turned out to be a bore!Sri Valli has now become a department store while Rainbow and Srinivas have been demolished and given way to apartment blocks. Central has lost its glory and is a ghost of its former self. Newer theatre complexes have come up, and the very nature of the outing has changed.
Movie-going is still a rare treat. In Chennai, where I now live, a trip to the movies can set me back by a small fortune if one adds the car parking charges, popcorn, coffee and cola to the already inflated price of a movie ticket. These days, it is more economical for me to see movies on the TV or on DVD. But nothing can beat the thrill of seeing a movie in a darkened theatre, with the fringed satin curtains rising slowly over the screen.
