Beyond The "Woods"
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
That
day we went to the city
The
night before the trip I was seriously inconvenienced during my
sleeping period by several mosquitoes making a feast of my blood and
their home in my room. At about 5:45 I devised a solution, wrapping
the thin bed linen tight around my body like a caterpillar, which
finally allowed a few hours of sleep. This was a rather insufficient
amount of time.
On
coming to, I felt how one mosquito had had the audacity to sting me
on the lower lip, grim tidings for the day to come?
I
crawled on to the bus and found a nice seat at the back. It wasn’t
long till I was merrily drifting in and out of sleep. I remember only
a series of sounds and visions: the smell of Timian, the color
purple, a side walk in Lithuania. During this time I also found
myself in a vast field of cacti expanding seemingly endless in all
directions. Needless to say I was puzzled by this. Narendra
Modi, God and two other women where there. They were picnicking in a
small clearing in the field and had only just sad down, after playing
a fun, but somewhat exhausting, game of Croquet. Modi was laying with
his head in gods lap, as god was petting his beard he purred like a
cat.
When
the bus stopped at majestic, we took autos to the offices of
M.Bhaktavasala in Gandhi nagar. He was situated in an
office of small to medium size. His office desk featured a buzzer
with which he could call to his assistance an older gentleman. He
would frequently do so, often regarding the location of various
articles. He spoke at length about topics including; the role of
song and dance in Indian cinema and the intricacies of the
geographic sub-divisions of cinema in the subcontinent.
The wall behind him featured, among
other paraphernalia, a large collection of books. I remember among
them; Winston Churchill, Alexander Dumas, Dickens and a book on
Hitchcock written by Francois
Truffaut, the title was; “Hitchcock”, of whom I just now seem to
recall haven it written on his Gravestone: “-Thus for naughty
little boys..”. For lunch I had butter chicken.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Friday, 7 February 2014
6th Feb 2014
It seemed Gandhinagar had changed over the week. Gandhinagar
still looked like the last time, but the numbers of posters had increased. We walked
on the opposite lane this time. Our eyes followed the bundles of paper [which
turned out to be poster prints]folded and carried by young men on their
shoulder, and following them we were led to many distribution offices. At one
point, we were surprised to find a small sheltered lane filled with three
distribution offices, and a place where ticket printing and numbering was being
done.
Shrinivasa Murthy Bhat, was a 60 year old young man we first
met. He was the owner of
Shri Jaya Durga Movies. He has been a part of film
industry for about 35 yrs. He had, small little rooms filled with Film reels
and posters stuck all over the walls. I still remember the old yellow walls
with the texture of age painted by time. Bits of old torn posters seemed like
the walls were bruised all over, and the new posters were like bandages for
covering these wounds. He was a distributor, and we had a nice time knowing him
in person.
The street posters had the film we were about to watch
‘Brahma,’ as well as another film which I wish I could have remembered. So the
other poster was a little scary with this woman who had masculine features and
was too revealing. The poster haunted us for about half an hour until when we
entered the lane I last mentioned. There people guided me to this man. I began
questioning him about Cinema when suddenly in a very relaxed tone he pointed
towards the same poster claiming to have directed its film. Having been in
Gandhinagar for 3 times now, I well controlled my anxiety. I questioned asking
him about the story writer and he claimed it was his, yet without any hint of exaggeration
or pride. I was very glad to having met a story writer. Soon someone pointed
out to the scary women in the poster and told me that the acting too was done
by this Producer cum Director. I wish I could remember what his expression was,
I think it was humility. I froze, not for having met an actor, or the producer cum
director of a film, but by seeing how Bangalore just like Mumbai had become a city
for people’s dreams. He had always been
the villain, and even here in his 1st own film he again played a villain,
but I saw the contrary in his eyes; he was the lead actor claimed by the
ambition he held in his heart. He anxiously was waiting for the day to pass and
to get the audience response for his film, it was a Thursday. He had built courage
and his friends too supported him for this 1st project of his, but
his fate and finance are balancing on a single thread. He dared to dream, but
the audience had the power, would he or would he not fly? That is the paradox
of film industry, where success is to make a mark, if your film is spoken about
in passing after a year of its release you certainly made a mark.
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Friday, 31 January 2014
30 and 31st Jan 2014
Day1
Gandhi nagar.
M.Bhaktavasala- 9448243598, tel 08022265807 email id: bhaktamoola@gmail.com
moti mahal,action sequence coutsean, hospital, semi set,Gandhi nagar.
M.Bhaktavasala- 9448243598, tel 08022265807 email id: bhaktamoola@gmail.com
above MTR hansa pitures, distributors office
Dr.Rajkumar hotel
Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce' Tax, commerce, white goon dress, finace, Kannada patriots, Business and process, elected.
President Mr. H.D. Gangaraj 9449062867
Secretary Mr. N.M. Suresh 9844842555
Day2
Kempegoda road
group 1:Theaters:Santosh, Sapna, Narthaki, Ashwin
Sagar shut for complex
Moti Mahal Poster Collection (Bahar Film)
group
2:Santosh, class full, 1000 capacity 3 types of seating (projection
room. old rewinding machine, reel projectors, an a digital each in a
differsnt room). Manager Mr. Ganesh patriot of Karnataka regional films;
he was an ex Hocky player, and teaches children. Seventies style
architectur., metal detector as a security measure. , Sapna, Narthaki
(trophies for running the longest time)
Cubbonpet residential are weaving, repairs, wood and jewellery workshops.
Sharada talkies took care by old men. Thick walls, shady place, empty and long corridors. Projection room was something like Narthaki. Nagin film. 70 yr old theater, used to have a crowed and needed police. till Sharda Amma's son in Neha Prakash Hospital.
Afternoon:
Ramu Film 08022263430 , met assistant director Mr.Bheemesh 9945366488,
Jayanna Combines, Mr.Jayanna 9900229967, tele no. 41139429/41242572.
The president of poster making company,The Karnataka Film Workers Artists Technicians' Federation Mr. Shrinivas 9886333939
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