Aurora from MGR to Rajni

I am not too sure whether my excitement is to see the movie Kabali or to see any tamil movie in Aurora.

It seems just like the other day when Aurora was showing MGRs Kavel Karen, rickshakaren, vetaikaran...from 12 to 3, 3 to 6, 6 to 9 and 9 to 12. Not to disappoint the Malayalee crowd, on Sunday 9 to 12 noon the classic and serioust flick of Madhu/Prem Nazir / Sathyen will be shown.

For a SIES student from tamil division, I always used to wonder why is that Malayalam movies have the same cast movie after movie. It was like a family of 15 odd people moving around as a troupe to act in some 100 movies.

At first sound of the bell,there will be a frenzy dash for gate which will be manned by a hapless guard, who will eventually leave his post to a much tougher looking local dharavi born bouncer.

 Bouncer will also have business interest of being the inside man for the touts sellingtickets in black. An Old lady will have 50 odd tickets rolled and hidden in her no look (can’t look) area.

Promoting a movie is not recent a phenomena, MGR and Shivaji, used their massive fan base to just do this 30 years ago.

The purist would like to sincerely see the photo posters of the existing movie neatly displayed on the left side of the entrance and to the right would be the ‘coming attraction’ Claims and prediction whether the movie will run for 15 weeks or 25 weeks will be made then.

Cat calls and whistles followed by roaring laughter and reprimanding by a serious movie buff will be followed by a nice live fight. It will be over in 5 minutes and they will continue to enjoy the movie being seated in the adjacent rows. When the show gets over, both will do their best to avoid each other but will loudly ask engaiya avan... The proud lady from his family would say .... vittu thallu ya....

With all these happenings, Aurora was the place to be with family for movie watching.

It is sad to hear that this could well be the last movie of Rajni and the last movie to be shown in Aurora. Chennai Super King.... ku whistle podu...Rajni will b probably be the last Super King from Tollywood.

The Cynic in me!

Just the other day, I was coming back from HK and as it always happens, the in-flight toilet was messy, the toilet cover was soiled, there were tissues lying everywhere.   I did manage to lift the cover with my feet and did my small job and came out with a sigh of relief.  I managed to convey to the next entrant that it was not my doing and prepared him for what he was about to experience!

Funny thing is, there were people of different nationalities in the flight but without giving the benefit of doubt to our own, I was sure that the mess was made by a fellow Indian. As always, I made small talk with a blonde lady sitting next to me and raved about our rich culture and heritage that she will experience in India. It was her first visit and she was going to visit some exotic places which most urban Indians do not wish to go.

During my working hours, I represent India with my principals from Europe/USA and China. I keep talking about our teeming millions under the age of 30s and the massive consumerism which is driving the economy. By 7.30 in the evening, I am mostly worn out and by virtue of habit, vent out my spleen on honking motorists.

I smile wryly, seeing people standing next to each other on the highway, attending to nature’s call, chatting freely, while at it. I’ve always wondered what might be the topic of discussion - the growing economy, PM’s drive for Swatch Bharat or the Greece’s fallout!!!

The challenge for any Indian executive or a businessman when they receive a foreigner is taking that route from airport to the suburbs without showing them our Mithi River or Dharavi!

Driving this point closer to home, in our own Bhakti Park, I have perfected the art of totally ignoring plastic, metalized wrappers and skilfully jumping over dog poop!

I guess,most people in India, like me, are pampered in getting things done for them, may it be washing the car, making tea, washing, ironing, domestic chores etc.  Picking the wrapper and throwing it in the dustbin is beneath us.  Why should we, when we have people to clean things for us?  

That is probably why I slyly choose to ignore what a foreigner supplier friend meant when he said, “You Live Royally in Pits!”