Tag: cinema

What Does a Television mean today?

What does television mean today?
When was the last time, you watched television?
Has a television just becomes another screen today?
You have started watching a new series, that everybody has been talking about.
But you don’t want to miss out!
Do you start watching it on your phone first, then continue watching on the tablet and if it’s something binge-worthy do you continue watching it on your television screen to make the most of( The Sound, The effects and the distraction to a minimum) considering the notification from social media have been distracting you now and then to the work emails.
With the Television becoming our new “Big Screen” for movies and series!
Where do the cinema theatres go?
Is going for the movies to the theatres dead? How will the cinemas survive? Will a subscription model be applied to the cinemas as well?
A subscription that allows you to watch an X number of movies in a month with some F&B to go with it.
Since we haven’t had any good films make it on the Over The OTT platform.
All the interesting looking ones are waiting for cinemas to reopen to launch it
But compared to ₹900 a Year, ₹1500 Year and ₹400 a month for mobile devices on a certain platform for family viewing.
Where do the cinemas go?
Will one be spending on the movies.
Mind you even the television seems like a dull experience with the Advertisement coming up frequently.
Where does that leave advertising? Only on News broadcasting channels? Since most of the channels have been playing older episodes today, And more new content coming up on OTT platforms with a wider range of genres and stories available.
Are we all just streaming on different screens?

Personal Book Review – Becoming & Charles Chaplin !!

 

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I Wouldn’t have really read this book. But, The moment you read It’s written by the former first lady, You know it’s going to be a great read. As it’s going to have things you wouldn’t know about their lives and you also get the chance to know the White House from an insider, The whole architecture, The protocols and the life behind the camera as a president and more importantly Michelle Obama’s journey in life.

Charles Chaplin – Autobiography

I really don’t like reading artist biographies or autobiography’s who have been part of the entertainment industry. For one they could be totally biased, one-sided and slightly boring to read. But Charles Chaplin I have been wanting to read for a long time, a couple of days before we went on national lockdown (25th march ’20’ ) I was about to place an order from the e-commerce website, But did not. Also, having read most of the books that I had already ordered and now worried I had no books to read, First I began scrolling from my contacts and messaged a couple of my “friends” if they could lend me some books. After having waited for too long for them to reply, I browsed through my library at home once again! Maybe there is a book I haven’t read and guess what! I found one of the first editions of Charles Chaplin which was tearing apart and I began reading the book, It was one of the best books I must have read on cinema and actor as it teaches you so much about what goes behind an actor during his preparation and how much effort is it to “Act” and being a superstar of the “silent Era” This fascinated me and within five days I had finished reading the book. Right from his childhood to him coming back from Hollywood and visiting his roots in The UK to him finally settling down in Switzerland to have been married numerous time. About five times and having eleven kids to getting the longest standing ovation in the (Twelve Minutes long ) history of academy awards Charles was one hell of a “Charlie.” It’s a must-read for all and besides Charlie, if you want to read another book on an actor you must! And must read Naseeruddin Shah Memoir – Then one day!

Bloody Diamond

While waiting for  another movie show to begin.And realising the neighbour too has come  for the same  screening and  as we were catching up what has been happening in our lives.I don’t know how,But he told me about the movie, “Blood diamond”The story and star cast and  I was immediately, drawn to go and watch this movie.Instead of what I had come to watch.

Almost a year later today,I had the movie saved on “MyList” on the popular streaming website and it did not disappoint me at all.With the story establishing the characters and story in the first few minutes,to taking off with the action and tension of the scenario of what would be happening next.

The story is all about illegal trading of diamonds and how one is forced,Brainwashed to be part of this racket and how everyone is under suspicion of hiding away diamonds for their benefit.

The 150 minutes action packed movie is worth spending part of your weekend. If You haven’t watched Blood Diamond,Go watch it now!! It’s got a story,It’s got the emotions of empathy for the characters every time they are in trouble and the One Question will they find it or not.

Folk Theatre

Theatre.jpg

The death of Traditional Form of Theatre.

There has been entertainment,even before Cinemas,Television and of course the internet Explosion.But, Does today’s generation have any idea of how the Entertainment in the past was like ? 

The once a upon time trend of Flash mob was InFact the closest one would get to experience live entertainment in the traditional form.

But,have  you heard about  “Tamasha”- not the movie,but a form of entertainment in Maharasthra. Which is driven from a persian word meaning a theatrical entertainment of some kind . was  actually different forms of dance available in maharshtra like the Lavanis,Khatak and ghazals performed by artist in village and rurual environment as a form of entertainment displaying the culture of the place as a tourist attraction and as a way of passing the time. 

But,Besides Movies  showcasing this  Form of theatre,This form of theatre   is seeing the death of our culture in the state.Not just in maharshtra,Northern India too hasn’t seen “Ramlila”a dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama, ending up in ten-day battle between Rama  and Ravana.

A form of street play telling you the story of Ramayana, Which in today’s time hasn’t been witnessed by many in the form of play.  Because of the Television,Movies and Social Media giving away the one of the most self validated experience  form of entertainment through Audio Visual and will never be able  through Experiencing it.  

We have forgotten what its  like to experience culturally rich form of storytelling in its actual format as plays. 

its also because of patience, Fame and Money that performers like to act and be part of the larger mass media reach ,rather than travel across with a team for performances and get some self- satisfaction .That is why this form of entertainment has died a natural death  

Nautanki another word for street play used in Uttar Pradesh and for    romantic tales, mythologies, or biographies of local heroes       

The pleasure of Nautanki lies in the intense melodic exchanges between two or three performers; a chorus is used sometimes.These performances last 6-8 hours.narrating the complete story in a performance.The artist too have lost the time and the audience too have dwindled to make this form of entertainment nearly extinct     

These are some of the most popular forms of entertainment of the past,which have lost its appeal and these need to  be part of the culture once again as novelty experiences,For the youth to realise how things have changed in the past,And for another reason how important its to understand Human Connection.   

Theatre!

Theatre is so much more powerful than movies,the medium has actors performing live to an audience with just the stage as the only space for performances,theatre has just the few lights and the core acting team performing a few characters each.Theatre becomes even more challenging for the performing artists to play ,the character with so much of disturbance around,The laughter and the movement the concentration becomes the only means of staying true to the character performed by the actors,the spontaneous action and reaction between characters  is more enjoyable in  the plays rather than movies.Writer Bloc 4 the 10 day long festival at Prithvi which started on the 1st April and Will concluded on the 10th  has made me look at theatre from a perspective that I haven’t really come across in the past while watching plays.The storytelling is simplified with actors  in-acting scenes without any hesitance in front of the audience.The lighting is the key part  in theatre since that would only help the audience  know whether its day or night sequence.The 2 plays that,I have watched so far since the festival have begun has also made  me realise the language doesn’t really matter the story and the Act by the Actors can help you understand and enjoy the play.

With just a week left,why not head to Prithvi to watch some interesting plays?,written by writers who want a platform to showcase their talent to people who love the theatre medium and encourage new talent on another platform of art which is dying a slow death .