My affair with Cinema

I was born in a small village in South Karnataka in a middle class family amidst western ghats where it rains heavily in rainy season and also screws you badly in summer.The land where watching movies is almost a taboo especially in middle class family,the land where education is the most important aspect of life(Yes it has number of colleges and can see students from all parts of the world in Mangalore).It is called as Buddivantara Naadu which means Land of Intellectuals(though it is losing its tag especially after the pub attack).No wonder its education rate is far above the national average.It is also called as the Cradle of  Indian banking as most of the nationalised banks like Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank are evolved here.Manipal,one of the foremost universities, evolved in this place.In spite of growing in this place,studying in school or college didnt really attract me as much as cinema or literature.

My affair with cinema dates back to late 80's and early 90's.Some times around 88 or 89 all of our family members got together(may be for a special occassion) and brought a television and vcr for rent and watched 100 days Hindi movie,Kamal Hassan starrer silent movie Pushpaka Vimana and i think Rajkumar's Babruvahana.It was the time when one of  my uncles bought a tv for the first time and my day used to start with it and end with it.I still remember some of the tv shows,i watched in those days mainly Zee horror show,Antakshari and also still remember watching Hoga Tumse Pyaara Kaun(Rishi Kapoor dancing on the top of a train) song .In early days there was no Kannada channel and we all were waiting to catch a Kannada movie on Sundays in Doordarshan.It was playing one regional movie on Sundays back then.Life was super cool and very simple back then.Very nostalgic.My mother always remembers how she used to take me to my neighbours house to watch Mahabharat in late 80's.I also have a pale memory of watching Premaloka movie,my sister in law was crazy about that movie.And may be.As far as i remember that was my first affair with cinema. 

And later when i went to boarding school for primary education,i met people grown under different cultures,guys from different parts of the state.It is here i really started to talk about cinema though i didnt get an opportunity to watch any movies.By that time my father bought a television and in holidays i used to eat,drink and sleep in front of it.I watched many Kannada flicks mostly Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan's movies at that time, but i dont remember most of it now.As a kid i liked some of the children's movies of teen aged Arjun Sarja(Now big star in Tamil who is known as Arjun) who used to flex his well toned muscles and show his martial arts abilities(Yes he is black belt in Karate).He was hero for me back then,(ya,after seeing this guy i came to know about Bruce Lee).Then when i was in 1st standard or something i heard about a movie called Jurassic Park.I was desperate to watch it.Most of my friends who watched it used to say about a special animal called Dinosauras.In holidays watched it finally and thus it became my first English movie.As far as i remember,it was Hindi dubbed version.I almost cried in fear when i watched it in school i became one of the proud and elite members who watched a English movie.Also watched another children's film in Kannada which i remember still is Chinnari Muttha.It rocked my imagination.

Pulp fiction
In primary school days i heard another English movie's name but couldnt watch it at that time is Titanic.Year after year i became a huge movie buff.At that time i was a big fan of Hollywood action flicks especially Jackie Chan,Stallone,Arnold.Also watched a lot of sci fi movies just because it used to have a lot of graphics.Once me along with many friends from hostel went to watch Jackie Chan's First Strike movie after 10pm without telling our warden.There was a mini theater called Vasanth Video Vision in my native town.They used to play every movie from pirated cd's and it was a movie hub for us back then.Me along with many hostel mates watched a lot of movies in that theater. In high school or college i preffered to watch Hindi and some English action flicks.I liked watching posh locales,body builders type of men and hot chicks of Hindi cinema.Very hardly i used to watch Kannada movies,but i was a huge fan of Upendra and watched his classic A in tv.His rebellious attitude,philosophical dialouges,awkward looks, unconventional themes attracted me a lot.Then one fine day i watched making of Matrix movie and that made me to think about film making.

Song from Upendra movie
Then i landed in Bangalore to study Animation and that further made me to think seriously about films.I started to watch movie like a critic,started to criticize lot of Indian cinema.This period of my life will remain as one of the most memorable time of my life.We used to watch at least one movie daily,got exposure to other regional language films,became die hard movie buff.Also started to sit in cyber shops browsing about movies and that made me a  internet addict(nowadays its hard to live without internet).Then came Mungaru Male,a movie which revived my interest in Kannada cinema.It came like a breeze,became a storm and smashed all the box office records.Now i am one of the keen follower of Kannada cinema as well as Hollywood,Bollywood and also other woods.

I spend most of my earnings to buy Dvd's and books or spend it to buy movie tickets.I want to make a huge Dvd library,now i have a collection of Kurosowa's Japanese movies,some other Western classics,Indian classics,one Italian movie.I watch lots of Korean movies and also a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino whose movies always gets on your nerves.But for me he is the best.Now dont say i should be jerk to love his movies.Actually you know what,i dont give a damn.