Two years ago, if someone told me I wouldn’t be watching a movie in the theatre for about a month, I would have laughed it off, or worse even would have imagined being bedridden having survived an accident. That it really happened to me still baffles me, but somehow I have survived the dry period and reached the other end of it after a month with Rudrama Devi and Bruce Lee The Fighter over this weekend. They are two underwhelming experiences at the theaters, but hey I’d practically no action for the last month and I’m game even to a movie starring Abhishek Bachchan with some popcorn and coke, though not having one around made it easier for me to say that.

The reasons, I can’t point out to one, except the lack of time, which sounds lame whenever I use it. Surely, I can’t be lacking time for the one thing that I absolutely love to do, but that’s what it turned out to be. Other things like lack of money (never a concern), a hastily arranged four day vacation to Ooty and Coorg. I started working on Saturdays as well off late and after marriage I hardly saw anything alone so had to rule out the late night shows as well. So as you can see, one thing lead to other, creating a huge gap and by the time I sat to watch Rudrama Devi unleash in front of me after a month long hiatus, I was grinning ear to ear at the sheer experience of watching a movie in a theatre again. A Telugu film in 3-D, no less folks. 

First, the things that changed in the month since I last saw a movie. The bookmyshow interface changed, and they cut down the discounts for paytm and payumoney users by x% where x is too complex and pointless to calculate, but not too less to go unnoticed for the seasoned suckers for discounts like me. That’s a bummer, but I guess we have to wait for a Pawan Kalyan movie to release and check if all the changes to the interface have made ticket booking any easier, or swifter in challenging times such as those. I saw the national anthem play again before the show began, though I don’t understand the logic behind it. It used to happen earlier when I was in Pune a couple of years ago, but stopped for a while, and started again now. So, can’t put that on Narendra Modi. 

Now to the things that haven’t changed. The Anti-Smoking Campaign ads have been a major pain in all the wrong places for a long time, and they seem to continue to be the same till eternity. So, no relief in sight for the smokers yet. Chances are that if you are a smoker you would hate it, and if you are not a smoke you would hate it, and if by some divine intervention, you are one of the makers or actors reading this, please know that I fucking hate all of it, including you. The enthusiasm with which fellow moviegoers turn up to the kind of drivel, we all know would be drivel, but would continue to wear it on our sleeves, heart and boxers. We are brothers in arms and I admit that I missed your catcalls, though I’d appreciate if you take the elevator after me.

The Footnote: It should come as no surprise, certainly no coincidence that the dry period at the movies extended to my blogs as well. This is a generic attempt at resurrecting both, and I’d assume, certainly after this high, that I’d make considerable amends and bring back the heydays to the blogs and my movie going.