The Lion’s Den

So there we were in what reminded me of the good old days where we had theatres like ‘Ganga’, ‘Akash’, ‘Relax’, ‘Topiwala’ (I swear these are real names). The hall was dimly lit and there was chaos all around. There were vacant seats but people next to those told us that they were ‘reserved’ for their friends / relatives. We had no choice but to trudge upstairs….Upstairs ??!!!! Yes ! Balcony !!!!…..the function was going to happen in the Stall and the audience was split between the stall and the balcony !! Upstairs was more chaotic, hot and dark and Pavan was visibly excited on spotting some famous directors like K S Ravikumar (I can’t remember the others) who were seated right in front of us and seemed to be enjoying the chaos. Welll the wait seemed never ending..you could hear instrumental versions of old Shankar Jaikishan songs being played !!!!!!! Finally after an hour of sweating and cursing, they screened 2 songs form the movie by which time my son had had enough ! So had to get up and leave but not before I came downstairs again and said a Hi to D-Man who seemed equally amused.

Again, no offence meant but I cannot still understand why doesn’t the Tamil industry take a leaf out of the Bombay industry’s book and get these things done in style. I’m no bollywood fan but you have to give it to those guys. Forget the content but the packaging is all very chic. I still remember the Jodhaa Akbar music launch at the Grand Hyat where dignitaries from the Royal Family of Rajasthan had been invited. Everything was so well planned and organised…I have the same grouse about publicity strategies (if there is one) of the Tamil industry. No promos, teasers or publicity about a movie or the music and they expect people to go and buy the music and watch the movie. if I chose to not watch it in a theatre (hey, didn’t i write about the mulitplex saga earlier?) and preferred buying a dvd a month later, I won’t get it….why ? Sold out?? ille saar….not released yet. Probably they will release it a couple of decades later and the stores will directly list it in the CLASSICS section -:) - I’ve added a new entry to my list of ‘I would like to be reborn as……’ - A Film Publicist in the Tamil Film Industry (no work machhi !!)