Those were the day...First day, First show

In those pre TV and internet days, entertainment revolved around "pictures", as the movies are called in common lingo in Allahabad. But going to pictures was not considered a particularly good thing for youngsters. It was supposed to distract from studies, encourage bad habits like growing long hair, ruin one's language; in short good guys never went to pictures.

But what was life without pictures? Apart from the 3 hours spent inside the cinema hall, a movie could inspire weeks of conversation outside around the lead actors, music and script. "Ah how he picked the heroine and danced", "did you see the the blue belt he was wearing?"  If you could recite dialogues from Sholay by heart, you would be deemed of social respect.

For young boys like me, films were the ultimate cool. New movies are released on Fridays and seeing the fist day's , first show (FDFS) was a medal, a coveted social honour. If on the evening of the release I could share how Amitabh Bacchaan beat up 5 villians or could share a comic moment from a film released on that very afternoon, my stock amongst friends would soar and the feeling of superiority was so intoxicating.

Since Friday was a school day, FDFS required deft planning and execution. My partners in crime and I would deposit our cycles at a shop near the school, from where we bought eats, in the morning . If the cycle was taken inside the school boundary we would not be able to take it outside till the last bell. The lunch break was at 12.10 and most movies used to kick off by 12.30. So we would be ready, bag packed before the bell went off. 

As soon as the bell rang, we turned into Milkha Singhs on the last stretch before the tape. Hopping on the cycles, we pedaled furiously, taking short cuts through small lanes of the old city to reach the cinema hall. We would remove our ties and belts and stuff them into the bag to look less conspicuous. 

The cycle attendant would provide intelligence about availability of tickets and direct us to the black marketeer if necessary. On our shoe string budgets we could not afford black marketeers and would often chose the not so popular front row seats, virtually looking up to the screens. As soon as the show got over rush back to the bikes, again cycling furiously to be back home at the usual time and not arouse suspicion of the folks at home. But man what a hero I was in the evening!!     

In India cinema has a huge space in the popular culture and I am proud of it. During my school and college days I saw a huge number of films and they have had a big impact on me. It was the only visual medium of my times and through it I could see people and places I otherwise would never have. I was also introduced to some of the finer elements of life and relationships by the movies I saw and I remain grateful to Bollywood for that.