LOW COST ENTERTAINMENT – A South Indian experience

 LOW COST ENTERTAINMENT – A South Indian experience

Right now we are through a phase of recalling our past experience, when we were school boys. The then times were marked by austere life; austerity being imposed by economic restraints irrespective of where one lived – city or town or village. Yet, none ever felt any sense of deprivation; rather all were contended with what they had. Till about the time that one completed schooling, all boys used to wear shorts or Dhothi, rarely pants. The so-called pants of those days were somewhat shrunken and wrinkled all over, as the fabric was cotton.

Synthetic fabric appeared late in the horizon around 1965 or so. Also, dress was stitched to measurement by tailors in any town. Liberal length of fabric was used for stitching pants or shirt. Yes, the dress  were ‘larger than life’ if I may use that euphemism to suggest a loose-fitting apparel unlike the later day skin-tight measurements requiring all available man power around to retrieve the person out of his pants.

The critical point for us to recognize is, despite economic limitations, larger dimension dress was feasible as cloth prices were well within the reach of an average wage-earner. Besides, the dress, the school books and the like were faithfully handed down to younger members in the family [inheritance]. None felt anything odd. I perceive your agony as to what the writer attempts saying under ‘low cost entertainment’? I am making out a case for our grasp to recall as to how constrained were the days even for optimal life-styles. Weeklies and periodicals were exchanged between neighbours and relatives so as to ‘distribute’ even the modest expenditure among beneficiaries. With all that, ‘visual’ entertainment was the most longed for at least once- a month.

Most towns and their periphery were served by one or two thatched houses of over 1800-2000 square feet to serve as ‘cinema hall’. They were named ‘Touring talkies’. A touring theatre cannot be pitched in the same place for long. It ought to move away to a new locale -justifying the status of ‘touring’. Such places enjoyed local patronage from men, women and children for ‘low cost entertainment’. Through the day the theatre servants distribute pamphlets informing the people of the on-going movie; such pamphlets used to dramatize the movie saying ‘hair-raising fight’, ‘mesmerizing songs’ and ‘enticing dances’ etc.  On and off the publicity banner would issue a DYNAMIC WARNING’ that this movie’s screening ends today, by a patented phrase “INDRE IPPADAM KADAISI” , meaning that , if not today,   your opportunity of life for seeing the movie would be lost .

It is a very good bait to draw crowds to the venue. They also have some practices of drawing the attention of prospective movie viewers. By dusk, they start playing cine-songs through their public address system; songs come in a fixed order and the playing of some songs would mean – all set for screening of the movie. Women till then lethargic , quickly dragging the kids , run to the theatre , procure a ticket for a low cost below Re 1/- ,2/-or so and move to the women enclave  , segregated from that for men by a 3 1/2 ft mud wall marking territorial limits.

Viewers sitting in the forefront are in heavenly posture lying on the sand by their backs and only raising the head to view the movie. Some roll up a towel or two to provide a ‘below neck’ cushioning to stay more relaxed. At the third higher level or so, people occupy chairs with a back rest and sagging in that chair stretch the legs far out and stay reclined for seeing the movie. Several cultural patterns in sitting are common in those cinema houses. The place has ‘noise’ from all around; if nothing, children would cry and demand going back home; irritated mothers liberally thrash them in the dark and subdue them. Lying on the mother’s lap they sleep through the best part of the movie; but abruptly get up and ask for eatables. Some elder ones demand the un-labelled drink rightly named kalar [color- as the lone identifiable feature –Red/ orange/ pink / rose and what not-- rich in ‘gas’ [aerated]. The consumed drink delivers a sudden hit to the back of your head, leaving you perplexed for a while before you gather your senses and wit. Obviously, the ‘hit’ is enjoyable in that it works on the head’s internal corridor, leaving a sense of gentle nudge within.

Minutes before the official intermission, the sellers of ‘kalar’ move into the viewers’ arena and draw attention by dragging the metallic opener over the surface of  glass bottles and produce a typical sound ‘trring’ which wakes up the children . Also, in the dark, some men climb over the mud wall and enter the women enclave looking for wife or some other relative; but it causes quite a flutter and women raise an alarm which readily triggers group clash among men exchanging blows rather indiscriminately bringing the show to a tentative halt. Such cinema houses do not wait for police to arrive; they press into service their own musclemen who handle the clashing men effortlessly and bundle them out to restore the show. Side shows of the kind described above are common and people make no fuss of it.

With all the items like some munch or ‘kalar’ + the ticket cost [even if of the highest class] one can complete the entertainment under Rs 5  - 10/- per head. All said and done, seeing a movie in a crowded cinema hall is an entertainment by itself ; should some scenes be dragging, a high pitch voice calls out “Paruththippaal” – a typical expression of disgruntlement among Madurai cine goers. That people are happy over incomplete facilities in such cinema theatres is justified by low cost fee levied for movie viewing. How tolerant and forgiving are our people even on the face of adversity is both noteworthy and praiseworthy.

Prof. K. Raman