While
I had watched hundreds of films, probably thousands in my life, watching Kaatru
Veliyidai has been the most hilarious experience ever. There were high
expectations from the film, coming from the stable of Mani Ratnam & A R
Rahman, who are two of my favourite film industry persons in Tamil film
industry & their films/combination are always classic for me. And I had not
missed watching any of Mani Ratnam’s film so far, even if some of them had not
lived up to the expectations that they had set for themselves.
This
film had released on 14th April and I wanted to watch it in theater
to get the feel & enjoy the experience. Decided to watch 7:30 PM show couple
of days later in Mumbai suburb theater. Plans were all in place, went to
theater, bought ticket and entered the cinema hall on time. The cinema hall was
largely empty, with probably not more than 15-20 persons. By the time I entered
the screen/hall, national anthem was getting over and the next image that came
on screen was of Censor board certificate for the film. This was followed by
the mandatory anti-tobacco video clip/message, gory and gut wrenching. So, I
thought I am on time for the film, took a comfortable seat at back and sat down
to watch the film.
The
film started with Hero sitting in a seat somewhere in Kashmir reacting to a TV
news, with his team and heroine commenting on hero’s views. Thought this is the
opening scene of film, however, one scene after another followed with hero
arguing with heroine, heroine walking off, hero going behind her to pacify her,
couple of nicely pictured songs etc. Cut in between, scenes of hero trying to
escape from Pakistan, chase sequence, hero returning to India, getting heroes
worship etc, went on. And I kept thinking, there may be either flashback scenes
or hero/heroine will break-up and story moving forward. But not to be, and in
about 60-70 minutes, hero searches the heroine and patches up with her. I was
still thinking & waiting for an interval block, to take the film to 2nd
half. However, it is not to be and the screen suddenly mentioned END, and title
cards started rolling.
It
was still dark theater, with no lights getting switched on either. And I was
still sitting in my seat, wondering what happened and what am I supposed to do
now. After couple of minutes, when it was clear that the film has indeed ended,
and there is no more interval block or suspense and no 2nd half to
look forward to, got up from my seat and made my way out of the hall/screen.
And here I was, out of the theater premises & was on the mall floor.
Started
walking towards mall exit, thinking now on whether I had come later for the
movie and started watching the 2nd half, probably a 6:00 PM movie,
for which I had come in at 7:30 PM. And decided to check the show for next day
and come in on time and watch the film properly. Then, thought to myself, let
me check the ticket about the show timing. There it went, it was written 7:30
PM show. And I had walked in at 7:30 PM only, that means, I was not late and it
was clear then that the theater guys had played 2nd half first,
rather than 1st half.
Decided
to confront the theater guys and walked back to the theater. Thankfully, I was
not too far away from the theater and had just about exited the mall. The
security at the entrance was clueless and he did not know what to answer for my
points about 2nd half played first etc.. However, another guy from
the multiplex theater office walked out and listened to what I had to say. Took
me inside and asked questions to couple of their staff. He then came out and
explained stating that, their operator had goofed up in playing the cassette of
the film and played 2nd half first. He then refunded the price of
ticket in cash.
Now,
while it was easy for him to refund, I was in dilemma and what to do next:
·
Should
I look for another day (probably the next day itself) to watch the film?
·
Do
I have the mind strength to watch the film again, what with having the seen the
2nd half already?
·
How
would I manage to come to theatre by 7:30 PM, what with next day being a
working day?
The
week has gone by since then, and the film is not running in Mumbai in 2nd
week now. So, no way to watch the film in a theater over the weekend and eventually,
not watching the film –may go on to watch the film when its DVD gets released.
Though, there are regrets on this count, the experience of watching the 2nd
half first and walking out confused is an experience that I will remember
probably for life.
Amazing
& hilarious experience it is, for sure!!
