I am a part of the silent darkness. All I can see are muffled shapes around, all I can hear are slight rustlings. People are waiting with baited breath. I am thinking – "please God no, no…"
And then suddenly the whole theater erupts into thunderous applause; whistles, catcalls and wild clappings drown out anything that anybody might be saying.
You see, Aamir Khan has just scored the six that determines the defeat of the usurping British and a sure shot mention for Bhuvan in the pages of India's Struggle for Freedom.
Lagaan was my introduction to the chavanni audience. For the enlightenment of those readers of mine who have no clue of what I am talking about, the chavanni audience are those devoted movie goers who live with the movies. The men (and in some rare cases, women) who will most often be found in the front rows, cheering when Aamir khan aka Bhuvan wins against the British, crying when Joanna in Kramer Vs Kramer says " I came here to take my son home. And I realised he already is home"… and who cant resist popping back into a room they have just vacated to say "I will be back".
I don't really remember the movies I saw in the theaters as a child. What I do remember is bunking college and waving my arms up and down with 16 of my gal friends in tune to 'wo ladki hai kahan' from DCH, jigging to 'it's the time to disco' from Kal Ho Na Ho as multicoloured lights filled up the movie hall and more recently, clapping as the last scene of Black Friday faded from the screen. My experience of movie watching in cinema halls is so much more memorable because of that crowd.
I really do plan to have the best home theater system that I could get at my place. But I would be returning back to the theaters over and over again to be a part of that spellbound audience, for the love of living the movies.
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