TELEVISTA
A date with classics
AMITA MALIK

It seems long ago that there were rigid rules about the screening of feature films. This was during the Doordarshan era. Film producers maintained that showing feature films on TV near their release in cinemas robbed them of audiences.And they certainly had a point. So,if I remember correctly, at least six months or more had to elapse before their screening on the small screen. I have not kept count of the number of months which elapsed after some recent off-beat films like Iqbal were shown on the small screen. Perhaps the very fact of their being off-beat and small budget films helped.

Be that as it may,for viewers like your columnist,it has been a great boon seeing feature films on TV. Of course, the small screen does not have those larger-than-life images and that booming stereo effect. But having regretted those rather major concessions, I still feel that seeing feature films at home has provided a new and rewarding outlet for viewers, except that much of the joy is taken away by time-consuming ads, which hold up the action and sometimes make a two-hour film last four hours.

The main gain is that one can catch up with classics, which are hardly ever screened in public cinemas. And one can see recent releases reasonably early. Sometimes the classics come at a late hour or in the early hours.But if one is restless on a hot night, one does not really mind.To prove how rewarding this can be, guess what I saw last weekend—the whole of Sholay. I enjoyed every minute, especially the powerful performance of Gabbar. And as a long-time film buff and writer on the cinema, I could not help thinking how foolish they are wanting to do a re-make.

Some things simply cannot be repeated. And while remembering the recent re-makes of Devdas and Parineeta, one feels that they not only do not come up to the excellence of the originals, they also change the entire nature of the original written version by introducing fashion sarees, songs and dances and other silly so-called modern touches. That is why classics remain classics.

Then I saw Jewel Thief, with a young and handsome Dev Anand, and with an unforgettable cabaret act by the one and only Helen. Wearing the most skimpy of costumes—mostly feathers—Helen did a marvellous act of being mischievous and sexy without even for a moment being vulgar or obscene.

And how lovely the heroines were, without losing their feminine charm or leaning on too much make-up. The last film I saw was Lage Raho Munnabhai. And I must say watching it in the quiet of my room made me catch all the finer nuances of the Mumbaiah dialogue with much less effort. So on behalf of all those viewers who find the effort of going to the cinema, at least in this hot weather, too much,I would like to thank the channels which offer us feature films,old and new, on the small screen.

The disgraceful manner in which the BCCI seemed quite unperturbed by the fact that lakhs of cricket fans were robbed of seeing the India-Bangladesh Tests lends credence to the accusation that they are only interested in piling up money and are completely oblivious of popular demand from the very fans who have made cricket, at least up to now, the most popular sport on TV. Viewers and fans have not failed to notice that the august body is manned by politicans and others who probably did not play any game in their school days and who take up jobs which are far beyond their comprehension (except for the money part) for the sake of power and for going on foreign trips and hobnobbing with the real experts. And of course, appearing on television. The minor politicians who become ‘leaders’and official spokespersons are even more laugh-worthy. They all seem to be completely unaware of the fact that they are looked upon with contempt by lovers of cricket and are largely responsible for the decline of the game, their petty politics having dealt the final blow to a once great game.

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