...in a theatre in Paris! What a treat!
The French reviewers have been lapping up this movie...As you can see on the poster, someone said, un petit régal - one little treat; and une comédie romantique dans laquelle on se pend avec plaisir - a romantic comedy one spends time with with pleasure.
In one of the best arrondissements in Paris, the 5th...The theatre was this small quaint movie hall called Cinéma La Clef, and reminded me a lot of the M.G. Road in Bangalore in early 2000s before the onslaught of Forums and Garudas. All those vintage movie halls...Symphony, Plaza, Rex...
The theatre was full of firangs, and I was the only Indian.
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The movie was amazing. Liked Nimrat Kaur! She reminded me a lot of an old friend from PU. Gentle, soft-spoken, expressive eyes, and vulnerable. Irrfan Khan was good too but you can see the casual manner that has kinda become a technique now. Nawazuddin was fucking brilliant. Effortless and smooth. Everytime he came the audience cracked up. And yeah, Bharti Achrekar! She cracked up the crowd too. I loved the idea that (minor spoiler!) she is not visible, but her voice makes the presence felt every 10 minutes in her dialogues with Nimrat Kaur. What a brilliant concept to signify the isolation in cities. The french subtitles were well done, the crowd was responding fine, and they gave an ovation at the end! And then the most unusual thing happened that never happens in Paris...people were turning back and looking at me and smiling, most probably acknowledging my Indian presence, and probably acknowledging how much they liked the movie. It was a moment of great pride.
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Parisians love movies, and Paris is a great city for movie buffs. They especially love movies from 40s, 50s and 60s. The movie tickets are printed on the back with images from old classics. Here's the ticket for Lunchbox, and what do we have at the back? It's a famous Hollywood movie of the 50s with a translated French title of course! Have a look!
In one of the best arrondissements in Paris, the 5th...The theatre was this small quaint movie hall called Cinéma La Clef, and reminded me a lot of the M.G. Road in Bangalore in early 2000s before the onslaught of Forums and Garudas. All those vintage movie halls...Symphony, Plaza, Rex...
The theatre was full of firangs, and I was the only Indian.
The movie was amazing. Liked Nimrat Kaur! She reminded me a lot of an old friend from PU. Gentle, soft-spoken, expressive eyes, and vulnerable. Irrfan Khan was good too but you can see the casual manner that has kinda become a technique now. Nawazuddin was fucking brilliant. Effortless and smooth. Everytime he came the audience cracked up. And yeah, Bharti Achrekar! She cracked up the crowd too. I loved the idea that (minor spoiler!) she is not visible, but her voice makes the presence felt every 10 minutes in her dialogues with Nimrat Kaur. What a brilliant concept to signify the isolation in cities. The french subtitles were well done, the crowd was responding fine, and they gave an ovation at the end! And then the most unusual thing happened that never happens in Paris...people were turning back and looking at me and smiling, most probably acknowledging my Indian presence, and probably acknowledging how much they liked the movie. It was a moment of great pride.
--
Parisians love movies, and Paris is a great city for movie buffs. They especially love movies from 40s, 50s and 60s. The movie tickets are printed on the back with images from old classics. Here's the ticket for Lunchbox, and what do we have at the back? It's a famous Hollywood movie of the 50s with a translated French title of course! Have a look!
3 comments:
how nice :) the uptight people from the city where I ran from would never appreciate or acknowledge anything such as this
I started watching it but there was a problem with the file and I could not complete it, will wait for you to return and we will watch it together under the canopy of the tamarind tree on campus whose leaves you made me eat :)
youknowwho
Finally watched it today and it delivered more than my expectations. The theater was full and we were the only Indians. I liked the quietness of the movie a lot. A lot about saajan and ila was felt through their daily activities and routines. Their motions and actions when they were doing their everyday things (cooking, washing, packing her kid to school, etc for her and riding the train, doing his office work, smoking, etc for him) had an economy and flow which comes when one does those things day in and day out. Hard to act out such behavior.
Really enjoyed the aunty character. And what to say about Nawaaz, a lesser actor would have made a joker out of that character.
The many montages of food made my stomach growl :)
It was really "a little treat" .
@ youknowwho: I am not surprised at the people of the city you ran from. Had enough of them myself! We clearly have a lot of movies to choose from to watch together!
@ Anonymous: :)
btw, the movie is still playing in Paris..5-6 shows a day, 3 major theatres..This makes it 2-3 months in row..If it was India, they could soon have a special 100th day poster for it!
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