Awaara

— पाँच हजार चार सौ चौंसठ — We had a pretty good turnout at our biweekly Action Movie Night in the Braeburn Condos theater last night: Tony, Ben, Ryan, Chris G, Chris B, Derek, Sean, Shobhit, and myself: nine of us, including Shobhit, who for once had neither a campaign or work conflict. It also happened to be his choice of movie. And: he really went outside the box with this one, choosing a milestone in the history of Bollywood, Awaara, a movie some say may have been seen by more people than any other movie in the world. (It should be noted that the reference on that claim is from 2006.) It also couldn't really be any less an "action movie," although it does get listed under the "crime" genre, which is a pretty frequent genre in other people's choices. None of those were musicals, though—let alone Bollywood musicals—in fact, this was probably also the first musical of any sort in the 11-year history of Action Movie Night. When North by Northwest, a Hitchcok movie from 1959, was chosen last month, the general consensus was that it was almost certainly the oldest movie ever chosen. Awaara also easily broke that record, having been released in India in 1951; the Soviet Union in 1954; China and Turkey in 1955; and the U.S. in 1956. (Thus, on Prime Video where I rented this movie for a whopping 99ç, it's listed as a 1956 movie.) Apparently this movie was a gigantic hit in the USSR, China and Turkey. Even by the 1956 date as the U.S. release, it still beats the record as the oldest movie watched at Action Movie Night. It was difficult to gauge the group's response overall. I think it was definitely way longer than the majority of us would have preferred. We've seen other three-hour movies, but contemporary films even that long still move along at a much longer clip. Bollywood generally uses three hours as the standard length, which can make some stories feel padded with filler just to reach that length. And movies from the fifties tend to be slower paced to begin with—not to mention how much further behind in film technology India tends to be compared to the U.S. Awaara was released in 1951 and, not only is it in black and white, but it has scenes with the speed increased, like certain scenes from U.S. movies from the silent era. Granted, Raj Kapoor's "The Tramp" character quite directly homages Charlie Chaplin in parts. Sean fell asleep. Nobody openly complained about the movie, and I think he was jumping to conclusions when Shobhit said halfway through, "They don't like it." He was a little conflicted about choosing this movie for his week, and I probably didn't help matters when he asked what I thought about the idea and I responded with a skeptical, "I don't know." I truly had no idea how it would play. No one responded enthusiastically, but neither did anyone say anything critical—well, except in the scene when Raj slaps Rita across the face a couple of times, in a way that clearly suggested this was thought of as totally acceptable and normal at the time. Being critical of that, of course, is totally fair. I don't know if Shobhit will use his turn to choose a Bollywood movie again. But, I think we broadened the group's horizons, if nothing else. They'd never have watched a Bollywood movie at all, probably, let alone a classic title, without Shobhit. In a way, it was a means of sharing a piece of himself with the group. Shobhit likes to talk a big game about how he's washed his hands of his native country, but some strong ties still remain—there are several classic Bollywood films he still loves, and likely always will. He doesn't watch them often, but he watched this one in the middle of the night last week when he couldn't sleep, and that was when he decided he'd choose this one. He did run it by Tony, which wasn't really necessary probably. It sounds like Tony barely told him to go for it. As I did also tell Shobhit when he ran it by me, the rule is whosever turn it is, they can show whatever movie they want. They call it "Action Movie Night" but have never been super strict about the genre. Besides, the way I see it, fair is fair: I have sat through multiple movies on these nights that I legit thought were piece of shit. Now they can sit through something they don't want to watch! Also, that language is maybe too strong; no one seemed put out by having to watch it, even though I would bet money not one of them will ever choose on their own to watch this movie again. Action Movie Night is a different context, and a communal experience, one I actually value a great deal. I don't think even Sean hated it. He was just tired. I also nodded off a few times, for the same reason (well, combined with my hot toddy with three shots of peanut butter whiskey in it). Still, I did sneak a quick photo during the movie, the first photo I've taken inside the theater during an Action Movie Night screening. Sean is the one on the left who, you know, looks like he's sleeping. — पाँच हजार चार सौ चौंसठ — — पाँच हजार चार सौ चौंसठ — All of that basically accounts for my entire evening last night. What else can I tell you? Oh, I made pasta for the Action Movie Night potluck, as usual—it's always critical for us to bring a dish of our own, as otherwise we run the risk of having no vegetarian options. Someone else often brings a vegetarian option, but not this time; the one pizza someone brought was a pepperoni pizza. The pasta Shobhit and I made was delicious anyway. I still had half a quart of leftovers from the pasta I made two weeks ago in the refrigerator. Shobhit ate that after we came back upstairs. Now there's just the new pasta in a quart container. Usually we have more than that leftover, but lost of people had some last night. And that didn't even include Jake, who rarely isn't able to make it but apparently needed to look after his 9-year-old while his wife was out. It looks like the movie choice should come to my turn again within the next month or two. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to choose, out of a list of like ten contenders I already have going. — पाँच हजार चार सौ चौंसठ — I came in to work late this morning due to a dentist appointment, with them now wanting me to come in every three months for a cleaning. I went in this morning thinking that's not necessarily something I absolutely have to do, but then they got through everything a bit more quickly, and also found new things to keep tabs on (at least three teeth with old silver fillings about to start breaking the tooth it's inside, which means I'll need new crowns on all of them eventually—great!), so for now I'm still sold on the increased frequency, even though insurance only covers two cleanings a year. I still have my FSA card, although I haven't used it for today's appointment yet: curiously, I wasn't asked to pay anything. They must still be submitting to Aetna first. The dentist herself—the one who happened to be in this morning—did the cleaning, which was new. She said their hygienist is only in on Fridays and so the rest of the are pitching in with cleanings. I guess they're doing that rather than hiring someone new—she didn't say that part, but I'm assuming. I found it odd regardless. But, the checkup this morning was quite thorough. I rode my bike there, and then straight to work from there afterward. I came in with freshly cleaned teeth and promptly had one of the pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls that had been set out in the kitchen. It seemed logical. — पाँच हजार चार सौ चौंसठ — [posted 12:31 pm]