Am I losing it? Why are films making me cry so much?
It was sporadic at first. A scene here, a dialogue there. Now, it’s like I cannot watch any kind of film without breaking out into loud sobs at the slightest provocation. This is not just strange but rather inconvenient as well, given that I mostly watch films while eating dinner.
But first a slight correction: it takes not just any provocation but a happy provocation to cause such outbursts. Sad scenes, people dying, poverty, failures, Fardeen Khan, these things don’t affect me. But whenever there is a moment of epic happiness, that’s it! Take today for instance. I was watching Chak De India while eating tandoori aloo and pulav. (I have been down with a most terrible fever and cold that makes me cough out scary looking phlegm for the past few days, so I was fully relishing my hot meal.) Suddenly, India went a goal down. Nothing happened (I only helped myself to another serving of aloo.) Then suddenly, with about 2 minutes remaining, India equalised. The audience in the stadium went berserk. There was a great deal of fist thumping. I sensed it coming.
In the tiebreaker, India messed up the first two-fifths. Nothing happened (I merely helped myself to some leftover daal). And then they scored three consecutive goals and saved three consecutively too. That did it for me. Just as Shahrukh Khan turned to cast this vague glance at the Tricolour, I started bawling (aloo still in mouth). Trust me, when you have a cold, it’s not a good state to be in.
PS: Quite separately from all this, I “heard” a film for the first time today. Each time the stick hit the ball, cut through air and hit the back of the net, the image became completely irrelevant for me, so rich was this experience. All thanks to Resul Pookutty, whom I had the good fortune of chatting with for almost three hours today. I am just sad that I didn’t do it before he won the Oscar, because now I feel like every other wannabe who wants to get a piece of him. The man is a delight. More about the meeting when the chat is published. Now I must go and cough.
PPS: Gymming is overrated.
Films are blessed.
A good thing for cold is blinking 3 times with the left eye and 2 times with the right.
Gymming is static.
The cure for cold is to blink thrice with your left eye and then twice with your right.
Aha. I know that feeling. Especially when I was singularly unmoved over ‘Schindler’s list’ and felt all teary over ‘Sydney White’. Felt absolutely silly :-/
oh, by the way, need a favour. Need some tragic instumentals for the background score of the play I’m working on. Not sobbing violin, no full orchestra, more haunting. Think the lullaby from Pan’s labyrinth. The other tracks we’re using is very jazz/ flute. Any ideas? We’re stealing lesser known movie themes as well with no moral holdbacks.
Aha, now we are talking. I think the title track of No Man’s Land…but give me a day or two. About Schindler’s: one of my two big confessions in life – a) I could not finish watching Schindler’s, b) I could never read Lord of the Rings.
Hm. For some reason I found ‘The Pianist’ much more moving. Does Brody make a difference? I dunno, been a while since I watched both those movies.
LOTR is one of those things that is awesome in retrospect. (And not just because you become part of the secret cult that has read the books, and get to be condescending. The last book is actually pretty good.) Lemme know about the music.