In the colony that we lived in during my childhood, there was only one movie theatre. It played 3 shows daily, matinee, first show and second show. It was a pretty decent theatre. There was front class (or gandhi class), a regular class and a balcony class. I do not remember the fare, but I do remember that we mostly used the balcony class to see any movie we went to. The theatre played Kannada, Hindi, and occasionally Telugu and Tamil movies. Thursday was a special day because, the matinee show was always an English movie.

We were not what you would call a regular movie goers. Only when my parents felt that the movie would be good, they would take us along. There have been many occasions when they would take either my sister or me or sometimes neither of us and only they would go. I can’t think of even one occasion when either of us had protested it. If they didn’t take us…they didn’t take us…. that’s it..no arguments…. nothing… there have never been tantrums or fights about it. I just cannot imagine such a situation with my kids now or ever. It’s not that my parents were overly strict or some such thing. Its just that we just accepted what they told. I guess the times were simpler then.

Anyway…… after all that side story, I will come to the movie of the day today. Conan, the Barbarian. Yes, that iconic movie of Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones. It is only years later I realised that this movie is iconic, but at that time I had no idea. I never realised how legendary these actors were at that time. I was a little ignorant of Hollywood actors at that time.

It so happened that the Thursday that this movie came to our colony theatre, was my Dad’s birthday. Now, Thursdays were not just special for the English matinee show but also because it was a half day both for the school we studied in and the factory that my Dad worked in.

So, Dad’s birthday rolled in on a Thursday that year. I forget which one,  but I remember I was in primary school. I wanted to do something different on this birthday so I pestered my Dad to go to this movie. I had no idea about the story or the actors or anything. I only knew that going to an English movie on a birthday was going to be great. Dad did not want to go. He just wanted to eat his lunch and sleep. But no! I pestered and persisted and finally he agreed and we all trooped off to see the matinee show of Conan, the Barbarian!

I have never seen any other movie that was so bad! I am sure I am making some enemies of people who are fans of this movie. But bear with me a few seconds. Remember that I was a young girl without absolutely any idea of the world of fantasy that this movie is set in. It was also not the times of subtitles. So more than half of the dialogues were incomprehensible to me. I never understood the movie at all, mostly I kept wondering why no one wore clothes in the movie 😀

There was one scene in the movie that is burned into my mind. The hero and another person (mostly the villain) are standing in a huge pit. There are a lot of people standing around the high edge of the pit. The hero and the villain talk something (I did not understand what) 😉 And then……. the villain gestures with his hands and most shockingly one girl on the high ledge just leaps to her death into the pit.

I was so shocked! I did not recover after that and the whole of the movie just went in a blur!

In fact, till today, I only know this about this movie and nothing else! Hahahaha!

After that, when we were returning back, me, my sister talked about how we did not like the movie. I apologized to my Dad for spoiling his birthday. But my Dad did not mind at all. He said “It’s ok!”

He was the best sport ever!

The A2Z challenge 2019 is going to be all the movies that have left an impact on me someway or the other. Some have made me think. Some that I like a lot, some that I really hated. But all of them have left a memory behind which makes the movie more special than the rest. They may not be all classics or iconic but they are close to my heart.

A is for Andhadhun

B is for Bazaar