Today I am talking about the 1991 Subhash Ghai movie Saudagar (merchant). This movie was the launching pad of Manisha Koirala who went on to star in several notable films like Dil Se, Bombay, Khamoshi, 1942-A love story etc. It was also the debut film of Vivek Mushran. Have you forgotten about him, don’t worry, his career was not so great to write about.

The greatest hype about this film was created by the other two main actors in this film, namely Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar. These two veteran actors and super heroes of yesteryear were coming together for only the second time and that too after 32 years. The buzz around this movie was too much to ignore.

By now, you all know about the theatre in our colony. This one was our only nearest theatre. If we had to go to another one, we had to “go to the city” 😀 And that was a big deal! We had to take an hour long bus, wait in the queue there, after the movie, invariably there would be lunch/dinner outside. And then of course, come back by the bus. If we were lucky we would get seats in the buses, otherwise, we had to stand!

Our theatre never (never ever) showed the latest releases. Any movie had to be at least 2 years old to be shown here. So, obviously we had to go to the city to see this film since we wanted to catch it. The hype was too much to ignore!

Since we had to take a bus to get to the theatre, we had to start way early to be able to get tickets to the movie since the queues were very long. This was not the times of online booking and phone booking. To beat the queues, it was decided that my sister and I would go early, stand in the queue and pick up tickets and my parents would take a much later bus to be able to get to the show in time. This way at least two of us would not have to hurry.

Accordingly, we both reached the theatre much ahead of time. The counter was closed, yet the queue was long. Thinking of it now, I feel, how patient and forgiving we all were then. Can you imagine, standing in the hot sun for a couple of movie tickets for a couple of hours? No way! Now I can’t even think of doing it. Now, we will just ditch the movie plan and do something else. But back then, we had a lot of time on hands! 🙂 We both did not mind it at all. We stood there along with other souls like us and whiled away the time.

When the counter opened, the guy inside told everyone that a maximum of two tickets only can be purchased by a single person. This was to avoid bulk buying of tickets for black marketeering purposes. We were not perturbed. We wanted 4 tickets and between the 2 of us, this would not be an issue.

Before our turn came, we both talked it over that since only 2 tickets per person was being given, we should purchase 2 each separately. It never occurred to us to say we were 2 people wanting 4 tickets.

Anyway…….. I went first to the counter and got 2 tickets. Then my sister went up to the counter and got 2 more. Some time later our parents came. We went into the theatre. And Lo! we had 2 tickets in one end of a row and the other 2 tickets on the other end of another row behind. We were not together!

If you needed further proof, here it is: We were couple of chuckleheads! 😀

The people next to us refused to exchange seats with us, so my sister and I sat in one row and my parents in another row and we saw the movie like that. 😀

Ah! I almost forgot. Here is the story. Two pals fall out with each other for some reason. They become sworn enemies. Their grandchildren fall in love with each other. They want to bring the granddads together. So they hatch a plan and they enter each other’s home to soften the hearts of the other granddad. Will they succeed? Watch it to find out!

Story wise, it was not a great movie, just average. Nothing much to write about. After all that ad blitz for Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar, I felt it was a bit flat. It did go on to become a hit. The song “ilu ilu” is still remembered today.

On a scale of headache to elation, this one clocked a easy “meh“. But as a memory, it ranks high up!

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. C is for Conan, the Barbarian. D is for Dushman. E is for Enter the Dragon. F is for Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them.G is for Galimathu.H is for Hidden Figures. I is for Ishq.J is for Jaane bhi do yaaron.K is for Kshana Kshanam.L is for La La Land.M is for Mirch Masala. N is for Newton.O is for Once More. P is for Preminchukundam Ra.Q is for Qurbani. R is for Roja.