Once upon a time ...

Long Long ago, very long ago, o one knows how long ago....

Once upon a time in a far off land...

These are ways we were told the stories we bear it in our mind even today. I recall sitting with my sister, next to the reclining chair of our grandfather, who would come back from work, have his dinner and then over a chew of betel leaves and nuts, would start telling us a tale every night we were with him, during the summer holidays. Those stories never leave our minds. Is that what is called the art of story telling. I still can recollect his versions of hare and tortoise tale, the Indian adaptation of Cinderella, the story of Sahasramalla the thief, and many more, which were narrate to me. Come to think of it, I would be able to remember each one of them, as we never stop thinking about a fittingly told tale. It is the animated ways those stories were told to us.

Shouldn’t the same rule be applied in movie making? Why is it that we forget even the plot of a movie as soon as we leave the cinema halls in certain cases and some movies linger and travel in your minds till you breathe your last? For a moment I am amazed at the ways some of the movie makers make their movies these days. Each one will have so many experiences and events in their life, which can be told through celluloid. But are they aware of a technique or the way of telling a story, I doubt. Be it the fairy tales, parables and stories from holy books or events from life, the more interesting is made by the story teller, the more the audience will remember it for a longer period of time.

The next few blogs I would want you also to think with me about the movies which have been with you for a long time. I would share a few movies which are close to my heart too. Two of the movie I would be sharing with you, are recent ones, which I am sure that would be with me for a very long time. More about the movies and my experiences in my forthcoming blog…

- vaazhka bhaaratham -