Mumbai never ceases to amaze me... The kind of variety, depth and confluence that I see here is unparalleled..
I saw two movies in Mumbai this weekend... on consecutive days... Wanted and Wake up Sid.... I saw Wanted at Maratha Mandir in the heart of Mumbai... Mumbai central... The balcony ticket cost me 75 bucks.... It was a nostalgic moment for me as it has been quite sometime since I bought a ticket @ 75 bucks... I go inside the auditorium and I see families... Which again is quite a rarity nowadays.... Before the movie, Jana Gana Mana.... everyone stands up, I can see a group of guys keeping one hand on the heart and the other put forwards in an oath... The national anthem ends with rapturous applause... The movie starts with whistles and howls.... There is a series of claps every time Salman (or Sallu bhai) mouths a dialogue (which, for the record, are straight out of Rajnikant movies).... Interval.... Samosa cost 15 bucks... coffee: 15 bucks... Popcorn: 10 bucks.... I've got tears in my eyes!!!... Shortly after interval, a brawl ensues in the stalls below.... apparently, some guy actually did a Munnabhai from Rangeela and kept his legs on the seat ahead of him.... Rukavat ke liye khed hai.... off we go again... the movie ends... and I see a collective murmur of the people as they stream through the narrow back alley of the movie hall... Paisa Vasool....
The second day I went to Fame at Inorbit mall..... Wake up sid.... Tickets: 220 bucks per head... Hot dog: *Inaugural offer of 100 bucks only*..... Tea (from tea bags, mind you): 25 bucks.... I have tears in my eyes again....I see couples streaming in.... strutting their stuff as if it were a fashion runway (I never understood the funda behind dressing up for a movie... isn't it dark in there?).... I can see people scrambling for their seats even as the National Anthem goes on... Movie starts in an eerie silence.... no clapping.... no whistles.... Just a nod of approval whenever a scene comes that reminds us of something real.... The movie ends... we better not talk about the value for money quotient here... From the theater, we enter the capitalistic capital of the Mall area... the food plaza and the game zone.... 150 gm of Pasta and 1 slice of 18 inch pizza: 220 bucks... *sigh*.... One round of dance karaoke: 60 bucks.... One portrait: 54 bucks (10% discount as my cousin has apparently been upgraded to a Platinum card)..... I come out of InOrbit with a heavy heart and an equally light wallet....
Two ends of a spectrum in two days... I love this city.... It makes me cry for so many reasons... :-)
