Titanic has been re-released in 3D recently after
almost a decade and half. My better half has been excited about seeing it ever
since we saw the trailer of it some months back. However I tried I am not able
to even pretend the same level of enthusiasm on watching that movie again
albeit in 3D. Trust me, I don’t have anything against that movie; infact it
used to be my favorite movie during my Pre-US days. Over the course of time it
has sort of waned down.
This information might amuse those who know me well
now - as a kid and teenager; I hardly used to watch any English movies. I was
not a great fan of English movies then. My reasoning was simple - I didn’t not
understand any shit those people were rolling out of their tongue. In the
pre-vcd, pre-internet era, it was hard for me to get hold of English movies
which would help my comprehension of language with appropriate subtitles. Hence
the count of English movies I had seen was only a handful. I could pretty much
count them by hand and almost recollect them all. And notable amongst them were
Jurassic park and Titanic (Baby's day out, Home Alone 1, Speed 1 & 2,
Anaconda, Godzilla etc making taking up most of the remaining).
Thus from the limited exposure I had, my favorite
English movie was Titanic. Blame it on my hormones, I liked it not just for the
grandeur, but also for the delicate love story between Jack and Rose it
depicted. I loved it so much so that we asked our dad to get a Video cassette
of the movie from Dubai (with the clear understanding and awareness that the
censorship in the middle east is quite strict and I won't get to see seeing any
'drawing' (the verb) and will have to settle for 'drawing' the noun). That is
how much I liked it.
So, when I landed in the land of Hollywood in the
middle of the 21st century, I was still searching to find Hindi, Malayalam and
Tamil movies online, still reclusive to watch English ones. During the initial
weeks in my college, I had the opportunity to attend a social gathering event
at a church near our college. So, here I was sitting in a round table eating
lunch with couple of my fellow desis from college and some White Americans. So,
they were asking us the usual questions about India and how different does it
feel to be in US blah blah blah and the conversation leered towards movies.
They were curious if we get to see English movies in India or listen to English
songs. While a friend of mine was answering their questions how he and others
see many English movies and are fans of English songs, I was maintained a facial expression as if I
agree with everything my buddy was telling and it’s ridiculous to even think
that there is a possibility that people in India might not have seen English
movies.
And then one of the young ladies we were asked
which was our favorite English movies. My buddies had difficult time picking a
movie unlike me – I was certain of my answer. I told “Titanic’. I was not
hoping to get “aww” from any one, but at least I was expecting someone at the
table to say “that’s my favorite too” or “I love that movie”. Instead what I
got was a repulsive “Really?, you like that movie?” …that too from girls in
their 20s who were the demography that that movie targeted. I was amused by their remark, not because it was
embarrassed me a bit, but because I could find no reason as to why they felt
so. I just assumed that they were one of those rare girls who didn’t like it.
To cut the story short, I remained oblivious to the
vast treasure that is Hollywood movies till for good 1.5 years in US. And then,
over the course of years how I turned into a huge English movies fan - who
obsessively and religiously watched English movies and turned into someone who
has a strong database about English movies and is also a connoisseur of movies
- is a story for another day.
After having watched many classics, landmark and
cult movies, now when I look back at Titanic, I see the sentiment behind those
girls’ remark. For all the visual spectacle Titanic was when it came out, in
the core of it, it was just a melodrama - one which was highly manipulative and
a bit overrated. I still think it’s a good movie – just a good one, not a great
one. But it was a landmark movie when it came out.
So, when my wife was all ecstatic seeing the
trailer of Titanic in 3D again, and how she was drooling at the prospect of
getting to watch it on big screen for the first time in her life, I cannot but
think how I would have reacted had it happened when I was new in US, like she
is now. My taste and preference of movies have changed - neither do I consider
Titanic to be my favorite film, nor the prospect of seeing a ship sink
excruciatingly slowly over 2 hrs in 3D excites me. I don’t think this movie
even features any longer in my top 10 English movies of all time, but whenever
I read or see anything related to the movie Titanic, I cannot but think about
that phase of my life and my naivety or innocence – a time when I used to like
a movie for its face value and not how over analyze the various aspects of it
before deciding whether I liked it or not.
AVS
