Kumar Talkies

Feb 8, 2013 | Documentary

Venue: India Habitat Centre

Documentaries, we thought were for niche. Of late however we have seen very many documentaries that are anything but boring. This one is based on a dilapidated cinema hall – Kumar Talkies in Kalpi, a small town near Jhansi.

The director’s father had established this cinema hall and the documentary seems to be his ode to his father. Not withstanding the extraneous shots, the director’s personal involvement with the project was heart warming.

Good cinematography and an overall aesthetic documentary.  The director had managed to create the old world charm of a small town where movie tickets are for seven bucks and publicity of a movie is through battery operated loud speakers with street criers on a rickshaw.

The documentary had interviews of family members, manager of the cinema hall, the projector operator, movie goers as well as women who would want to go but could not afford to come.

It is normally held that television has decreased the craze of big screen. Howevere it is heartening to see that in some parts of the world both these mediums have their own places and have coexisted peacefully.

Interestingly the idea of hero worship has turned on its head in this documentary. In cities film stars are worshiped for months before and after a big release. In Kalpi the hero worship do happen – maximum for three days. This is shown beautifully in the documentary  and it brought a smile.

The documentary is shot in an amateurish way and that has helped to keep the soul of the project intact. We liked the rain shots towards the end of the documentary.

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