A note on the issue: Let's play it again
Summary
No other watching experience matches being in a movie theatre, and it's fun to see people who might not have been born when the original film released sing alongWe’re not really a country that treasures the past. Yet, there’s been a curious trend playing out over the past few months. A host of films that premiered years ago have been released again in the theatres. From Delhi to Chennai, old films have been returning to multiplexes, and it’s a phenomenon we explore in this issue. Their viewers aren’t just older fans looking for a dose of nostalgia but also a younger generation that probably saw these movies shrunk to fit a small screen (the awful aspect ratio of films resized for television and streaming is another story we have this week). No other watching experience matches being in the theatre, and it is fun to see people who might not have been born when the original film released sing loudly and comfortably along as evergreen hits play (though it’s exhausting when their tonelessness continues for all four minutes).
Also read: How 2024 became the year of re-released films
Not all of these films are classics like Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar (1963) or Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay (1975) or overdoses of syrup like Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge (1995); even films from less than a decade ago, like Tumbbad (2018), are having a great second innings. It’s spread to other languages as well, and the upside is that films that might have been overlooked when they were first released are getting a second chance, and maybe it will improve our near-non-existent commitment to film preservation.
On a related note, we have stories on the art shows to mark the centenary years of late great masters such as Souza, Gaitonde, K.G. Subramanyan and Ram Kumar. While they are well known for shaping modern Indian art, young curators are going deeper into their practice, tracking down their writings, photographs and diaries and presenting an entirely new perspective on artists whose stories have been told many times before.
It’s a similar tale with ready-to-wear fashion in India—unconstrained by the rules of formality of couture, designers are playing with colour and silhouettes and creating prêt lines that are bold yet wearable, as another story points out. Ultimately, it’s a fresh pair of eyes that brings new perspective to anything, whether it’s art, cinema, writing or fashion—and that’s also what we try to do, too, at Lounge each week.
Write to the editor at shalini.umachandran@htlive.com.