SPOT THE JOKER IF YOU CAN

Subhas Chakraborty (top) sports the 3D glasses at IMAX on Thursday evening to get a bigger and better glimpse of the Joker in The Dark Knight. (Aranya Sen)

Why so serious?

The transport minister seemed to take the tagline for the Joker — Batman’s ever-smiling nemesis in The Dark Knight — a tad too seriously on Thursday evening as he was transported from a 2-stroke nightmare to a 3D dream.

Subhas Chakraborty smiled through 20 minutes of larger-than-life images pounding the IMAX screen at the launch of the hi-tech theatre in Mani Square the evening before the government plays yet another auto-deadline pushback card in court.

The only thing that wiped the smile off his face for a brief moment during his tryst with the Joker was a query on the fate of the polluting auto. He brushed it aside and marched into the IMAX theatre to take his seat for a visual joyride.

“Agey toh hoini… this technology is a first in the city,” he announced, before slipping on large blue-rimmed 3-D glasses, and gaping at images 10 times the normal size.

The transport minister taking a break from saving the polluting three-wheeler did have a close encounter with a 3D train in the Polar Express trailer that came to a screeching halt right in front of his IMAX glasses.

Chakraborty jerked back for a split second but then breathed easy — a luxury denied to the Calcuttan on the street because of the transport department’s refusal to tackle vehicular pollution.

Far removed from the foul fumes of katatel-powered autos it was an evening of flowers and films for the man in the transport hot seat on the eve of the vital high court hearing. Straight from a flower show inauguration in New Barrackpore, Chakraborty arrived at the EM Bypass mall around 6.45pm in his trademark coat-scarf-hat ensemble to launch the city’s first IMAX screen.

Samir Malhotra, the vice-president (entertainment) of Aeren R, the company which has got IMAX to Calcutta, said: “The minister had expressed his desire to come and check out the property and we thought it was fitting to have him as the chief guest.”

So the chief guest sat back and smiled through the IMAX experience, devouring the trailers of 300 and Madagascar 2, Watchmen and Harry Potter, and the first seven minutes of The Dark Knight.

“I was astonished with this development of technology… I couldn’t believe this was possible,” said Chakraborty.

So why did he not stay for the full show? “Under the compulsion of the situation I have to go,” he mumbled.

If only the compulsion was saving our lungs instead of saving the lawless.