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| In the final moments of the film, One Direction fans rushed down the aisles to the empty space in front of the screen to scream and shout, jump and jive. On screen, their heart-throbs — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson — brought the curtains down with Best Song Ever |
WHAT: A special screening of One Direction: This Is Us, presented by t2 and TTIS, courtesy Sony Pictures
WHERE: Screen 5 of Fame, South City
WHEN: Saturday, 5pm
A shriek-by-shake account...
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Roooooooooooar moments:
The first time the five 1D boys appear on screen
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Harry Styles’ solo appearance at the end of Up All Night
When Niall Horan says: “We have the best fans in the world”
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When female teen and tween fans were screaming for 1D on screen (It was all about matching them and more)
Zayn Malik’s first appearance talking about his early days in 1D
When The X Factor judge and 1D mentor Simon Cowell tells the boys that they may have failed individually at the auditions but would come together in a band called One Direction.
Cut to a shot of Cowell telling the camera with a straight face: “These girls love One Direction. I don’t know why.” [The shout out loud from the fans in Fame? “Because they are perfect!”]
A nano-second clip of 1D’s Indian fans
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When it is announced that 1D has gone straight to the top of the US charts with their debut album
When the boys move in slow motion on stage while performing Live While We’re Young from their second studio album Take Me Home. [Harry shifting the mic from one hand to the other in slo-mo raises the shriek quotient a few notches]
The boys appear wearing Japanese outfits on their Tokyo tour
The boys kick a ball with soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo
Liam and Harry fishing on a boat and then getting excited about their catch of the day
The long ad break in the interval means: “We want 1D! We want 1D! We want 1D!”
Droooooooooool moments:
A just-out-of-bed Harry bare-bodied in just his boxers and flaunting his tattoos. [“Harry is just SO Hot! I wanna marry him right now in his boxers,” screamed out 15-year-old Namrata Chatterjee]
Every time a bare-chested Harry appears
A bare-bodied Zayn careening on a segway
Giggggggggggle moments:
When Liam Payne says: “I’m in a boy band, but I’m in a cool boy band”
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When a neurosurgeon holds up the replica of a brain and tries to examine the psyche of a 1D female fan. [“I found that bit really cute and hilarious,” said Gayatri Sen]
The backstage moment when Niall wheels in Harry in a garbage can
Liam balancing a row of cups and saucers on the back of Louis Tomlinson’s head and Harry reading a Japanese newspaper
Awwwwwwwww moments:
When successive clips of The X Factor auditions are shown with the boys at least two years younger than they are now
When Niall’s mother Maura and Harry’s mom Anne get emotional talking about the overnight success stories of their sons
When the five boys fall asleep on the floor after a particularly strenuous performance. [“So cute!” is the collective cry]
When Harry goes to the woods near his home and says that he shared his first kiss there. “It was pretty steamy,” he smiles. [A collective ‘aawwwwwwww’]
Zayn having an emotional conversation with his mother Tricia after buying a house for his family.
When the boys’ childhood pictures are flashed as a montage.
When the boys have a heart-to-heart while sitting next to each other in the bonfire scene.
Sing-along moments:
Up All Night
One Thing
She’s Not Afraid (while Harry shows off his dance moves)
Little Things [as the boys urge their fans to sing-along to ‘I love you’, the girls are only too happy to oblige]
One Way Or Another
Kiss You [Scream out loud, especially to “Let me kiss you”]
The Wowwww Moment:
What can be better than a celebratory Directioner dance to cap off Calcutta’s craziest movie experience ever? As Harry, Zayn, Liam, Niall and Louis made their final bow, 1D fans flocked to the front of the screen and danced their shoes off, blowing kisses to their heart-throbs and hugging each other. As they smiled and laughed and filed out of the hall, there was only one chant on their lips: “1D, 1D, 1D… t2, t2, t2!”
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Pssst: “The turnout was amazing and it felt like a real movie premiere. Thank you, t2!” — The last word from Fame (South City)
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NEEL ADHIKARI JUMPS OUT OF HIS BONES AT THE ‘SCREAMADELICA’!
As I approached the hall (Screen 5, Fame, South City), the mob outside was pulsating and making this high-frequency chirping sound. The lack of males might have had something to do with the frequencies. I’d asked for two tickets but my better half bailed. The extra ticket was promptly begged off by a young chirper.
“We want ONE DEE” was the incessant chant from the crowd in the hall, drowning out all the trailers and advertisements. When the censor certificate for the film came on, I almost jumped out of my bones at the sheer volume of the screaming.
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| Neel takes notes at the This Is Us show |
As a matter of fact some of the girls had to scream, “Stop screaming, let’s watch the film!!!”, to get this ball rolling.
I finally caught some dialogue as the silence emerged in between frantic shrieks.
The film began with the history of the band and how they were formed by Simon Cowell from The X Factor, the reality TV show in the UK. It stuck pretty much to the popstar road-trip film format, except for the fact that it was a little early in their career for a film of this nature. It sometimes creates a posthumous feeling about oneself.
This Is Us traced them creating a Beatlemania-esque fervour in countries ranging from the US to Japan. Sold-out shows, screaming fans, crowd control from the top of a building and buses and airplanes and security guards became the life of this incredible hit machine whose lives changed overnight when Cowell decided to put them in a band on The X Factor show. A show they didn’t finally win, though.
I must admit that this was a truly special experience because the girls who came to watch this film behaved like they were watching a concert. They screamed every time the boys took their shirts off or sang their favourite lines or even just playing the fool dodging the security guards.
During the concert footages of their songs, the whole crowd on screen and in the hall sang along word for word. During their New York gig, Martin Scorsese comes backstage to meet the band. I screamed out alone for him, only to get strange looks from the girls around.
The interval was met with booing. Concerts aren’t meant to have intervals. I felt this film had been made to get a concert kind of reaction from the crowd. It worked.
The film wasn’t high on intellectual content and yet was a very intelligent piece of music propaganda. I can imagine every band in the world will want one now.
The girls sitting next to me conspired to dance towards the end of the film. It was a collective consciousness thing. Sure enough before the credits of the film came on, everybody was on the floor and dancing themselves silly.
Even after leaving the hall, the food court in South City Mall was echoing with this screamadelica and crowds were running to see what was going on.
Adrenaline, when pushed up in teenagers, doesn’t come down easy. It was a totally fun experience, but do carry your Strepsils and earplugs if want to see this film in the hall.
[Neel is singer, songwriter and composer of Neel & The Light Bulbs and Gandu Circus]
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The first few to write in at t2@abp.in post-show
‘Thank you so much, t2!’
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I just returned from the special screening at Fame, South City Mall. My friends Vedika, Anusuya, Sambhavi, Subhangi and I were left spellbound and enchanted beyond our expectations. This movie left us weak in the knees and we just can’t wait to flaunt the success of the movie in front of the Directionaters. Our heartfelt thanks to t2 and we hope for the continued glory and success of our favourite band. Lots of love to t2 and the Directioners of the world.
Srishti Pramanick
Thank you so much t2, for listening to our requests and facilitating the release of the 1D movie This Is Us in our city! We just hope it stays on the screens for a long time.
Akriti Raj, Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar
Oh my carrots! September 7, 2013, will never be forgotten, and all credit goes to t2. A massive thank you to t2! Without you, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to watch the film. I gave my true dedication and unknowingly 1D boys gave me BIG RESPECT in return.
I wouldn’t be doing interviews, photoshoots if I wasn’t a Directioner. I feel blessed. This Is Us was totally amaZAYN, extraordinHARRY, fabuLOUIS, phenomeNIALL and brilLIAM. While I was watching the 1D3D film, it felt I was watching their Take Me Home tour concert live.
My tears were threatening to spill down my cheeks. My heart was doing this Olympic flip-flop worthy of a gold medal and I was fangirling throughout the movie, totally oblivious to the world. Really, today was The BEST DAY EVER, because I watched The BEST MOVIE EVER which ended with the BEST SONG EVER.
Tenzie Chokie
Thanks to t2 I watched This Is Us at the special screening on Saturday evening. I think it was an awesome film. The part that made me cry was when Zayn was talking to his mom over phone after buying her an apartment. Also when they were sitting around the campfire saying, “This is not gonna last”. We Directioners were all screaming together when the boys got shirtless and when Liam pulled down Harry’s trousers! And when Niall changed the lyrics to “KFC” I was like “awwww, Nialler”. I loved this amaZayn movie top to bottom!
Debkanika Gupta
The movie was freaking awesome! I mean the moment I entered South City the crowd was “incredible” (in Harry’s voice). All the “Crazy Mofos” (in Niall’s voice) cheering for 1D made me feel as if I was standing right in front of ONE DIRECTION!
I never thought I would be able to meet so many awesome Directioners. Starting from hugging each other to singing all the songs of 1D together, especially Best Song Ever, made me feel as if I’ve entered heaven, like seriously. As far as the movie is concerned, this is the #BestMovieEver I watched. Throughout the movie I was like, “Can I marry all the five lads, please?” They were looking that sexy, believe me. Gosh! Surely I’ll be going next week again to watch it.
A massive thanks to t2 for the passes.
Aritrisha Styles
(Yes, that is her chosen surname because she considers herself to be Harry’s wife. Get?!)
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