At a time when movie watching is becoming a personal experience on phones, some groups tried to revive the tradition of community screenings this Puja, with overwhelming response.

At BE (East), four classics were screened on various Puja days. The other screening was the maiden event organised by a group of teenagers from Delhi Public School Newtown.

“We run a charity organisation called The Refugee Cry. We create awareness on Instagram and urge users to donate to different refugee groups. We’re a year old, and this puja we thought of holding our first fundraiser in the form of movie nights,” said Aisha Ahmad, a resident of Uniworld City.

The venue for the films was her grandma’s GC Block terrace. They put up sheds, laid out sheets, hung up fairy lights and their friends set up food stalls and performed music during intervals.

“We conducted polls beforehand asking which films they would like to watch,” said another eleventh-grade organiser Ansruta Chatterjee. They finally screened films like Chennai Express, Tokyo Drift, 3 Idiots, and the one that got the highest footfall of 38 heads — Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD).

“We didn’t include the recent hit Saiyaara as it’s a sappy film and wouldn’t go well with the festive spirit,” said Sayar Biswas, another student organiser from Labony. “The venue being close to FD Block puja, we felt guests could come watch a movie and relax in between pandal hopping.”

The young visitors lounged about watching, laughing, and singing together. After ZNMD they even asked for an encore of the song Senorita.

“We don’t get such liberties at a multiplex, do we?” asked Richa Dikshit, who had come from Greenfield Heights. “There we are straight-jacketed in our seats, but here we were leaning on one another, lying down… it was a sweet, personalised experience,” said the girl who had recently watched Jolly LLB 3 in the hall.

Open-air film screening of Sharey Chuattor organised by the BE (East) Puja.

“OTTs on our phones have made film watching convenient, but we miss the theatre experience. We keep planning to go to the movies together, but it never happens anymore,” added another viewer, Ritsika Sarkar of Sanjeeva Town.

Devanshi Sharma had baked cakes for the audience, and Akshadha Singh had bought a Rs 150 ticket, but when she saw her friends could do with a hand, decided to man the counter selling chips instead. “It’s an informal affair, so I kept going over to the screen when my favourite scenes came on,” she said.

Late-night classics

BE (East) used the backdrop of their stage as a screen and played Sharey Chuattor, Chhadmabeshi, Dhanni Meye and Sholay on various nights. Sharey Chuattor was the first to be screened on Sashthi, and drew over 20 people, despite the timing clashing with that of the India-Pakistan cricket match.

“We had, in fact, started screening the match on the big screen, but many ladies showed up expecting the film, so we switched it on at 10.30pm,” said Aniruddha Ghosh, as his fellow joint secretary Arindam Chakraborty nodded, looking up from his phone where the match was on.

Soon, the ladies were roaring with laughter. “I’ve seen these classics umpteen times but never get bored,’ said Kakali Debnath. “We munched on chops together, someone or the other kept calling out names of the actors they recognise....it was a lovely experience.”

Smita Piplai, 66, said she hadn’t been to a theatre in the last two years. “I don’t like the quality of films being made these days, and even if there is a rare film to watch, I prefer the comfort of my house. But this open theatre concept has been marvellous! We sang out loud with every song of Chhadmabeshi, cracked loud comments and burst into laughter. We were being silly and loving it,” smiled the lady who came for Sholay despite running a temperature.

Piplai recalled that films would be screened at the block puja some 40 years ago too. “Many octogenarians present this time are the same faces I remember watching films with back then — Anjana Sarkar, Utpala Majumdar, Sujit Mitra…. This time the films were screened quite late at night, but they all adjusted their routines to watch together what they could have watched anytime at home, alone,” she smiled.

Sholay drew a sizeable non-Bengali audience, but youth were conspicuous by their absence from the screenings. Adrija Debnath, who had come from Bangalore during her college break, was one of the rare youths at Sharey Chuattor. “I don’t like watching films on the phone and prefer the big screen. I joined halfway today but am finding the film rather funny,” she said.

saltlake@abp.in