The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many restrictions. In Mumbai, it has deprived residents of an enormous pleasure – the act of going to...
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many restrictions. In Mumbai, it has deprived residents of an enormous pleasure – the act of going to a theatre to watch a movie.
Single-screen cinemas and multiplexes have not been operating in Maharashtra since March. They were first shut in March 2020, allowed to reopen in December, and then shut again over fears of a second wave. In most other parts of India, cinemas have resumed operations at half capacity. But in Maharashtra, as well as in Kerala, abundant caution has kept screens dark.
As a consequence, for the people of Maharashtra, the communitarian experience of watching films the way they are meant to be seen – on a large screen, in a cool, darkened space, in the company of strangers – can be had only by revisiting films that feature scenes set in theatres.
For decades, filmmakers have included a trip to the cinema as a part of the journeys of characters as well a reflection of the influence of their chosen profession. This meta-conceit – of actors pretending to be ordinary people watching real actors on a big screen – has yielded some of cinema’s most stirring moments.
In Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, a gangster first meets his...
