An Equal Affair : The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal
At the premiere show of the movie Dashavatar

The premiere show of the Hindi movie ‘Dashavatar’ (Tamil: Dasavatharam) was among the better movie screenings I have attended. Atul Tiwari, who has penned the Hindi dialogues for the film, was polite and patient with the invitees and happy over the release of the movie. Some months back he had remarked that he was very eagerly waiting for the movie to reach across to the Hindi speaking audience.

The event was simple and solemn because limited people were invited for the screening. The media was given ample amount of time to ask questions to the actor Kamal Haasan and the director K S Ravikumar before the screening commenced. The Dashavatar team then welcomed the audience inside the theatre.

I was reminded of the premiere of the movie ‘Cash’ that was brimming with people. They shouted and hurled popcorn across the theatre and fought over the seats. They whistled at the girls on the screen and hollered at will.

The scene was repeated during the premiere of the movie ‘Victory’. The event was postponed by two hours and imported cheerleaders were made to perform ‘routines’ for the tired audience. The staff members of Cinemax were rude. After allowing people inside the theatre they asked them to relocate to the front seats to allow the “VIPs” to occupy the back seats.

Unlike the Dashavatar show where all invitees were equal, there were different levels of invitees at the Victory premiere. The ‘best’ of the lot were ushered into the ‘Red Lounge’ screen where all seats were cushioned. The director and the actors went to this screen.

Lesser known celebrities occupied the regular screens with the non-cushioned seats. But they were awarded the back seats to differentiate them from the regular invitees. A popular critic requested the theatre staff to let him sit at a “good place” and managed with some pleading.

Dashavatar’s limited invitee scenario allowed people to approach and meet the movie team. This was a very different situation from the one I saw at the premiere of ‘Bride and Prejudice’ where the actors were armed with bodyguards to ward off hundreds of invitees. After the screening of the movie, I conversed and walked with actor Vivek Oberoi to avoid the screaming fans and make a quick exit.

After the screening of Dashavatar, the audience clapped for the team that once again stood at the entrance to see off the audience. It was an equal affair.

Actor Kamal Haasan with an admirer

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The Young India

An Equal Affair

on April 19, 2009

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