My Favorite English Movies

I have always loved good stories. Not too sad and melancholic nor too racy and artificial.

These are my all time favorites which I enjoy each time I had watched it (not more than a couple of times each!). Watching movies has been very far and in-between. During our Hyderabad days (till age 25) we really saw many movies and enjoyed them so much. In all languages - English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Afterwards movies were far and few yet we did enjoy them now and then.

English:
(Pardon me if I get some names of the titles, heroes and heroines wrong).

Gone With The Wind - Clarke Gable was the most handsome man ever, with the looks one could die for. And that soft-spoken cousin of Scarlett who knew about Scarlett's crush on her husband, yet remained ever dignified till her very end. The best punch line which I use even now, in my daily life, "Tomorrow is another day".

The Sound of Music - Though it was through and through, a musical and what beautiful music they made! The film kept me enraptured for its story for a long, long time. I used to play all the songs on the harmonium, sitar and veena especially, the 'Do Re Mee...' tune. My favorite song remains the farewell song - 'Eidelwise, you look happy to meet me...'. I loved those good-hearted nuns who helped Maria leave the nunnery free from any guilt feelings. And the bumbling villi (read vamp) who was so good and true to her character, and I was so eager for her to go away and make way for our heroine, for how could the hero be so blind. It was almost like the typical Mills and Boon type story yet so powerful and so musical.

To Sir With Love A story line with a difference. I liked the bold theme. I thought it was much ahead of its times.

Krammer Vs Krammer
This was a very thought-provoking movie and I loved it so much. I became a Hoffman fan forever. The child star stole many a hearts, I am sure. I was too young to realize yet it was strange to know that even men cared and had feelings for their family and their young! It was quite a revelation to me at that time.
I din't miss seeing Mrs.Doubtfire for Hoffman's sake and he din't let me down either. I loved Hoffman in yet another family drama in Mrs.Doubtfire.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A different story with a different ending which disturbed my mind for a very long time. I could not forget it even after deliberately seeing different genres of movies. The story kept coming back to my mind again and again.

Pretty Woman
What a lovely movie. I had a new hero to die for :D
Until then, it was Clarke Gable whose place none else could take and after this I knew I was wrong. This hero (whose name I am unable to recollect right now but who is into Dalai Lama and things now) was too good to be true. Julia Roberts was at her acting best. Though it resembles our Hindi story lines, yet I simply loved this spin. It had a happy ending to it.

The Jurassic Park
Fantasy through and through and how realistic it all looked. The best any day in all departments of movie making. Its an original and very thought-provoking. The message is clear - never meddle with nature with some scenes in-your-face and quite scary.

The Schindler's List
I could not stop crying. The power of one man who did all he could for so many people who had no hope being alive the next day. This was too good. It brought out the goodness of human nature at its best. Even now, I love reading such true life stories in the Reader's Digest, yet to see something similar on screen, made such a huge impact. A very well directed movie. The hero, the most handsome man ever. Or is it that goodness makes men look handsome?!

The Titanic
A giant of a movie. What scale, what magnificent settings. It all seemed like a dream during all those hours I was glued to my seat in the movie theatre. Kate, I thought was the most beautiful girl in the whole world after this movie. A Beautiful face-cut she has. The solo song by the Canadian singer (Celina?) stole my heart. What a divine tune it was and such soulful singing. Very few English songs have managed to touch my heart and this is definitely one of them.

All Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy movies
Laughter is the best medicine anytime. Yet there were some which brought tears to my eyes. It's all about happy-sad-funny kind of movies touching real life incidents. I still remain Charlie Chaplin's fan for the wealth he left behind without speaking a word as dialogue. The Laurel & Hardy pair had never failed to give me my fair share of stomach aches from laughing until tears rolled down my eyes for long while watching their silent antics.
'Heard sweet, unheard sweeter!'

All Lucile Ball episodes on the TV in those days
A laughter riot. Lucile had the most innocent looking eyes I have ever seen. She was the best where comedy 'timing' was concerned and who can forget all those antics. Wonder why no one screens these evergreens anymore on TV channels these days.

I was too small when Ben Hur was released and all of us cousins, went to see the movie in a local theatre near my uncle's house in Kurnool in the scorching sun when all others were snoring right royally at home with us kids not knowing what to do next! Perhaps we wanted to escape the heat as well as the sound!
Since the town was small someone known to the family saw our gang and reported seeing us at the theatre unaccompanied, at home. My eldest cousin who is quite aged came to get us and how! He shouted for us all to come out of the theatre standing at the main door. Each head in the theatre turned to look at us as if we had committed some crime and were being punished. The projector came to a halt (the theatre manager knew the family well) so that we could all come out without the public raising a hue and cry over such a disturbance during the show.
I still remember nothing of the movie except the clash and fireworks when two chariot wheels came too close to each other. We never saw anything beyond this scene.
All of us kids came out with very angry and sad expressions at being caught seeing a movie, that too an English movie, which we had no right to see, unaccompanied (by at least one male elder!!).

Me and my sister were left unharmed while all my uncles' kids were beaten black and blue that day. We both were petrified at the wild punishment meted out to all other kids and we were literally shuddering at the thought of when our turn would come. It never came, much to our relief. Perhaps we were city breds, were convent educated and had come for vacations or may be for some other reason but the very thought of those brutes touching us to beat, gave us so much tension and we were cringing with fear throughout our stay after that sorry episode. We wanted to get back to our beloved Hyderabad at the earliest. This was a lesson for us too. We could hear them commenting not to imitate city people! While we knew that all these cousins made it to the movies, on the sly, all the time and especially during summer vacations as a past time - city or no city upbringing!! Yet they managed to hurt us with words.
I am yet to watch Ben Hur till date.

After that, we never went to Kurnool again for our summer vacations ever. It taught us sisters never again to see a movie without informing our people at home ahead of time. Later while in college, we never went to movies with friends either, after college hours. This one incident had that kind of impact on our minds for a very long time indeed.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi

Always Wanting More For Less!

Yesterday the scent of cut jack fruit stopped me in my tracks.
Push carts on the roads sell fruits, vegetables, etc.
Had to buy the over powering jack.
Asked the seller how many pieces for Rs.10? He said 5 pieces for 10 and commented that actually he wanted to sell only 4 pieces but thought 5 will sell better as it was a better number! Sure.
Thought it was strange but a beneficial logic for buyers.
I bought 10 pieces for Rs.20 and was tempted to jokingly tell him to sell 11 pieces instead of an even number like 10!!
But resisted that joke, as driving poor people against the wall is bad.
He may gain only a few rupees from us to eke out a meagre living.

Today had to prepare the jack fruit payasam as the cut fruit will get sour if left for too many days, besides odorizing the entire fridge.
It was yummy and all of us enjoyed it so much.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi

Tata Magic And Auto Drivers

I take the auto everyday to T.Nagar for work.

During the past few months auto drivers who used to demand a lot more fares than the already normally high rates due to petrol price rise! From Adyar to T.Nagar they would demand anywhere between Rs.150 to Rs.175. Last year it was anywhere between Rs.70 to Rs.90.

Vegetables prices had more than doubled. Ditto with Groceries and milk and many other things.

Bless the elections. Thank God we are carrying money and get vegetables in bag fulls whereas in the not-so-distant past we were carrying money in bags for very little of these.

These days auto drivers are asking between 90 and 120 and finally agree to Rs.100 for that trip to office. This has nothing to do with elections, though.
Many drivers are muttering that the Tata Magic has taken away their business (of extortion!).
I have not traveled in it yet but it looks decent and roomy with good seats. Its the latest share auto or should we say share van and much much better than those rickety black-yellow ones which were not at all convenient to share with others.
The charges in Tata Magic are so nominal too, that people are completely ignoring autos in Chennai. Its a boon to have such competitive and alternate transport system in place and that too without making too much noise over it.
It's come in very quietly and doing its job of ferrying the masses at a very affordable rate and far better than these over-crowded buses any day. It's here to stay as it's getting very popular due to public demand.

Thanks Tata Magic. You are silently creating a revolution in the transport sector.
I thought the Nano was a gem of an idea. This is even better! Because you see those rough and tough auto fellows come down from their high horses.

Now I know why Ratan means a gem!

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi