1955 Rayalacheruvu, India

Radha Ramanathan
Born 1940
First movie memories in Rayalacheruvu India, population 10,000
Interviewed on 1/25/19
By Rishab Ramanathan

I think I was fifteen when I first watched a movie. It was a Telugu film called “Rojulu Marayi,” and all I really remember was the lead actress, Waheeda Rehman. She was so gorgeous. Oh! There was a song in it – there’s always song and dance in Indian films. It was about a farmer’s life and his forbidden love affair with a lower-caste girl. It became such a big hit that they remade it in Hindi and Tamil.

I remember being so excited about it. About twenty to thirty of us, including my parents, a few of their friends, and the workers at my father’s factory, got into the back of a lorry and drove over to this open field with a large tent. My father would travel everywhere with a convoy of people. We were late, but the owner of the tent was so thrilled to have us that he stopped the film, got us settled on some chairs at the front, and restarted the movie! There wasn’t any sort of concession stand, but the owner brought us some local unbranded soda.

Going to the movies for the first time was all about the experience. The movie itself was secondary to me. When I was a little older and left for college, I grew more interested in the stories and the actors. On Saturday afternoons, I used to go to the movies with friends. I loved Devanand movies. I saw most of Devanand’s movies. He was so handsome. Once, we were all at a Higginbotham’s bookstore, and upon stepping inside, a girl said, “Devanand is here!” That was a great day.

Back then, there were no constraints – absolutely no notion of movie etiquette. People used to whistle loudly in the theatres and everyone used to smoke. I never really dressed up. Movie-going was only about the film itself. Boy, things were affordable too! Three rupees for a chair and one rupee to sit on the ground. Sometimes, I would buy so many groundnuts that I’d have leftovers to take back home.

I had this whole procedure when going to the movies. They’d only show matinees, so after it was done, I’d go straight to get masala dosas (Indian food) and come back only in the evening. Sometimes, we’d be late and we’d have to jump over the gate to get back inside our hostel. Afterward, we’d have a session. We’d pick apart every bit of the movie.

The first English movie I went to was Macbeth. I didn’t understand a single word in the entire film! Everyone was so keen to go, so I just went along. We didn’t have much to say about that one.

I used to fight with my grandmother to get her to take me to the movies. We’d have to lie to my grandfather – we’d tell him we were just going for a walk, but then watch an entire movie and come back. He didn’t want us to fall into bad habits. I guess he had no say in the matter.