Me and Cinema - Part 1  

Posted by Vee

When I first watched Cinema Paradiso, I could not believe it. I saw initial days of my life there. For uninitiated Cinema Paradiso in essence would be a story of an eight or nine year old boy who is fascinated with behind the screen happenings at a theater. Loading the reels, focusing, aligning and projecting enthralled him.

The first ever movie (that I remember) I watched in a theater was Silsila (Amitabh-Rekha-Jaya) from the projector room. I remember standing on the stool and peeping through a hole to see a big screen of an open theater. Soon, I came out and stood in the lobby next to the projector room. I was mesmerized. I wish I knew the word love then.

My father worked for Indian Air Force. Those days almost every defense unit (Army, Air Force or Navy) had a mini-theater or an open theater. When he was transferred to Air Force Station Rajokri (Delhi) from Air Force Station Jodhpur (Rajasthan) I was three years old. He was given the charge of an open theater. My mother tells me that technically my first movie was Rocky (Sanjay Dutt) when she carried me along with my twin brother for the first ever screening under my father’s supervision. Of course, I do not remember. However, I saw Rocky much later, bought the DVD and see it once in a while out of ‘missed’ nostalgia. So, Silsila it was, and the coincidence is both these movies were released the year I was born (1981).

I entertained my father’s colleague with an enthusiastic dance whenever ‘Rang Barse’ came on the screen. I saw the last two shows back to back daily for three days, making it six viewing of Silsila in three days. Thereafter, almost all movies had at least three viewings by me.

There were no Fridays release decrees in the Air Force. It was two different movies in a week regulation. Every Tuesday a movie would release which will run for three days and Friday another movie was screened that went till Monday. I was hooked to it. Most of the times the movie would get screened six months after their India release (this I got to know much later) as prints were not directly available to the defense units in those days. Elders knew but no one cared. Defense people were by and large known to be cut off from the world then. There were no updates on new releases anywhere whatsoever which a child could get hand on. I got into a mild depression thinking how I was cheated with the fact that I am the privileged one to see a movie the moment it is made is a different story. I was thinking people who made movies knew my father and are sending those reels directly to him to screen it.

Nevertheless, I also realized I have had an experience of a lifetime. I could touch those reels, feel them, could pause the various stages of the movie right in my hand. I wasn’t allow to load the reel or fiddle with the projector as per my father’s strict orders to his employees but I did start the projector, positioned the focusing light through the hole and adjusted it accordingly on the screen whenever father was away with the help of his subordinate. I spent my time after school drifting around in theater than playing with my friends. I did play few sports but I was a better spectator of them.

The seeds of frenzy for cinema were sown.

The Winners of The MovieManiax Awards '08  

Posted by Vee

The moment you all have been waiting for is here. You have decided the winners of The MovieManiax Awards’08.

Before declaring the winners, some interesting ins and outs of the awards:

Category that received Highest votes: Best Film – 394

Category that received Lowest votes: Best Child Artiste – 301

Individual who received Highest votes: Manjot Singh (Best Child Artiste for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye – 204 out of 301)

Individual who received Lowest votes: Adhvik Mahajan (Best Debut for Contract – 7 out of 311) and song Aae Paapi (Song of the Year – 7 out of 307)

Maximum margin to the 2nd; (Absolute No Competition): Manjot Singh got 204 votes in total of 301 votes in Best Child Artiste category. Purav Bhandare for Tahaan who came second received 43 votes.

Minimum margin to the 2nd; (Cut-Throat Competition): Abhay Deol lost to Naseeruddin Shah in the Best Actor (Male) category. Abhay received 113 to Naseer’s 114 in total of 360.

The winners are listed on The MovieManiax Blog.

Now, coming to the Guessing The Winner Contest.

NO ONE got all 6 guesses correct. As promised, we must declare 5 winners. So, those who got 5 guesses correct will compete for the first three spots and people with 4 correct guesses will fight for the fourth and fifth position. We will soon come up with a way to decide the deserving winners. Here are the results:


Fenil – 5
Rakesh – 5
MystiqueDew – 5

Sahaja – 4
AlphabetWorld – 4
Bhargav – 4
Vikas – 4
Perx – 4
Amit – 4

007(V) – 3
Praveen - 3
Shayari – 3
Kanagu – 3
Oorja – 3

UH – 2
Kanupriya – 2


Finally, I thank all of you for the support.

Making It Easier...  

Posted by Vee

Many people visited the Contest Post which all MM members have published in their respective blogs, but not many guessed. The response to the Awards have been tremendous, so the only reason people are not guessing the winners before the results are announced could be that they are finding it too tiresome to check the MovieManiax Blog to see the nominees unless they are not interested in the gifts. So, here goes the nominees for your convenience.

1) Best Film:

* Aamir
* Mithya
* Rock On!!!
* A Wednesday
* Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye

2) Best Director:

* Raj Kumar Gupta (Aamir)
* Rajat Kapoor (Mithya)
* Abhishek Kapoor (Rock On!!!)
* Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday)
* Dibakar Banerjee (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)

3) Best Actor (Male):

* Rajeev Khandelwal (Aamir)
* Ranvir Shorey (Mithya)
* Naseeruddin Shah (A Wednesday)
* Abhay Deol (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)
* Vinay Pathak (Dasvidaniya)

4) Best Actor (Female):

* Neha Dhupiya (Mithya)
* Genelia D’Souza (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)
* Preity Zinta (The Last Lear)
* Amrita Rao (Welcome to Sajjanpur)
* Priyanka Chopra (Fashion)

5) Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male):

* Ravi Jhankal (Welcome to Sajjanpur)
* Paresh Rawal (Mumbai Meri Jaan)
* Anupam Kher (A Wednesday)
* Jimmy Shergill (A Wednesday)
* Manu Rishi (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)

6) Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female):

* Ratna Pathak Shah (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)
* Ila Arun (Welcome to Sajjanpur)
* Sahana Goswami (Rock On!!!)
* Kangana Ranaut( Fashion)
* Richa Chadda (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)

You have got another day and a half to guess the winners in the above mentioned categories.

Comments are in moderation. Please leave your guesses in the comments section.

As we BEGIN the END  

Posted by Vee

The MovieManiax Awards'08 is coming to a close.

We thank everyone who has helped us make this endeavor a success. To give back to our readers, we have come up with another contest. All you have to do is to guess who will be the winner in the following six categories. Only one guess per category is allowed :-)


The Categories

1. Best Film

2. Best Director

3. Best Actor (Male)

4. Best Actor (Female)

5. Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)

6. Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)

You can CLICK HERE to see the nominees.

The first two winners will get DVDs of a Hollywood Classic along with a classic from Hindi Cinema. The 3rd prize is a signed copy of the recently launched – “Happionaire's Cash The Crash” by Yogesh Chabria.

The goodies don't end here. We have 4th & 5th prizes as well yay!!!. These winners will gets copies of Invest The Happionaire Way (ITHW). If requested the Hindi version of ITHW is also available.
A few rules:

1. Members of MM team can not participate.

2. In case, no one gets all guesses right, the prize belongs to the one who gets most of the guesses correct.

3. In case of a tie, a tie- breaker will be arranged as per the discretion of MM team :-)

4. The contest is open till 8th April midnight.

The results for The MovieManiax Awards '08 initially were to be be declared on 7th April but it has been postponed to 9th April, giving you two more days to loot the prizes. :)

Go on guess the winner and take away your prize.

P.S. A very Special thanks to Yogesh Chabria for sponsoring the books. The DVDs will be sponsored by me.

30 Hours To Go  

Posted by Vee

The voting for the MovieManiax awards which we started in hope of recognizing the best of Hindi Cinema is nearing close. In 30 more hours the voting will be closed and results will be declared on April 7th 2009. If you have not voted yet, jump here to choose your favorites.

Upon closing, Smita will be coming up with a contest. The winners can win Books and DVDs sponsored by us. Keep an eye on her blog for the announcement of contest.

Meanwhile, please be informed of two other blogs I have become member of. The first one is a tribute to the movie Dev.D. Ava came with this idea and I was more than willing to be part of it. Ava has just written the introductory post. 007(V) is another member who would be contributing too. If any of you wish to be the part of this, you are more than welcome. We need total fanatics of Dev.D, the film. Check out the site.

The other blog is started by 007(V) and Mayz called ‘Emotional Atyachaar’. I was their third member, though I yet have to post something there. Do check out the site.

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