I used to hangout near a theatre called Vijaylaxmi in a place called Kamayyathopu in Vijayawada. Me and two of my friends Sridhar and Naresh were the 3 most useless bums in our college. Everyday without exception we used to watch movies and many times repeatedly the same movie. The reason for us to watch movies repeatedly was not something as lofty as to study the movie or for its story but it was to re live the experience of catching a glimpse of the heroine’s leg or navel or a comic scene or an adrenalin pumping action scene etc.
Coming back to Kamayyathopu’s Vijayalaxmi theatre the three of us used to stay in a room right next to the theatre and most of the time we were broke and hence could not afford a movie ticket so like vagabonds we used to hangout in the compound of Vijayalaxmi theatre having tea and biscuits at its canteen and not having money to pay we used to keep an account with the canteen guy who used to, both in pity and irritation, give a sizeable credit which sometimes ran up to 40 Rupees.
Also the manager of the theatre who used to walk around in the theatre knew us by faces as we were constantly there even during the college hours. Many times I could see the distaste and disgust in his face of our behavior. One day he told me point blank on my face that I should be ashamed of myself that I am behaving so irresponsibly and advised me that I should think of my parents who are working hard and who will have expectations from my career and here I am neglecting studies and wasting my time on movies.
His lecture had an effect on me for approximately 2 days and then I was back on my stint at the theatre (like an old saying goes ‘a dog’s tail can never be straightened’). He was so irritated that he used to look away whenever he saw me in the theatre compound after that and in time he used to look through me as if I was not worth his time.
So for about 4 years Vijayalaxmi theatre was a like a 2nd home to me. I used to be inside it watching a movie, sometimes inside its compound looking at the posters and still pictures of movies on its board and sometimes in the night I used to stand at the back of the theatre to catch its soundtrack on days when I had no money to buy a ticket.
After I left Kamayyathopu and years later when I became a Director, made Shiva, it released and became a blockbuster hit, I was invited by the distributor of Vijayawada to come and see for myself the crowd reactions. When I arrived there and asked him in which theatres the film was playing, one of the theatres he mentioned was Vijayalaxmi.
I told him I want to see Shiva in that theatre. Throughout the whole travel in an air-conditioned car from the hotel in Vijayawada town to Vijayalaxmi theatre, which was 7 km away, I was flooded with my memories of how I used to travel in jam-packed buses on the same route and many times walk because of having no money to buy even a bus ticket.
Meanwhile as the distributor called up the Vijayalaxmi theatre and told them that Ramgopal Varma is on his way word just got around and there was a big crowd at the theatre. Along with his family the owner of the theatre himself was there holding a garland in his hands and as I got down he put it around my neck and people all around started clapping. Somewhere behind the proprietor and his friends I caught the manager’s face looking at me in complete shock and disbelief. He only knew me by face and never knew my name and in the wildest of his dreams he would not have imagined that this film would have been Directed by the same useless bum who used to wander aimlessly in his theatre.
I guiltily smiled at him and as I was being taken inside the owner looked at the manager and ordered him to get snacks for me from the canteen.
I turned back to look at the canteen and the man who runs the canteen, frantically waved at me with tears of happiness in his eyes, over the heads of the crowd. I suddenly remembered with a lot of guilt that I owed him 40 Rupees which I never paid when I left Kamayyathopu. I told one of my guys to return his money and also give anything extra if he asked. My guy later told me that he refused and he just wanted a picture with me. So I posed in the canteen along with him behind the counter.
After watching the film as I left the theatre I looked around I spotted the manager in the crowd and walked up to him. He looked at me as if he was looking at a ghost still reeling under his shock. As I stretched out my hand in a gesture of a hand shake he involuntarily hugged me. That hug and that it happened in the compound of Vijayalaxmi theatre was just about the biggest thrill in my life.
P.S: The opening sequence of Raat when Revathy gets off a bus I set it in Kamayyathopu as a tribute to that place and also because that’s where I conceived it.
Coming back to Kamayyathopu’s Vijayalaxmi theatre the three of us used to stay in a room right next to the theatre and most of the time we were broke and hence could not afford a movie ticket so like vagabonds we used to hangout in the compound of Vijayalaxmi theatre having tea and biscuits at its canteen and not having money to pay we used to keep an account with the canteen guy who used to, both in pity and irritation, give a sizeable credit which sometimes ran up to 40 Rupees.
Also the manager of the theatre who used to walk around in the theatre knew us by faces as we were constantly there even during the college hours. Many times I could see the distaste and disgust in his face of our behavior. One day he told me point blank on my face that I should be ashamed of myself that I am behaving so irresponsibly and advised me that I should think of my parents who are working hard and who will have expectations from my career and here I am neglecting studies and wasting my time on movies.
His lecture had an effect on me for approximately 2 days and then I was back on my stint at the theatre (like an old saying goes ‘a dog’s tail can never be straightened’). He was so irritated that he used to look away whenever he saw me in the theatre compound after that and in time he used to look through me as if I was not worth his time.
So for about 4 years Vijayalaxmi theatre was a like a 2nd home to me. I used to be inside it watching a movie, sometimes inside its compound looking at the posters and still pictures of movies on its board and sometimes in the night I used to stand at the back of the theatre to catch its soundtrack on days when I had no money to buy a ticket.
After I left Kamayyathopu and years later when I became a Director, made Shiva, it released and became a blockbuster hit, I was invited by the distributor of Vijayawada to come and see for myself the crowd reactions. When I arrived there and asked him in which theatres the film was playing, one of the theatres he mentioned was Vijayalaxmi.
I told him I want to see Shiva in that theatre. Throughout the whole travel in an air-conditioned car from the hotel in Vijayawada town to Vijayalaxmi theatre, which was 7 km away, I was flooded with my memories of how I used to travel in jam-packed buses on the same route and many times walk because of having no money to buy even a bus ticket.
Meanwhile as the distributor called up the Vijayalaxmi theatre and told them that Ramgopal Varma is on his way word just got around and there was a big crowd at the theatre. Along with his family the owner of the theatre himself was there holding a garland in his hands and as I got down he put it around my neck and people all around started clapping. Somewhere behind the proprietor and his friends I caught the manager’s face looking at me in complete shock and disbelief. He only knew me by face and never knew my name and in the wildest of his dreams he would not have imagined that this film would have been Directed by the same useless bum who used to wander aimlessly in his theatre.
I guiltily smiled at him and as I was being taken inside the owner looked at the manager and ordered him to get snacks for me from the canteen.
I turned back to look at the canteen and the man who runs the canteen, frantically waved at me with tears of happiness in his eyes, over the heads of the crowd. I suddenly remembered with a lot of guilt that I owed him 40 Rupees which I never paid when I left Kamayyathopu. I told one of my guys to return his money and also give anything extra if he asked. My guy later told me that he refused and he just wanted a picture with me. So I posed in the canteen along with him behind the counter.
After watching the film as I left the theatre I looked around I spotted the manager in the crowd and walked up to him. He looked at me as if he was looking at a ghost still reeling under his shock. As I stretched out my hand in a gesture of a hand shake he involuntarily hugged me. That hug and that it happened in the compound of Vijayalaxmi theatre was just about the biggest thrill in my life.
P.S: The opening sequence of Raat when Revathy gets off a bus I set it in Kamayyathopu as a tribute to that place and also because that’s where I conceived it.