KALLIDAIKURICHI……CINEMA & SLEEP:-

KALLIDAIKURICHI……CINEMA & SLEEP:-

Kallidaikurichi despite being a citadel of art and culture was lagging very much behind in patronizing cinemas. The reason for the same was primarily due to the fact that the population density was very sparse. As people are by and large dependent on agriculture for their livelihood were not very keen on visiting cinema halls frequently. More over cash circulation which was very critical to entertainments like cinema was always under pressure. Thus it was not uncommon in Kallidaikurichi, which had one touring talkies as the tent was called to find ladies exchanging paddy for a ticket on the floor which used to be spread with sand. There was segregation for men and female seating. In the men’s seating it was a common sight to find people smoking and putting of their beedies (Indian form of Cigar, tobacco powder hand rolled into tandu leaves!) in the sand to extinguish the same!

The tent used to be the only source of entertainment for the entire village of Kallidaikurichi and the same used to screen 16 mm movies. On weekends there used to be system of screening two movies back to back in the nigh shows. The same was a trick used to attract huge crowd but due to limited population the tent used to remain empty. To lure people from nearby villages they used to tie up with private bus operators to arrange for drop facility in respective villages!

Nearby Ambasamudram had two theatres one Kalyani theatre which was on Vickamasignapuram road and another was Krishna Theatre which was near Tambirabarani river on its left bank. Krishna theatre had a rice mill and the theatre was used for rice mill activities like drying paddy, winnowing etc. in day time. In the evening ,after Sun sets, thorough cleaning of the floor film would be undertaken. And screening use to resume. But people who had taken floor ticket to squat on the floor used to complain of itching due to dust from paddy. But they would stop complaining on getting deeply engrossed in the movie!

Mostly by the end of fist show that is after 9 PM there would be no bus service to Kallidaikurichi from Ambasamudram. People would walk the two Kilometer distance discussing the movie in animated conversation and reach their homes for hearty dinner and retire. People who are night owls would take to second show 10 PM to 1 AM. The show was not patronized by ladies as they would not want to take a risk at late night. There used to be system of going in doubles in bicycles. Those days it was forbidden as per law and the cycle should have a lantern or dynamo light to illuminate the road. By and large the rule was only on paper and generally ignored. Sometimes local police constables in their over enthusiasm would catch a boy and his pillion only to let them go with a warning as everyone was known to each other in the village !

We were taken for some “good movies” as certified by our parents and not Indian Censor board by our parents. Some religious pilgrimage stuff or family oriented movies. All four of us along with our parents would march to the theatre and enjoy the show and return walking.

There was a very interesting episode that happened with cinema! One day our parents had gone to a movie leaving all four of us at home. We were advised to lock the home, have dinner and await their arrival. Due to some vague reason one after the other all four of us had hit the bed and fell asleep. Our parents on arrival were banging the door and could not make us to get up. In the end they had no choice other than calling a Nadhaswaram player who was hired  to perform in neighbor’s wedding function. The piped instrument, along with Tavil (a type of drum) were played loudly to wake anyone of us. But to my parents dismay none of us stirred out of the bed. Then with the help of a speaker and mike volume was amplified to make us get up and we at last got up to open the door after thirty minutes of their struggle! 

We had a neighbor by name Store Rajamani Iyer. He used to run a provisional store. He had been to a movie along with his wife and youngest daughter as all other daughters were married and settled elsewhere. After the second show they settled and slept over. The next day morning when they woke up they found the house was burgled completely. The movie they had witness was PUGUNTHA VEEDU a Tamil Movie which means… “Entered House” indicating the entry of a bride. But here the house was entered by a thief. Believe me the burglars had entered and looted without any noise or trace. But when police came to take a finger print the whole street was turned upside down with the noise made in turning a steel cupboard upside down!