Silver Screen

There had been a few times when we had taken the car that we had passed a small video store. There are many in the city, that is true. But, this one was different because it had a lot of posters of foreign films taped to its window front.

I asked Marie if she wanted to check it out; maybe it could become our movie rental hang-out?

We walk in a somber shop, no lights on. From floor to ceiling it is filled with DVDs. We ask our young driver if he can translate our questions to the man sitting behind the counter.

First question is answered; the man points at a wall behind us which is filled with foreign DVDs. A twinge of excitment flares up in my brain.

Second question is answered: to become a member, you must be introduced by someone they know. It so happens that our driver has a good friend who works at an internet cafe just around the corner. He tells us he will go and fetch him and have him vouch for us.

Marie and I are standing on air we are so happy. We are now proud members of "Padma Videos". And what videos! For our first selection we went Hindi and got two films : "Black" and "Veer-Zaaraa".

"Black" is a story based on Helen Keller: a young girl who is deaf and blind makes her way into the world with the help of her teacher. The film is exquisitely shot with matted colour tones and, although the acting was, as always, a bit overdone, the way the parts were played by the young child, Rani Mukerjee and Amitha Bachan, were excellent. A very poignant film.

"Veer-Zaaraa", as we will discover tomorrow, is supposed to be a famous movie because of the fact that it deals with a forbidden love between a Pakistani woman and an Indian man. Preity Zita plays the leading role while Shah Ruk Khan plays the hero. Although the subject of the story is good and the songs are beautiful, we found the acting a bit too overdone and the movie way too long. However, I still highly recommend it because the story is quite beautiful (and that was Siskel and Ebert for you...Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen).