First day, first show!

'First day, First show!' was a jubilant cry on meeting friends after having seen the new release of a film on first day during the golden era of the 'single theatre'.

- HIMANSHU DHULIYA

It was a matter of triumph and honour to see the new release on the very first day and the first show. But there was a gradual journey to that stage. Each turn has a story.

Though I and my brother were baptised as 'cinema seekers' in Lansdowne (Pauri Garhwal) when we were five and six something , there have been many milestones in our cinema journey. New chapters opened from time to time. New characters and stars were included for admiration and adulation, much by accident. We spent our childhood in a small cantonment town in Pauri Garhwal. There was one solitary cinema hall 'Mayur' owned by a genial elderly person named Shri Gyasilal. This cinema hall was the source of entertainment and information for the little town perched on about 5500 feet above the sea level. The officers and soldiers of Garhwal Rifles and the citizens enjoyed the facility. Here I was introduced to the films of Dara Singh, sometimes on seeing Dara Singh being tortured by the villainshanging on chains upside down with boiling oil right under the head I would get frightened and would run out of the hall ! I can still recall seeing Shammi Kapoor's 'Professor', the song 'Humre Gaon Koi aayega Pyar ki dor se bandh jayega' was perhaps the first filmi song I registered in me.

During our summer visit to our grandfather in Kotdwar (Pauri Garhwal), I accompanied the family to the local 'Ashok' cinema hall to watch Chetan Anand's 'Haquiquat'. As a child of seven or eight, apart from the tragedy in the epic war film what stayed with me was the sound of the 'machine gun', I would make the rattling sound of the gun with my mouth 'ddddd......' much to the entertainment of my family and guests who would ask me to make that sound. And it aroused in me to look for Hollywood war films in future. Only later when I watched the film again I could judge the depth of the film and the songs which were so creatively done.