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February 06, 2006

King Kong is Shrinking in Sion

This piece appeared in today's Mumbai Mirror.

Sometimes, to appreciate greatness, it helps to have something inferior nearby. Last Saturday, we finished watching John Guillermin’s 1976 King Kong version at home, and then the next day, we landed up watching Peter Jackson’s recent version at CineMax, Sion.

We hadn’t been to CinePlanet/CineMax for quite some time and were pleasantly surprised at the changes. They now check tickets at the entry to the foyer, the ground and first floor floyer arrangements for food and drink have changed and the place seems cleaner. More importantly, the staff has had an amazing make-over. Even after we spilt an entire popcorn bucket, they all just smiled, cleaned up the mess and to top it all, gave us another one for free. But some things remain the same. In Planet3, on the 3rd floor, they no longer have ice-cream and cold coffee, and you still have to trudge down to the first floor for these.

Peter Jackson is on his way to becoming an all-time great. With the pressure of having to do as well as the Lord of the Rings, if not better, it couldn’t have been easy. Unlike Ramesh Sippy, who after Sholay (which more and more seems to be a fluke) actually made turkey after turkey and movies like Brashtachar, Peter Jackson almost betters himself. Sure, he could have gone easy on the dinosaurs and the large insects and the overdone natives who look like leftovers from Lord of the Rings, but the rest of the film is rich, intense and captures the “It wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty that killed the Beast” ethos perfectly. And unlike George Lucas, who has serious problems getting his Stars Wars actors to emote, Peter Jackson is not only amazing with his CGI stuff, but also a good director, definitely more Spielbergen than Lucasan or Ramirezan.

And it helps to have someone like Naomi Watts. She plays Ann Darrow so well, you wonder how the script-writers and the director could have justified Jessica Lange’s floozy character in the 1976 version. Except for Jeff Bridges, who would have made a better Jack Driscoll than Adrien Brody, everyone else is better cast and better sketched as well. While John Guillermin’s version is cliched, in parts ridiculous and in parts a parody, Peter Jackson’s version takes itself seriously while remaining unabashedly emotional.

But I wish I could have seen this is a larger theatre, like Metro, Regal or Sterling. More and more, with multiplexes, our theatre experience is shrinking. Even though the screen sizes are the same as before, the smaller size of the halls almost makes you think you are at home, in front of your 42”. And though the recent King Kong film is better than the earlier one, Rupam, where CineMax now stands was more fun. I can still remember the collective sigh from all the girls (and their mothers) in the audience, when Kumar Gaurav first turns his face towards the camera, while in the aircraft, in Love Story. Or the frenzy of getting tickets for the opening day of Karz (Subhash Ghai, what has happened to you?) and standing in line from 8.00AM onwards on a Monday, just to see Rishi Kapoor, on Friday, prancing around singing Om Shanti Om, and then realizing what a great villain Simi Garewal could be.

Of couse, for the big-screen appearance, Aurora is still around, but with the large hall, come the large mosquitoes as well…but, that’s fodder for another story

Posted by bhavinj at February 6, 2006 01:48 AM

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