Showing posts with label Enter The Dragon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enter The Dragon. Show all posts
If the film reel got stuck, the audience would do bomabom, says Regal's projectionist Mohammed Aslam Fakih
8:01 AM
Nominated for a lifetime achievement award, 75-year-old projectionist Mohammed Aslam Fakih has been serving movie-goers at Regal Cinema for the last five decades. And he is not ready to hang up his boots yet
Arpika Bhosale (MID-DAY; July 17, 2023)
The Australian cockatiel is the first thing we notice when we visit Mohammed Aslam Fakih’s tiny one-room tenement at Tapia Mansion in Bhuleshwar. Perched inside a cage, the grey-crowned bird begins to chirp relentlessly, until we acknowledge its presence.
“He loves the attention,” 75-year-old Fakih says. The bird, he tells us, just turned up on the window sill of the home one day, and has “refused to leave”. Unlike his pet bird, Fakih who is a film projectionist with Regal Cinema, is self-effacing.
Working at the iconic Colaba theatre for the last 53 years, he prefers to reply in monosyllables. The only time he seems animated is when we mention movie reels. Fakih joined Regal as part of an apprenticeship on August 15, 1970.
“They were playing Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz at the time,” he remembers. “Back then, Regal would hardly screen any Hindi movies. People would only come to watch the latest Hollywood release.”
Working at the iconic Colaba theatre for the last 53 years, he prefers to reply in monosyllables. The only time he seems animated is when we mention movie reels. Fakih joined Regal as part of an apprenticeship on August 15, 1970.
“They were playing Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz at the time,” he remembers. “Back then, Regal would hardly screen any Hindi movies. People would only come to watch the latest Hollywood release.”
Fakih has helmed the projector ever since. His commitment to the movies has landed him a Lifetime Achievement Award nomination for Cinema Projection. The award has been instituted by the Film Heritage Foundation, and the winner will be announced at a function on July 26. The foundation works to conserve classic films and conducts workshops on the same.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who helms Film Heritage Foundation, says that he introduced the award because he believes that the role of the projectionist is key to experiencing cinema. “My understanding of the craft of projecting comes from my childhood visits to my grandfather’s place; he employed one Chandi Mistry who would project films for us, so that we could watch them together as a family,” he tells us over a call,
“During my time at FTII [Film and Television Institute of India], I met another projectionist called Kokze... I think the wisdom he imparted has been invaluable.”
According to Dungarpur, the projectionist is always “this mystical creature”. “In the earlier days, we would look up at the projector in the movie theatre, but we’d never know of the man handling it. I felt it’s high time that we introduce these men to the people... they are truly the unsung heroes of cinema.”
Fakih, who is one of the two nominees from Mumbai, is a heavyweight in his own right because of his years of experience, as well as his mastery over projecting both, 35 and 70 mm reels.
“After six months of training, I was taken on as full time staff. I was ecstatic,” recalls Fakih. The first movie he projected solo was Good Evening, Ms Campbell, featuring Gina Lollobrigida, an Italian actor known for her comic timing. “The film is one of my all-time favourites,” he smiles.
He can’t remember the actor who played the lead. We Google him up for Fakih. When we mention Telly Savalas, the name immediately registers.
Savalas, he says, was one the most famed villains in the Bond movies, playing Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Service.
The 1973 martial arts film Enter The Dragon was the longest running movie under Fakih’s reign as a projectionist. “It ran for 35 weeks!” he says. “People were crazy about Bruce Lee. There were no empty seats and the line for the tickets would spill over into the main Causeway market.”
Movie goers, at the time, were notorious for their “bomabom”. “If the film reel would get stuck... the audience would swear at us and create a ruckus. Today, people are a lot calmer and more subdued,” he thinks.
Though age is catching up with him, Fakih’s romance with the movies has far from ended. His shift, on the day we visit, was to begin at 3 pm; he will stay till the last show that ends post midnight. “As long my hands and legs are moving, I will continue doing what I love.”
Fakih was one of the projectionists, when Regal Cinema ran the cult classic Enter the Dragon in 1973
Mumbai's iconic Regal Cinema is struggling to stay afloat; sends SOS to regular patrons
8:15 AM
Colaba's struggling single-screen theatre, Regal Cinema sends out SOS to regular patrons in a bid to stay afloat in difficult times
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 27, 2018)
Yesterday, Mumbaikars woke up to the realisation that yet another SoBo institution - Colaba's Regal Cinema - is struggling to stay afloat. Early in the day, a message started making the rounds on Facebook: "Mission Impossible 6 at the Regal Cinema. Please patronise the Regal, one of the last single-screen cinemas left in Mumbai!" A matter-of-fact text that struck a chord with several cinephiles who grew up watching their favourite films in the South Bombay heritage building.
mid-day reached out to Kamal Sidhva Taraporevala, the third-generation owner who still resides in the Regal building. When quizzed why she sent out that message, she said, "The footfall is heartbreakingly low. It's a 1,100-seater cinema, and we sometimes struggle to fill 150. We have advance bookings, but the sales drops are unimaginable. I don't even want to get into the statistics, but you can imagine what it's like from the figure I gave you."
"In the 1990s, we used to run full houses. And now, we see 100-200 people on good days. It's a family business, and I sent that message out to friends who prefer to watch English movies. Distributors have stopped giving enough movies to single-screen cinemas; they prefer multiplexes. We have no control or choice over what movies we can show."
Bittersweet nostalgia
The empty seats at Regal are a stark contrast from the theatre's glory days back in the '70s and '80s, when films ran for 13 to 15 months at a stretch. "I remember that Gandhi had run for months and months, and the queue would snake right around the block. Before that, Enter The Dragon, had run for 13 months. I remember times when the challenge was to fight black market ticketing. For as long as I can remember, the cinema was always full, and look now..."
The cinema was started by her grandfather in 1933, and the building's history is part of the charm of watching movies there. But its heritage status has also made things difficult for the owner. "The business is not generating enough money for us to take on the extra expenditure of redoing it into something else, for instance a multiplex. That will be a major gamble. There is also the issue that the government won't allow us to convert it for any other business (say a restaurant). If it's a cinema, it has to be used as a cinema. This is why so many single screens are lying vacant," Kamal explained.
Picture abhi baaki hai
The challenges of running Regal are abundant, Kamal added. "Just switching the electricity on for 100 people is making it impossible to run. But even at this point, we are hopeful. We haven't considered selling out yet."
She added that a little empathy from the authorities would go a long way in protecting single-screen theatres. "There is a huge gap in protecting the interests of the single screens. Anything we need to do to keep it running has to be done privately, including generating the funds."
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