Subtitles ahoy

The year was 1985. We were in medical college.

Me and my friend had gone to see the movie Godfather in local theater.

Not that we were English movie buffs. We had gone there purely out of peer pressure.

The local theater would screen English movies on Sundays, one show only. And on Mondays, alpha males and the smart girls of the class would discuss the movie. We felt so desi. We decided to jump on to the elite bandwagon.

Marlon Brando had a voice with a bass of extreme. In Godfather, he made offers to other mafia families which they could not refuse. They could not refuse maybe for the reason, like me, they also did not understand what he was saying. I could not comprehend what was being said by the hero, heroine or the side kick. And I was quite sure, the situation was the same with the majority of the audience.

Out of nowhere, someone in the back row would let out a giggle. Sporadic giggles would follow from the different parts of the hall, as follow up on the original giggle. Sometimes I wondered if the original giggle came from a ticklish girl who had come to see the movie with her boyfriend.

Down the line, we decided to stick to action movies only. I could understand actions better than words. James Bond became my favorite.

Rambo movies were great. But only Sylvester Stallone would know what he was saying. Especially while crying. If the hero laughed, the audience picked a clue and laughed. If the hero cried, the audience kept quiet. That was the general rule.

We kept trying our luck. But were not very successful. I always had this belief that the smart alecs of the class had some secret source who explained the movie in advance to them. Like a cousin in Delhi or Mumbai or maybe New York.

Then came the cable and thousands of movies and channels to watch. And then, someone invented the subtitles. It was quite taxing in the beginning. One could either see the scene or read the subtitles. Then I saw one James Bond movie with subtitles. It was an eye opener. First time I realised that James Bond movies had a storyline also.

I respect the inventor of the subtitles more than the inventor of movies.

I watched Godfather again, with subtitles. I realized there was no laughing matter when the girl at the back of the hall had giggled, and the rest of the audience had followed.

She actually must have been ticklish, and the boyfriend was being naughty.