Good movie-watching with kids

There is a certain kind of magic in cinema, especially in children’s cinema that also goes a long way in providing subtle formative education. Of course, one can always argue that the magic of the movies is missing in our children’s lives, as these days the trend of movie watching in children is towards ‘blockbusters’ and songs that make the children wanna dance. But the magic of a film only weaves its spell when you watch it together as family and then have a healthy discussion about it, because children finally go by what their role model does or says and that person is you the parent. This means that you’ve got to make the first move with the right kind of movie! So on the weekend, choose one from MetroMela’s pick of children’s movies and watch it together….Hey, we’re celebrating Children’s Day in Vizag!

From the Indian contingent…

From the first silent film Raja Harishchandra, made in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke, and the first sound film Alam Ara 18 years thereafter to the present-day plethora of color, masala and airy-fairy stars, Indian cinema has come a long way with its sometimes-really-good and sometimes-very-crass films. Admittedly, the very mention of Bollywood for kids makes you shudder, but MetroMela picks out the rare few that are near perfect for your child and you. Some films may have hit the top of the pops, and would be preferred by children, while some are out there waiting to be experienced. From the last three decades, amongst MetroMela’s chosen few, we would pick Mr India (for the lovable and simple character played by Anil Kapoor and his invisible-making gadget pitched against the Amrish Puri-enacted villain ‘Mogambo’); Makdee (Vishal Bharadwaj’s film with Shabana Azmi as the witch who frightens a little girl, played by the current Telugu movie cute ‘find’ Shweta Prasad); Jajantaram Mamantaram (a fantasy tale lived out by Javed Jaffrey in a land of thumb-sized people); Tahaan (the life of an innocent child in strife-torn Kashmir), Blue Umbrella (Film Director Vishal Bharadwaj’s screen adaptation of Ruskin Bond’s novel and a film that won the National Award for Best Children’s Movie of 2005) and Iqbal (Shreyas Talpade as the deaf-mute cricket aspirant and Shweta – yet again - as his adorable and caring sister).

From the star-lit yesteryears, it’s undoubtedly the Bimal Roy-produced and Himen Gupta-directed, evergreen Kabuliwalla, with the soulful Balraj Sahni enacting the lead role; and, of course, Gulzar’s Parichay (supposedly a remake of ‘Sound of Music’ in the Indian context but equally classic).

From international shores…

There are a whole lot of movies here, but we would recommend the one and only endearing 1974 docu-film Animals are Beautiful People on wildlife, which has human-like nuances, in wild Africa, made by Jamie Uys (who also made the equally good The Gods must be Crazy in 1980).

With MetroMela…

We move now to our MetroMela sources for children’s movies. Well, we are all aware that the first building blocks of academic education after the ‘alphabet’ for children are the good old nursery rhymes. MetroMela’s got a source for these in Vizag that goes by the name of Rhythm House. The collection here is in plenty and in the English, Hindi and Telugu languages. We hop across next to Music World, which shares shop-space with the Café Coffee Day outlet. Now this is an excellent place with its neat display of movies for children. Jain Audio and Video, on the other hand, gives you fantastic bargains from their combo DVDs; and, if you have the time to browse, then you may just about get a children’s movie for your classic collection (we got the docu-drama Arctic Tales at a steal of Rs. 125). We cannot sign off without mentioning Pages, a favorite haunt for children in Vizag for its books and educative CDs and a few children’s entertainment movies.

If regular movie-watching is anathema, then maybe once a month is okay? So fix a date with your children on a weekend and pick out and watch one of MetroMela's recommended movies mentioned here, together.

Posted on: Nov 12, 2008

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