Looking back, I have never felt sillier about myself when I found myself to be amongst a bunch of people who thought that the ticket of Anand Gandhi's Ship of Theseus was obscenely priced. I even made some wisecrack about how only Aamir & his wife (producer of SoT) will be watching it this weekend. I am so embarrassed about saying such shit, but what to do, I am broke. This post stems from a chat that I was having with my drunky partner and some internal 'khalbali' in 'khopdi ki jhopdi'. No, I still haven't watched the film yet, but I will, as soon as the evil ad agency guy makes me richer by a few hundred rupees.
Just randomly remembered this quote by Shahrukh Khan - "You can deserve me, but you can't afford me."
As of now I can deserve Ship of Theseus, but can't afford it. I am indirectly a part of this film and it is not because the producer Kiran Rao is my namesake. My connect with this film is my recent meeting with its music director Rohit Sharma (fondly known as Rohit sir) and his interview that I did for madaboutmoviez.com Click here for link. It was one of the best interviews I did and received a lot of appreciation from people who I respect a lot. Sadly, that good deed didn't earn me free tickets to watch the film, but what the hell.
Coming back to the point, how expensive is expensive? How do you decide upon the fair value of a ticket? Having always sucked at math, I don't find myself in the position to figure that out. The maximum I have paid for watching a film at the theater is Rs. 4,600. Yes, I watched Gautham Menon's Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya at the theater 23 times, so you do the math. I am stupid, I know and I hate downloading films. As a principle I never watch a film illegally. I buy or borrow DVDs, buy tickets, borrow money to buy tickets, sell my empty beer bottles, write obituaries, and sometimes get to attend special screenings. But piracy -
NO. NEVER. NOT. YOU MOTHERS FATHERS MANNERS THIS?
Exaggeration apart, the maximum I have spent to watch a film is Rs. 600 - for Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya, which I totally loved and felt that I got my money's worth. But Eklavya had Amitabh Bachchan & Sanjay Dutt. What does Ship of Theseus have? I know everybody has been raving about watching it and the rest don't give a damn about cinema. Then there are a few crazy SRK fans who are saving money to watch Chennai Express multiple times, despite Rohit Shetty. (Nitin, take that grin off your face.)
With Ship of Theseus, I fail to understand the value or muscle that UTV & Kiran Rao have brought to the table that PVR Directors Rare could not. To quote my machcha Sethu, "Ok I know @SOTfilm would never have a mass release& hona bhi nahin chahiye. But it surely deserves more than 6 screens." I would add to that - a ticket price at par with that or perhaps even a little more than the general trash that hits the screens on a regular basis. Screw that, they could have at least released the film in the better half of the month, but alas. I lick my wounds as I type this.
I have put my kidney on Quikr.com and if I get a decent deal I will watch Ship of Theseus one of these days. But I hope some sense prevails and indie film tickets are made accessible to more people, or else we will have to live with more of Rohit Shitty's money-spinning scams. I leave you with the extended interview of Rohit sir, and wish I could charge you 450/- to watch it each time. I know that will not happen in this lifetime and this is the internet, so if nothing, please share the hell outta this post. Thanks.
Love, Magik.
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