It was my husband’s idea that we must have family movie nights every Saturday. It is indeed a rare occasion when the entire family sits and watches a movie together these days. The last one must have been one of the superhero flicks that we watched or perhaps “Gravity.” Most times, Hindi and English movies these days are out of bounds for kids. And stuff like Krish etc. does not appeal to mom and dad. Anyhow, the deal is that each one of us will show our favorite movie or movie we’d like to watch to the others. And, we can’t be fiddling with our phones or reading stuff even when we don’t like the movie *eye roll*. Trust me you have to lay down such conditions :).
So, we gave the youngest member of the family (not Coco silly) the first opportunity to choose, and he selected “Planes.” Normally I do enjoy animated movies, and this one was quite a pleasant watch. My younger son was enthralled, as he loves all kinds of automobiles. On our last trip to Punjab, he bought a toy tractor to add to his burgeoning collection of auto toys. Okay, so the movie went smoothly. Then came the elder brat’s turn, and he suggested “Matrix Revolutions.” I had loved the original Matrix but had not seen this one. As much as I love Keanu Reeves and other cast, this movie was just one never-ending headache of endless noises and crazy wars. I completely hated the experience but what to do, commitment is commitment :D. I sat through it without killing myself though I sulked and threw poisonous glances at my son who was smug at wreaking the ultimate revenge on mom. Dad was enjoying it because he knows he can never make me sit through such balderdash.
Then came my turn last Saturday after a huge gap due to vacations. And I chose to show them “Masoom.” I have already shown them Mr. India earlier. This is one of my favorite movies that tugs at the heartstrings. Perhaps the story line and subject may be a bit mature for the kids. As expected, they started getting antsy 5 minutes into the movie. “When will the good part start, mom,” and they did not mean the songs which were too decent for their taste. “In your time, the movies had terribly long songs!” the elder one mouthed after “Huzoor is qadar bhi na itra ke chaliye…” But as soon as a dog and the daughters came in the picture, they were hooked. The daughters and their constant strife allowed me to show my children the mirror, not that they cared. Overall, the movie stretched till past midnight, and all of them stayed up and watched. The kids were very happy with the ending. And the husband actually enjoyed the movie. The younger one kept saying, “Bad aunty, bad aunty!” to Shabana’s grumpy avatar. And Jugal Hansraj melted everyone.
So, next weeknight is the husband’s turn. I hope he shows something nice to all of us. Please no migraine inducing action. And I just threatened the elder one that we will discontinue this thing because he was reading a book initially when it was MY movie playing, and he and his brother were interrupting a lot of dialogs too. What do you think — I can’t be grumpy!
Empty threat or not, we shall see! Do you do something like this in your home?
This is such a cool idea….but am sure if implemented now in my house we will only be watching Lightening McQueen movies 😀
hehehe Problem har ghar kee :D. I don’t know how long we will continue.
Movies together!! That’s a fab idea. Loved it!! 🙂
It is working out so far. I guess, we will be doing it through their vacations :D.
This is a fun idea.But I don’t think it would work in my home. My father has a hundred doubts while watching a movie, like, what is that actress’s name? Who is that actor? isn’t he the one who starred in that silly movie we saw some time ago? btw, when did we see that movie? what was the name of that movie?
And so it goes on until I swear that I’ll switch off the damned TV if the questions won’t stop! 😀
You guys have fun 😉
hahaha Your dad sounds like my younger son. We have to threaten him with withdrawal of his play time on gadgets to make him quiet :).
Sounds like fun…You know Rachna either with my husband or my sister, I always spend endless days watching movies cooped up at home..Earlier we used to watch movies together as a family when I was in school but gradually I guess we grew up! Love the family movie night idea and I’m going to copy it some time in the future 🙂
Yep, we did this a lot when we were younger but then we did not have so many distractions. And most movies were safe to watch with the family :). These days you have to research beforehand if something can be watched with children. I would love to have you do this with your family, Naba :D.
Not movies, maybe, but stuff like Big Bang Theory, Comedy Nights, etc. are generally watched together by my family.
Okie. With young kids, these are not options I explore. But we do watch Air Crash investigations and some other programs like Brain Games on Discovery together. Dad usually skips them :).
Massom is one of my favourite movies. Love the sensitive handling of the movie by Sekhar Kapur. So many things to learn from his films. If one observes the frames carefully one can find those are meticulously planned to convey meanings to appeal to our subconscious.
Totally agree. I had first seen the movie when I was pretty young may be in my early teens and remember being touched by it immensely. I watched it again later and by then I understood the dynamics of a husband-wife relationship better. The movie is my all time favorite — sensitive, nuanced and beautiful. Love the songs and the performances as well.
Good idea and this post was writte in nice humorous style. Enjoyed the read. By the way, I guess my taste possibly matches closest with Sid – should talk to him more next time we catch up at some meet.
Thank you, Karthik! Family situations are humorous in my home :). Yes, I can see that you share a lot of common tastes with Sid even in writing. Next time, you must discuss with him further.
Great idea. Your children are darlings. They agreed to see the movie selected by you. In our house there will be at least three parties,(1) two grand daughters (2) my son and DIL. and myself and(3) my dear husband. He will prefer to sleep.
I guess give and take. They also get to watch the movies of their choice with us :). I can understand the going to sleep bit. My husband prefers to do that when I ask him to watch a romantic movie :-).
Oh family fun! In this day and age and being busy all the time, we need family times like these.
Totally agree, Raajii! It is a lot of fun seeing each other adjust to choices. And it is a good way to share great movies with kids.
Good idea..I think we can start in our home too..but my lil one never zips her lips..she goes on and on and R gets hyper…he keeps complaining, amma, she is sooo annoying bolke. Recently, we started playing charades and the lil one wants to play it all the time and trust me she is soo good at it, like her mom 😛
The son as usual fixes to one idea and does the same action again and again.
I hope you don’t get to hear more noises for the next movie 🙂 I can’t stand through those action noises either.
Yeah, that talking part is a real pain. G is a motormouth who has a thousand questions but we constantly keep shushing him up. Sid gets mad at him for interrupting. Luckily, when you watch at home, you can always rewind :D. I am counting on Gurdev to choose a nicer movie else he will be responsible for the consequences :-P.
Fabulous Idea! Some day in future I will make sure to try this. I loved planes and ofcourse Masoom is an all time favorite. No comments on Matrix R. 😛
Yes, you must give it a try :D.
Every time I watch a movie my entire nuclear family watches with me 🙂 And no grumpiness 🙂
hehehe Don’t rub it in :D.
You know, Rachna, I am going to start this watching favorites in turns, in my family too. All I need to do is hold my son in one place. Maybe shackle him to the sofa. And Masoom is a superb movie. 🙂
hehe That shackling bit came to my mind too. I was also tempted to gag them *shhh don’t tell anyone*. But threatening them with withdrawing privileges had the required effect of silence. Imagine all this so that we can watch a movie together. What is the world coming to? 🙂
Children grow up to be responsible compassionate adults when brought up in a conducive loving environment. Your post and way of life are a perfect ode to motherhood. ‘Masoom’, my personal favorite too with similar response from my daughter 🙂
Thank you, Anita! How terrible is it that we hardly find occasions to see movies together. Not only children but even as parents we have become snooty about our choices. This way we are all learning to be tolerant towards each other’s movie choices :D.
Since I am not a movie buff, more often than not, my son and his dad watch movies together. And the magic of Masoom continues to cast its spell even after decades. Jugal makes my heart melt.
Oh, I love movies. But don’t watch everything. G and I also have different movie tastes. This way we are all trying to find common ground. It is fun in a different kind of way.
We are movie freaks. Every friday and saturday night and sometimes even weekdays we end up watching movies at home. My son is still into the animation and super hero phase so to make him happy, we watch animation movies and spiderman movies too. It is actually a great idea.
Yep, most times it is just the superhero flicks. I am so fed up of them. You know, Sid actually enjoys another favorite of mine which is “A Few Good Men.” He has also seen and like Philadelphia and Forrest Gump and of course, the Star Wars series. So yes, we have shown him many movies. But now we sit and watch together.
Sigh….if only my family practiced this! My mother cannot sit for a whole movie unless it is in theatre because she always find some excuse of a work. My Dad starts snoring by the time we reach the interval..My grandmother gets tired and dozes off too. My brother starts playing games in his phone 🙁
It is lovely how your family enjoys this!
Sounds so familiar. You know, Red, when I was younger (there I go again), we watched most movies together. We had one telly, and the entire family sat and watched the Sunday movie on DD. We even watched mom’s rona-dhona serials and she used to watch “Bold and Beautiful” with us :D. But, these days, everyone watches their own stuff. Sigh!
Lovely idea. I mostly watch and sometimes with family (parents). May be when i get married, which will be in a year or two i guess, i’ll watch with my family as well as my future wife’s family 🙂
Haricharan, http://www.movieroundup.in
Wish you luck, Haricharan. I think it is very important especially in times of gadgets and excessive individuality that we find these pockets of time to spend together as a family even if enforced :). Thanks for reading!
Very nice idea Rachna ! I am going to implement it at my house too..but the problem is all I will get to see action, action and more action 😀
I hope you have fun, Ash! Let us give them a chance. Else we know how we can find other ways to arm twist their choices :-P.
Idea toh achcha hai! But with three boys in your household, you had better watch out! Ek baar Star Wars series shuru hui toh remember, there are six movies in that series!
Chalo usse toh bach gayee. That series has been watched many times over by all three of them :D.
Quite an interesting idea there Rachna. Maybe once my little one grows up a bit, I might try putting this into practice. Right now, he hasn’t got much of a say. But he does what he can by hiding the remote to the TV and the set top box when he can 😉
Yes, for now it must be quite a relief if the two of you can do just about anything together peacefully. A few years to go till you test this idea out, Sid :).
A great idea for a family time and that too where other gadgets are banned. 🙂
I guess it works only if the gadgets are banned :D. I wonder if it will work with more rebellious older kids.
Actually, a lot of families here have a movie night! Of course, there is always a struggle to find something appropriate as well as interesting! The last few movies have been Telugu with lots of fights, so at least 3 members of the family were satisfied while mom intermittently watched, rolled her eyes, and read paras from Harry Potter!
Yes that struggle is always there. And with 3 boys at home, you can pretty much imagine my situation. No reading allowed, Rosh :-P!
I love the idea of saturday movies… a brilliant way to bond with the family and watch movies of various flavors 🙂 I loved both matrix and masoom. The innocence portrayed in Masoom melts me everytime 🙂
I loved Matrix too but Matrix Revolutions was pretty boring. Thanks for reading, Rajlakshmi!
masoom was a beautiful movie and i like this family saturday night..
so let us know which one you watched this saturday 🙂
and heloooooooooooooooooooooo
Look who is here. Hello, Bikram, good to have you here. Will pucca let you know what we watch Saturday :D.
Such a brilliant idea! 😀
Planes was nice.. and Masoom is simply heart-melting!
Matrix Revolution was a headache!
I wonder what you will watch this Saturday?! 😀
I love superheroes and mind-blowing action movies!! All that blowing up of cars and trains and such is quite therapeutic! 😀 😀
Thank you, Pixie. Glad you have similar choices as mine. Chalo Saturday is almost here and we should find out soon enough :D. I do like action of the types in Speed but a movie with only action is a no-no for me :D.
With a five year old, a full length movie at our home is a bit ambitious :). However, you seem to have done well – all of you are getting out of your comfort zones and watching other genres!
Yes, it will be a bit tough for you, but you can try in a couple of years. My younger son is 7 and he has been ardently watching his kind of movies since a year. Yep, it is actually fun so far and in a way a good lesson in adjustment for all of us.