With Gautam still being very young, our movie time in theatres has drastically come down. Unless, it is a kiddies movie, we hardly venture out. For any other movies, even to watch at home, I consider reviews and unless someone endorses that a movie is good, I end up not watching the movie. The reasons could be that I have become very intolerant towards bad stuff and also due to a general lack of time. Most English movies, I watch are the ones which Gurdev selects because his choice and our tastes match well :). If it is really mindless action then he knows better to watch it alone. My favorite genres are comedy, drama, romcoms, and drama action. I really do not have the stomach for overtly romantic movies :). Some of Gurdev effect has rubbed of on me :).
The other major change is that we plug in a couple of headsets and watch a movie despite the kids talking or making noise. This has helped us a lot in terms of understanding and enjoying the movie and is easier on the kids too. One thing I’ve realized is that Sid hardly wants to watch the movies we watch. Gautam would sometime sit and watch with us, of course, not A stuff but otherwise. Kids these days have so many movies made for them that they are hardly bothered about other stuff, which in a way is good for us.
Last night, we watched “True Grit”, a really nice movie. So, parents — you can enjoy movies too with little kids but you have to innovate a bit :).
very recently i watched ‘How to train ur dragon’
good movie and the technical quality can keep u rooted
Well i love watching kiddy movies they dont have any tension and its all laugh laugh riot…
I watched Inception the other day 🙂 i know i am so late the whole world has seen it …
Bikram’s
I think I should write a post about ‘How to watch a movie when your spouse’s and your tastes do not match’ :(( I want to watch Nobody killed Jessica and he doesnt. I think I’ll just wing it solo!
Its been a decade of watching movies with subtitles because we only get to watch them on weekend nights (if our mind and body allow us)..I guess shouting at the kids and talking/listening to them in high pitched tones, hav de-sensitized the ear drums too..
My kids being girls can’t stand any mushy scene (as of now), so, most of Indian movies, if watched with kids, are done in fast forward!
I’m getting suggestions of Indian movies from my girls now-a-days..and they from their classmates..we watched “I hate Luv Stories” from one of those suggestions 🙂
Its been a decade of watching movies with subtitles because we only get to watch them on weekend nights (if our mind and body allow us)..I guess shouting at the kids and talking/listening to them in high pitched tones, hav de-sensitized the ear drums too..
My kids being girls can’t stand any mushy scene (as of now), so, most of Indian movies, if watched with kids, are done in fast forward!
I’m getting suggestions of Indian movies from my girls now-a-days..and they from their classmates..we watched “I hate Luv Stories” from one of those suggestions 🙂
@Jon Yes, kids have seen that movie, and it is really good.
@Bikramjit Yes, they are very entertaining as well. I tried watching “Inception” but could not make head or tail of it, because the kids were disturbing so much. So, I am even later than you are.
@Deepa Well, my husband also has allergy to this particular brand of movies. I make up by watching it with other female friends or alone. Better accept the reality :). I want to watch “nobody killed Jessica” too.
@Gayatri Yes didi. Tiredness is a big factor for us too. Siddharth only asks for/ recommends kiddie movies, and only those with good reviews get watched. Gautam does not have much choice and is happy with any song and dance, train, tree movie. He just has a fixation for characters but does not understand story lines. I hate Luv Storys got such bad reviews that we did not bother. Gurdev would jump off the cliff before watching a hardcore sugarcoated romance, and I think I am slowly becoming like him in that direction :). I need comedy with romance.
Lucky u as taste matches well with ur husband!
Hope it matches forever and forever. 🙂
We have stopped going to theatres altogether. Just watch any movies which come in any of the channels, if we like it watch it or don’t. With my son being an oly son, he gets bored easily, so have to watch what he wants, maybe if he had some company, he would not have bothered and we could watch what we liked.
Although I’m not a parent I know what you’re saying. The family next door to my house has a son, a boy, eight years old. My mother loves the kid and whenever there is a children’s movie she ask me to take him with me.
The problem is that the boy is very annoying. Always keep talking, wondering hot it will be the movie’s end, who is the good guy and who is the bad guy and other things. It’s so annoying.
On the other hand, there is a great advantage for a guy like me goes out accompanied by a cute little boy: girls love! These kids are great conversation starters, the girls always want to know their names, kiss their cheeks and caress their hairs. I really have no complaints after all 😀
@Chandrika Not always, just in the case of English movies.
@bbsearchingself Maybe, once he is a little older, you could venture out.
@david Ah, that’s really smart indeed. Use a kid to begin conversations with girls. I had seen that in movies but did not realize that it happened in real life :). My younger son is exactly like the annoying kind you described. He has 10,000 questions of the same variety, and when I tell him to shush up, he starts asking the same question at the top of his voice :). It gets embarrassing at times.
I agree, with the kind of movies being made these days, it would do parents a lot of good to do some research before they venture out for it.
Yes deciding which movies to watch with kids can be difficult. We need to moderate our likes in the interest of how the movie might influence our kids. However, I have a slightly different take on movies themselves. I find that kids who watch too many movies are unable to read. That is sad because reading stimulates the imagination in a way that no movie can! But yes, I like your blog.
Best
Meera
I am not that big a movie watcher. I do not have any taste of my own. But when with kids i enjoy their movies, and when with spouse i enjoy hers. So it makes me understand the others with who i watch the movie with. This is a different outlook, i think.
@Destiny’s child Completely agree. As it is, they are growing up well before their age due to excessive and inappropriate exposure from TV and internet.
@Meera Of course, kids shouldn’t watch many movies. I can speak for my children. My elder son has my passion for reading and he really enjoys watching Discovery and Nat Geo. If we watch very few movies ourselves, their movie watching is maybe, 20% of those so the number is actually quite less.
@AS Wow, you really don’t have any preference? And,it is good to hear that you actually watch what your kids or spouse want. Amazing!
i love romantic English movies very much: the kind that has a good story and also makes you cry. I always end up seeing Sleepless in Seattle many times whenever it is shown on TV, other favorites are Only You and Serendipity, and a few others, I don’t remember the names.
Hindi and Tamil pictures are good too but too many songs really bore me to death.
Head sets are the best way to watch when there also more than one TV in the house.
Depends a lot on the age as well.Probably comics could be shared,but not all movies.But even the so called childrens movies use so much of bad slangs which children pick up so easily.
@rama I love romantic English movies and even Hindi tearjerkers like Masoom, Taare Zameen Par kind of movies too. More than one TV, headsets give us an opportunity to understand what we are watching :).
@dr. antony Even otherwise kids are exposed to slang with so much exposure to such stuff through internet and TV. That is really unavoidable.
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🙂
We tried a month back for Action replayy and have to leave hall within first 3 min.
🙂
Shaurya is game, if you are watching some hindi movie with some dhinchak music. As we watched Golmaal 3 at home, he was jumping and howling at songs Ale and apna har pal.
And yes, yesterday he watched Die Hard-4 with me and after that he tried a few action on his mom, who interm got angry with me. 🙂
But he loves watching movie and his fav ones are
1) toy story -3: a must watch for all children
2) cars
3) How to train your dragon
4) Finding Nemo
5) Shrek (the latest one)
6) MAdagaskar 1&2
7) Ice age series
And any movie with planes and cars
And as usual, Medha loves utterly romantic ones and me typically anything except the romantic ones.
🙂
I was and someways still am a bollywood addict, but my hubby nevr goes to theatre, so i watch either on TV or by DVD or sometimes with my sister or children:)
@Bhupesh Good for you about Action Replay. I heard it is a horrible movie. Your list is a favorite with my sons too. And anything with cars and trains with Gautam :). All men are predictable and so are the women with their tastes :).
@Renu I end up doing the same for Bollywood because my husband too, except for Aamir Khan movies, generally dislikes Bollywood movies.
put a kaala teeka to the post. ur next post should be “how to make marriages work in Modern India”
@Vani That’s so funny! I wish there was anyone who could actually write on this extremely difficult topic in a general way :).
This is grave issue. Watching movie with kids! Oh my God. As a mother, I know what you share is the authentic account of what that experience is, something that we all can trust.