Chennai Roof Top Film Festival

Sometimes, certain things people do, however trivial they might be tends to leave somewhat of an impact on you. This is more, if that thing turns out to be one-of-the-many-things you are passionate about. At other times, this might inspire you in a positive way ! That said, let me revive my blog with one-of-the-many-firsts I witnessed the last weekend - Chennai Roof Top Film Festival (http://www.facebook.com/ChennaiRTFF).

I first came across this weird acronym RTFF on a friend's FB wall, sometime last month. Clicking on it turned out to be quite a surprise. I never thought for a minute, something like this were remotely possible. But looking through the page, I realized that this bunch of film buffs have actually made it possible. Imagine bringing together a bunch of strangers under a roof ! I don't think I would ever be capable of it. But these guys were. Impressed !

I immediately joined the Google Groups. As luck would have it, registrations for Feb's edition of the festival opened up the very next day. As ill-luck would have it, by the time I checked my mails, the registration was closed. Damn ! I sent out a mail to one of those guys, who was polite enough to give some bull-shit, very decently ! Well, that's what I thought then. Later, I realized I was mistaken (more on that, probably sometime later)

Not wanting to miss out this month, from the moment I received a mail about the registrations-soon-to-be-open, my gmail was open almost round the clock. The moment it did, I was through to the ticketnew site & got myself registered for March's edition.

Now, this friend of mine who gave me the lead to RTFF told me just one thing : On Saturday, sleep as much as possible during the day. I did. Slept through most of Saturday. By around 8, I was ready for the night-out. But we got delayed owing to traffic and made it to the venue at 9.30 on dot ! Luckily, nothing had started (well, I was not surprised about that, being a proud Indian)

Beds, pillows, blankets - man these guys seemed to have gone into a great deal of trouble to get everything in place. So much for the love of movies. Impressed, again.

Soon, things fell into place & the evening started off with screening of the short film Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Eppadi. Following this, the director Balaji himself made an entry & had a very honest-cum-open discussion with us, patiently, yet a bit lengthily answering the questions thrown.

The actual screening of movies started following this. Four movies went well into the night & the following morning :
- Before Sunrise
- Say Anything
- Like Crazy
- True Romance

The interesting part was the discussions that ensued between movies. Although I did not contribute a single view (frankly, too lazy), some of the points conveyed were indeed sensible, if I might say so !

Enough of the night. Let me just say a few things about this whole experience.

Firstly, I really appreciate these bunch of fellas for bringing up such an idea. That, by itself, has to be wow-ed. All this pain, just for being crazy movie-fans !

Secondly, I must say this whole idea of curating seems different. Though democracy seems to be the order, I can think of it more as pseudo - dictatorship. But given the fact that the turn out is rather huge (this time having been scaled up to roughly 200, according to them), this certainly is necessary. But I wonder how many people would actually understand this

Third, it beats me how the large turnout was handled without any hitch ! Everything seemed to be worked out well, without hazzles. Even the Appy !

The best of all, when Sudhish Kamath actually requested the crowd to help out with cleaning the place, they actually did. That is so not us right? Well, glad !

Looking forward to the next edition - Mid summer night musical ! Hopefully, I register on time.

Oh and by the way, it might sound a little I-don't-know-what-may-be-trying-to-impress sorts that I write all this after just one time at the RTFF, but no. Two reasons -
1. Read the first few lines of the post
2. Lets face it, whom am I actually going to impress?