BEHIND THE SCENES

Sangam is all about nostalgia8212;about the days before multiplexes when we could buy tickets for Rs 20, when we would happily settle down on rickety chairs and rock regally, when we would turn back to look at the white light streaming from the projector room and see it magically come to life on the screen.

I walked up the stairs with the hall8217;s general manager S.K. Chugh, past signboards that read 8220;no smoking8221; and 8220;silence please8221;, and into a partially lit room, where three antique projectors sat one after the other. Against each of them were two square windows, one for the projector lens and the other for the operator to keep an eye on the screening. 8220;These projectors are more than three decades old,8221; said Vijay Verma, the head operator and my guru for the next four hours. 8220;It8217;s not easy,8221; Verma warned me. 8220;One wrong move and you8217;ll be booed out of your head.8221; At least I am behind this little window and as long as the audience can8217;t see me, they can boo all they want, a little rebel voice inside me said.

The huge clock next to the standby projector struck 4. 8220;It8217;s time to spool,8221; said Verma. Spool? Rebel ME was getting panicky. Spool? It sounded like rocket science but Verma quickly put me at ease. The idea, he said, was to thread the film tape into the projector. Each projector has two large disks arranged vertically held together by a rod with grooves. The tape ran from the upper disk and after passing through the lens rewound on the disk below. Each time I tried to thread the tape, it would slip out of my hand. 8220;Are we late,8221; I mumbled nervously, half expecting boos down below. Soon I managed to spool, with a little help from Verma.

Spooling done, I looked out of the window. I had finished well ahead of time. People were only beginning to walk in. Heads bobbed against the dark screen, searching for their seat numbers in the dim lights. There were 1,056 seats to be taken but barely 150 had turned up. Fewer boos, I thought, though Verma looked unhappy. Some in the audience whistled, mobile phones rang and people talked animatedly as they settled in. It was fascinating to watch the 70 mm screen from a 2 mm window8212;almost as if I were looking into a bioscope.

Soon the lights were turned off and Verma told me to turn on the projector motor. It revved and came to life like a faithful Ambassador car engine on a winter morning. Light from the projector rushed to the screen, blasting off with a Pataka Chai ad. Fifteen minutes and some trailers later, the censor certificate crackled on the screen. It takes two projectors to screen a film as each of them rolls a 20-minute long spool and then the other one takes over. Verma said we would have to follow the film scene by scene to ensure a smooth shift from one projector to the other. 8220;The mark on the film tape serves as an indicator that we are into the last scene of a spool,8221; explained Verma, who has been on the job for the last 22 years.

8220;Watch the movie closely,8221; said guru Verma. I pulled my chair close to the window and stared intently. So much for vowing never to watch a four-hour-movie. Suddenly, the lights flickered. Verma rushed to the projector8217;s arch lamp and adjusted two carbon rods and the light flowed effortlessly again. I must have looked terribly worried for Verma smiled as if to say it was nothing unusual. 8220;The technology is very different from the modern xenon projectors where the entire film is compiled into one disk. You roll and forget it,8221; said Verma.

At the end of almost two hours, Sita Ramji, the assistant operator signalled that the film was nearing intermission. Tme for tea and popcorn? No such luck. The two of them quickly picked up the used rolls and headed for the rewinding room next door. I followed. We manually rewound the tapes, set them right for the next show and got back into position in the projector room8212;all in 10 minutes. More spooling and more threading.
Two hours later, when the last of the 5,200 metre long tape wound its way into the projector, I knew my job was nearing.