“The wait was nerve-wracking,” says first-time filmmaker Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, talking about the days that led up to the premiere of her film Aachar & Co. Her anxiety soon made way for happiness when she saw the crowd embrace the film when it hit screens on July 28, in Bengaluru.
The film’s premiere was unusual in many ways. The makers invited journalists and people from the film fraternity to a single-screen viewing instead of a multiplex. The Cauvery theatre in the city was lit up with LED serial lights, and the movie hall’s entrance was decorated with flowers. There was even a traditional lamp at the centre of the decoration. Women graced the red carpet in sarees. The carefully planned event exuded the vibe of a family get-together, the kind of experience the makers wanted people to have while watching Aachar & Co.
The film, which attempted to cash in on the power of nostalgia, told the story of a big, conservative family in Bengaluru in the 1960s and 70s. Co-written by Murthy and stand-up comedian Kanan Gill, Aachar & Co tried to entice middle-aged women — who don’t often go to the cinemas for various reasons — to experience the magic of the big screen again.
