Why will I watch a movie? Why do people watch movies? Why do humans like to watch things, anyway?
I am a 90’s kid. Which means in my childhood I have seen Anjan Choudhury dominating the market with his Boro-Bou, Mejo-Bou, Chhoto-Bou series, and in adolescent years, Prosenjit Chatterjee acting in Sobuj Sathi, Annaye Atyachar and the likes of them. That’s precisely where Hindi cinema AKA Bollywood swooped in the audience, where the whole package was much more shiny, and in some cases, they provided better content as well.
Coming with this background, I, probably like majority of middle class Bengali family people, watched and re-watched all the 60’s, 70’s films where Uttam Kumar, Soumitra Chatterjee, Chhaya Devi, Robi Ghosh etc. used to act, and I think this decline in quality of cinema was the exact reason Uttam Kumar and the likes are still so popular in Bengali mindset.
Sankalan da, invited me to a fun game, where I talk about 10 movies of my like, in 10 days. Fortunately, he did not mention 10 ‘consecutive’ days and that’s the loophole I am using to slack off and taking my time to come up with each one of them.
The one I want to talk today about is ‘The Big Lebowski’. This particular one shaped the way I see the world a lot. The first time I tried to watch it was in 2008. I was in 12th then. I did not understand it much, and got bored after roughly half an hour and then switched it off. I understood that it’s a funny movie, but I was not getting exactly why it is funny. I again tried it in 2011, 3 years down the line; I was in 3rd year of college then. This time I loved it. A lot of things made sense. I was still not very aware of Coen Brothers. I was not aware of Raising Arizona or Miller’s Crossing. I was still one of those who follow Nolan and know nothing beyond him.
This movie has a multitude of interpretations, just like life. It’s a movie about taking it easy. It’s also a movie about friendships. Why is it not a movie about bowling as well?
The influence of the movie on the audience was so monumental, they started following the Dude, and his way of doing things, his ‘style’ and called themselves Dudists. That gave birth to a whole new religion called Dudeism. Apart from that, the characters Dude and Walter are often compared to Yin and Yang in Chinese philosophy. It’s also an Yin-Yang movie indeed.
Anyway, coming back to where I started. Maybe we watch a movie because a group of people wanted to communicate a message to us (lack of a message is itself a message), and we like to be in the receiving end of it. The Big Lebowski, gave me one such moment, where I received the message in my own way, and I liked it. It gave a college going kid a reason to watch more movies and probably taught that poor kid, what to watch, and also maybe, what not to.