The Fake News About Horror Films

I find it amusing to read this report in Times of India about a 65 year old man who died in a theatre in Thiruvannamalai while watching the horror film "The Conjuring-2". The report adds that the old man was pronounced dead in an "old government hospital" after he complained of chest pains. The last line takes the cake: "His friend allegedly disappeared with his body." This is what is called cooking up a story that cannot be nailed. The operative words are: Man died while watching film, Old Govt Hospital and friend disappeared. But the memes that entered your mind as you read this trending newsfeed on Facebook is that the movie gotta be deadly scary if an old man died while watching in a theatre. But did he really die? Then how did the body disappear? It could be the subject matter of "The Conjuring-3"! But jokes apart, the first part of "The Conjuring" collected almost Rs.120 crores in the year it got released in all languages in India. That is indeed a blockbuster but the initial response to the sequel now has been mixed: every time you cannot scare the skin out of people's brains and publicity stunts like this once again proves how gullible we are to paid news. Let me see whether the tags I used here show up in the trending news about "The Conjuring-2".

On a completely different note, I have been watching most of the horror films since my childhood - from Ramsay brothers' gory films to multi-starrer films like "Jaani Dushman" to RGV series on ghostly series to English films like "Evil Dead" and "Paranormal Activity" and "The Omen" series besides our own Telugu films like "Arundhati". There is a set pattern in these films which hasn't crossed the line of either Christian faith or Hindu culture. Most American films are shot in haunted houses set deep in the woods but why are they so god forsaken? Why do families invite trouble over settling in uninhabited homes? How do they eke our their living? Why do each one of them sleep in solitude in king-sized bedrooms which are worlds apart from each other?  Over time, the filmmakers there have become more liberal - you now see the crosses seem to be having no effect on the spirits. Back home, in Indian films, the ghosts cut loose  most times but just get reined in with timely collusion between the temple priest, the bearded Fakir and the occasional psycho-therapist. But our deities are more powerful than the show of crosses to the evil spirits. One snare or a sprinkling of holy ash and the spirits get packed off to their final destination. Writers like Ruskin Bond and Satyajit Ray who never believed in God also wrote best-sellers about eerie encounters with spirts. A few years back, a kid in Hyderabad confronted Ruskin Bond at Vidyaranya School  why his ghosts hardly scared him. Bond replied because "My ghosts are gentle." This is a gentle reminder to all those who make ghost films in the West: take a leaf out of Telugu films which have shifted into comedy gear a few years back after the audiences tired of tense horror thrillers. If you can't see them, at least make us laugh.

At School with Ruskin Bond - New Book by Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond is back! This time, a collection of stories and anecdotes that you may have read in some of his earlier books like "Landour Days" and "The Lamp is Lit". Alongwith some new stories to rekindle the reading habit amongst today's school kids in portly format. A refreshing read as always. Ruskin Bond speaks with authority on the subject of what a child goes through at school and what endears him or her that no longer seems so easy to decipher in this age of multiple distractions like TV and mobiles and social media. Ruskin Bond recounts what it felt like to go to school, savour the school library, discuss literature with teachers and avuncular elders. A true lover of English literature, more than the English peers, Ruskin Bond gives a delectable excursion into the world of books and authors, of birds and bees (not the variety we now associate with) and what it means to grow up in the halycon years of Shimla, Dehradun , Mussourie and other stations his family caravan took him to.

Ruskin Bond is at his masterly best whether he talks about Wodehouse, Dickens, Walpole or others who left literary trails on his style - which still remains unaffected and distinctively simple. There are legions of his fans who like what he writes without an year's back since publishing his first novel at age 17 or early. I also find there are many others who don't relish his style of writing for whatever reasons - too rustic, too prosaic, too little variety, too much of autobiographical narratives, not so vigorous and sparkling. For all those who err on the hate-side of Ruskin Bond - pick this book or give it to your ward to read it aloud  - and lets compare notes if the book doesn't hold upto its promise. I recommend this book for anyone who likes Ruskin Bond or English literature - and for those who don't like to read him too for the simple pleasures of life they forgot to relate to. For school kids, this book will be another sure-fire hit. Good to find a third publisher - Ratna Sagar - which publishes academic books - give a neat cover and an elegant font to highlight the stories that make Ruskin Bond India's best-loved English-born Indian writer in English. Its a nice gift for any parent struggling to get kids interested in books and the early trappings of reading.

At School with Ruskin Bond, price Rs.185, pub: Ratna Sagar.