Offscreen effect

Being connected to cinema is a natural process. We grow up watching others because we are inanely built in a curious manner. It’s impossible to watch ourselves grow though. Because of this paradox, cinema provides us a controlled window to peek into others’ lives when it isn’t clear who others are. They could very well be you. That said, a lot of us indulge in movies for entertainment’s sake. Some of us, however, end up becoming embroiled in the yarn of cinematic byproduct—innocent tales and memorable coincidences. For example, my friend’s mother was watching Children of a Lesser God (1986) when she went into labour. Four years later, she was watching Khamoshi (1996) when her water broke again leading to my friend’s sibling. What’s interesting here is that the latter film was heavily inspired by the former one. There are always such film-associated snippets which you stumble upon every now and then. And their cuteness factor is remarkably astronomical. Consider the Chandan phenomenon of the early 80s when a lot of northerners from the Bhojpuri belt named their sons after the protagonist of Nadiya Ke Paar (1982). Similarly, Salman Khan brought the name ‘Prem’ back into vogue thanks to his initial hits, wherein his characters were named after the Sanskrit word for love! Speaking of which, Prem went out of fashion amongst Indian parents because it reminded them of Prem Chopra, a Bollywood actor popular for his eponymous hate-filled roles. Lastly, although my amma disagrees, my dad likes to tell everybody he named me after the only film that featured both of his screen idols together. I think that’s the beauty of cinema: the element of mystique looms as long as you want it to.