Why do parents bring their children to watch an ‘A’ rated movie???

In the heat alert regions in India, one is left with very little option to spend weekends/vacations. No T.V shows and no constant shower (the tap water is ever ready to boil eggs/ tea leaves) can help you bat out the heat. Summer has been pretty tough this season.

We had some good movies released this Friday and thus the best way was to watch back to back movies to evade at least a days’ heat. Hopping to the first one which had started a good 15 minutes before we entered, I realized I was in for a jolly good temper rise. And guess what, it didn’t take too long!

An  ‘A’ rated movie was houseful . To be honest I did not know it was ‘A’ rated till I woke up this morning to check in the censor board rating for the movie. Poor husband, he had to bear earful! I felt humiliated sitting through something that was less than entertainment, more than humiliation. Explicit violent scenes, adult encounters, profanity, expletives most of which I couldn’t follow. There were applauses, whistles at every adult dialogue delivered. Rightly said by a distributor “in India movies are made for whistleblowers.”

By the time intermission happened I was writing a note on the movie on my cell phone. Why was I there? My husband enjoys all those maar-dhaar,(read action films), now he wouldn’t have preferred going unaccompanied plus we had the plans to watch back to back movies.

Intermission: surprise!

I know most wouldn’t be. There were parents with their grown up and growing up kids, kids who question their parents for all they cannot follow. These kids were out with their parents watching their favorite action hero John Abrahm in adult act, molesting, raping his beau, cursing her b**c*** everytime he needed her. Lets forget the bloodied scenes which grab the EQ factor.  

Soon I had walked out of my personal trauma for having to sit through the movie to buy little peace for ourselves. I was all over the theatre mentally.

pic courtesy : google

Taking children below 18 years to an A rated movie, who are these parents: accidental?! While I am very very sure most of my friends wouldn’t even spare a thought of watching a movie like Shootout for Wadala, I went through a gamut of emotion putting up with the language: both verbal and anatomical. When I a full grown adult had gone through so much, how could parents with children in the theatre obliterate the thought of the kind of influence their children were pushed to through the explicit scenes of violence and sex?

We are in anyway a regressive lot, and through unlocking the key to participate in contents highly damaging, how can they be sure that the next teenaged rapist could not be their son!? Our earlier generation in any case doesn’t like to discuss matters related to sex and violence, let alone counseling them at a time when need be.

We are running through a rough time, molestation and rapes are almost  settling down as the norms of Indian states. And this is the time when a picture like Shootout to Wadala releases to full packed audience with uncivil content. With most schools/colleges/universities on a break, it is disheartening movies such as this are out there to let out ones anger, frustrations through sexual exploitation. What melted my eyes was when I overheard a kid asking his dad “papa, john kya kar raha hein?” ( "papa, what is John doing?") I really wanted to overhear the response too which the papa didn’t, he just pacified him by handing over his pepsi bottle!

Ones out of the movie hall, I did see couple of my students too but I knew I couldn’t be moral policing them. After all they were adults!

The question I returned home and got arguing with my company is that the theatres must get far more responsible in restricting the children below the prescribed age. The censor board too needs to check on the season the films are released. Summer breaks are a great time for getting into the theatre and therefore films with adult content should be out keeping in mind a point such as this. There is another attitude that Indian parents have to probably get over with, “mere bachche hein, tujhe kya problem hein”(my kids, what is your problem)? 

The problem is these are the children who will become the citizens of a nation. And one cannot completely be certain if they will take home accolades or public mash.

( we couldn't manage tickets for the second movie for all the shows we had planned to watch).  

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http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/movie-review-why-shootout-at-wadala-is-a-new-low-in-hindi-cinema-758879.html?utm_source=voices&utm_medium=hp

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/entertainment/bollywood/Parents-kid-about-A-films/articleshow/20039962.cms

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-06/parenting/36763263_1_anger-attacks-rage-parents