What comes to the mind when one says the words Movies and Chill together? A relaxed environment with a pint of beer in hand and your favourite movie on a laptop screen?Well, organisers of Movies and Chill festival added an extra element of open sky and replaced the laptop with a big screen making it the grander version of a relaxed environment. Delhi's first open air movie festival was organised recently and offered a three-day immersive experience under the stars with films like Pulp Fiction, Top -Gun and Silence of The Lambs.
Organised at the heart of Delhi, Chanakyapuri, the Movies and Chill Festival had everything one needs while watching a film- cushioned seats, food, and relaxing ambience. We entered the venue one hour before the movie-time and were welcomed by pretty fairy lights over the chairs and a singer on-stage covering classic blues. The organisers didn't fail to give the 'chill' part equal importance. While there were food stalls to satisfy the movie-mongers with Dimsums, Sandwiches, burgers and more; beer and sangria were also available to quench the thirst of the audience.
"We have seen the film innumerable times and I am not even a fan of thriller but we are here to get this first-ever experience of watching the movie in such an open space." Said a fellow movie-geek who was there with her friends.
Another one added, "We are here to actually chill. Movie or not the ambience is extremely nice and a good movie is like an added bonus."
Despite not having the typical 'under the stars' collection of films (read: romantic) the movie geeks in the city turned up in good numbers, making the festival a success. As a lover of the horror-thriller genre, I chose Silence of The Lambs to be my starry-night movie and prepared myself for an alien experience of watching my all-time favourite for the fifth time.
Now, a classic in itself, Judie Foster and Anthony Hopkins psychological-thriller needs no validation from any critic anymore. However, the previous four-time I've watched the film it had been in a setting that Hannibal Lector himself would have been proud of, a dark dingy room with just screen light emitting from laptop and headphones deep enough to let him enter the mind of Clarice as well as mine. While Dr. Lector wouldn't have appreciated such a huge gathering to witness his quid pro quo with Agent Clarice but then no matter how 'rude' it may have been for the cannibal mastermind, his fans loved him hatch his plan under the stars on a big screen.
Watching Buffalo Bill skin women to make a suit, under the yellow fairy lights just added a different eerie angel to the entire act. Never would have one imagined that a change of setting will make the film focus less on Bill and more on Hannibal's interest in Clarice. While audience still screeched at the scene of Hannibal attacking police officers while escaping his cell, they had the company of their friend and a drink to gulp it down their throat. Thanks to the festival, the 1991 classic got a near-theatre audience even in 2017, rather than closed views in a dark room.
As Clarice gets into a close encounter with Buffalo Bill, the adrenaline rush experienced even after knowing the ending, felt fresh and equally terrifying on a big screen with hundreds of heart beating at the same pace. In the very first one of its kind movie experience, Movies and Chill did pretty well in bringing movie geeks, and not just couples, under the stars. Replacing the oh-so-typical, 'Grease'-like open air movie theatre, the festival turned the tables and while the settings were poetic enough, the last shot of Dr Lector walking took our breath away (literally). To perfectly balanced experience of a classic mixed with open-theatre nights, cheers!
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