Bollywood - the vibrantly ubiquitous, eternal charmer much like the Hindu God predominantly worshipped in the land of its birth has captured the imagination of one and all. And it does so with exaggerated zest today. Like it, dislike it, but dare you ignore it. This eclectic medium of entertainment has an almost ethereal charm .And believe me the pull does not pervade only the entertainment idiom but also the panoramic and means of employment sweep it offers.

Censored, whipped, praised, compared-Indian cinema has always held an incredible mystique. Right from being the Central point of fascination of an infant, who dutifully eats every tiny morsel only when the mother has selected ‘KajraRe’ on the VideoCD, to the disapproval of adolescents and adults, who have or rather had their own favorites to view. Films, songs, costumes, dialogues, special effects have never fallen short of making  Bollywood larger than life ever since the Talkies were born.

Evening/Supper time theatre, ballets, classical dance and music, DJ nights all have a place under the creative arts Sun, but when you see a middle-aged wealthy woman who indulges in the finer things of life, ask her family jeweler to make a replica of the dazzling ‘Kundan’ necklace worn by Aishwarya Rai in a period film, you know who sets the guidelines for the high and mighty, traditional and modern, young and old. Not to forget the Indian Superman, leaving an imprint on toddlers and school-going boys and girls, much like yesteryears Angry young man still going strong.

Cineplex’s and Home theatres have only made Cinema viewing more easily accessible and an experience in itself.

Love, patriotism, terrorism, mafia, epics-an interesting story woven around music, melodrama and a message stimulated generations of cine-buffs, making certain blockbusters no less than cult-movies by the end of their spring bloom.

Poets, lyricists, music-directors, choreographers and hundreds of other artists, technicians and skilled personnel live on the success and failure of films as do radio channels, advertisers, social causes, event managers, Producers and Channel executives who cannot do without films in one way or another.

So, if you had made up your mind on shutting the idiot box off till the time your 15-year old cleared her boards, you cannot stop humming ‘Dabbang dabanng’ while enjoying the morning shower or fondly remembering your college days of the 60s/70s when you bunked classes with friends to see the smashing hits of those times.

Hate to love them and love to hate them-We still enjoy watching them. Isn’t that true? What is it in the reel that leaves an indelible imprint in our minds? Is it something that no one has understood? Or is it that words can express that within the constraints of the boundaries of Grammar.

The soul of many debates and at the heart of both necessary and unnecessary speculation, Cinema the world over has been as much an enigma, as a visual and intellectual treat. Notwithstanding the occasional garbage unleashed by it, even the background scores of many television serials have not missed the beat. A ‘Serial’ killer would instantly get my point!

Talking of songs, even the songs of the 90s sound so much better than those blaring through FM sets today. Each and every musical instrument charmed the listener with its melody in distinct notes.

Endowed with the amazing potential of making people sit up and think, without for a flash letting them realize how it effortlessly sets the tone for trends and fads encompassing fashion, food, festivals, shopping, partying and even tourism. With many famous heroes and heroines voicing the General Public’s concerns at the Parliament as MPs, the going couldn’t have been better. Cinema has got from society what it has soaked in, in equal measure if not less, I would say.

Finally, it would be a mistake if I did not acknowledge the Kaleidoscopic beauty of cinema I did not express all this while busy as I was with studies a quarter of my life. I confess that I liked it when by a 10-years old girl known to the family thought that I looked like Preity Zinta as much as the impression left on the mind by the larger than life Bollywood beauties, and macho Brawn!