The Video Library experience.

This happened on Saturday and I have been debating with myself on whether to blog about it or not. I happened to drop by at the VCD/DVD library to see if any new movies have come or not. And the conversation happened as follows (writing in English for the benefit of those who do not understand Hindi, but the conversation actually happened in Hindi):

Me: So, any new movies?
ShopOwner (SO): Hmmm.. Check these out. (putting a stack of VCDs and DVDs in front of me)
Me: You only tell me which are the new ones. I am not going to sift through all these...
SO: (getting off the phone) Check the top half. That will have the most of it.

Meanwhile I start sifting through the top half - which roughly numbers upto 20 or so. Sifting through it, I see a couple of "Sudesi"s and run-o-mill Hindi movies released lately. I have seen almost all recent movies that have been impressive, including the "Taxi 9 2 11". I was looking for movies like "Maalamaal Weekly" in Hindi, "Chithiram Pesuthadi" in Tamil and the Oscar nominated English ones. I had already watched Crash before the Academy gave it the top award. I do not find anything and resign from my search.

Me: There is nothing of interest here.
SO: What are you telling, Sir? There are a couple of good ones. See this, this and this. (He showed me Sudesi, Zinda and Fight Club)
Me: Eh? You want me to watch these...??
So: All these are nice, Sir.
Me: Whom are you fooling? (Kisko chuna laga rahe ho??)
SO: Why should I, Sir? Aren't these good?
Me: Who told you these are good? (I placed my finger on Sudesi)
SO: (leaning over to me) This "Sudesi" is not good, is it?
Me: Most of my friends who saw this movie are sick in bed!
SO: Oh! (A feeling of big loss!!)
Me: Why? What happened??
SO: I invested some good money to get 10 copies of this movie, Sir. Till date only one rental. Nobody renting it. So, thats why I was wondering.
Me: Hehehehe... Why will anybody risk their lives??
SO: Cheh! I should really know what movies to stock. But I never really know, Sir.
Me: I don't blame you. You are bound to face situations like these.
SO: But this "Sudesi" was the worst, Sir. I havent had this bad renting on any other movie. People may atleast want to watch it once.
Me: Like I said, it is a question of sanity and insanity. You can't take risks.
SO: Ok, Sir. Take any other movie you want. And please let me know if there are any movies to look out for. It would help me.
SO: Oh sure, I would. (while my eyes were scanning the DVD collection from the older lot)

I ended up watching "The Polar Express". I have been wanting to watch this movie for more than 1.5 years now. I am glad that I did watch it finally. Will be buying this DVD. It is a nice children's movie. And when we grown-ups watch it, we also want to return back to those golden years! Hmmm... (Will post a review of the movie later, come back to read it)

PS: If you want a good length review of "Sudesi", please read this blog post from Praveen. :-)