{"id":1155,"date":"2016-04-16T23:58:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T23:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2016-04-16T23:58:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T23:58:19","slug":"modern-family-cinema-hall-movies-kaho-na-pyaar-hai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1155","title":{"rendered":"Kaho Naa… Parivaar Hai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“T<\/span>fhe cheapest way to get air-conditioned entertainment for a middle-class family,\u201d is how my father defines going to the movies. But this sweet little joke is only a whittled-down version of what cinema has meant to us as a familial unit.\n\nWe have lived together in the same house for over two decades, but the closest we have been to each other physically is in an artificial gold family tree photo frame: Three awkward headshots hanging next to each other. We cry in our separate favourite corners; venting is a personal affair executed by smoking or making hushed phone calls or simply locking doors. One of the only things that has brought us together is the forced silence birthed in a cinema hall. In that induced darkness, we are three silhouettes sitting next to each other. Suddenly everything is allowed, and all our guards are down. We have cried together in the saddest pits of <\/p>Kal Ho Naa Ho<\/em>, felt awkward at the nakedness in Titanic<\/em>, and laughed effortlessly like close friends during Hera Pheri<\/em>.\n\nThe routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in these darkened halls. What comes before and after, remains the same. My parents\u2019 married life, much like my mum\u2019s old Ambassador, often broke down under the squabbling weight of family politics and an inherently stubborn, irritable daughter.\n\nEven before we became a family, my folks were cinema devotees. In 1976, my father and his cousins would often be found waiting outside a cinema hall in Bhopal for their fifth viewing of Deewar<\/em>. The gang, having concluded that the first half of the film was a giant drag, would discreetly await the intermission bell \u2013 their cue to mingle among the audience and quietly find their way into balcony seats while the ticket checker was busy napping in the upper stall.\n\nMy mother on the other hand, pursued her love for cinema solitarily. On many evenings in 1980, she\u2019d sneak out of the house in her brother\u2019s white Ambassador to go watch Khubsoorat <\/em>at Ahmedabad\u2019s drive-in cinema \u2013 car keys swirling around her fingers, \u201cSare niyam tod do<\/a>\u201d on her lips.\n\nStepping inside a movie hall was like a bhool bhulaiya that must have compelled these film-addicts-turned-parents to make me bunk school for a film when I was five years old. During that year\u2019s first rain, I saw Ramgad Ke Sholay<\/em>, my first-ever, first-day-first-show in a hall. This would become our routine every week. My father ensuring he sat next to the male stranger, getting ready minutes before the interval, tiptoeing through rectangular aisles to make sure we get the hottest samosas and machine coffee.\n\n

There may rarely be another space like a cinema hall that gives me the balanced feeling of being together and solitary at the same time.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nWhat can I blame but genetics for my itch to go to the theatres compulsively? Once in 1994, I locked myself in a bathroom, and wailed for hours on a wet floor because I had a history exam the following day and my dad refused to take me to watch 1942: A Love Story<\/em>. (Eventually, a song<\/a> from that film would become my textbook reference for what a simile is.)\n

***<\/p>\nOur Bollywood trivia as a family rests not on what the plot was or who killed the villain, but which theatre we watched the film in. We picked our favourite screens in Mumbai for several colourful reasons: Gaiety Galaxy for the Hoggers\u2019 Park popcorn, Roopam (Cinemax Sion) for its Guru Kripa samosa, Aurora for the cheapest black tickets. While girls in my school bragged about their Mauritius or Singapore summer trips, I prided myself in seeing all the films first day and held special respect for my cousin brothers and uncles who (until today) had phone numbers of black-ticket sellers like Guddu Bhai and Altaf Uncle.\n\nOur craziness for Bollywood walked out of the halls and went straight into our living room. Dad and I recorded songs on our Sony Karaoke twin-player \u2013 two faces glued to a mic singing \u201cPak chik pak raja babu<\/a>\u201d down to its third stanza. At last count we had 360 audio tapes alphabetically arranged in my parents\u2019 room, all sold during one fateful Diwali cleaning for \u20b93 apiece.\n\nAnd then there was the Bollywood paraphernalia. My father regularly updates the stock at his sari shop with Madhuri\u2019s purple Hum Aapke Hain Koun!!<\/em> sari to Priyanka Chopra\u2019s grey number from \u201cDesi Girl\u201d. Growing up, I have sported the Kool chain, the Lungi Dance sari and Divya Bharti\u2019s four-piece outfit from \u201cAisi Deewangi<\/a>\u201d. But nothing is as treasured to us, as the times we\u2019ve met the actual stars. One dandiya evening, among a 1,500-strong crowd, my mother held a chubby 10-year-old me on her shoulders so I could get a look at the chief guest of the evening, Amitabh Bachchan. Jugal Hansraj shook my hand at a wedding once and I obviously refused to wash my hands for a day. But my most special collectible is a tiny heart-shaped autograph book signed by Kajol, Akshay Kumar, and Saif Ali Khan from the evening my maternal uncle surprised us with a premiere show of Yeh Dillagi<\/em>.\n\nThere may rarely be another space like a cinema hall that gives me the balanced feeling of being together and solitary at the same time. My love for film festivals was born not out of an intense passion for world cinema, but a phase in my life when I was very alone (by circumstance and design) and chose the hall as my tried-and-tested respite to jump back to being buoyant. The first few times that I went to the movies alone, I\u2019d pretend as if I were waiting for my company to arrive. But as the lights dimmed, I\u2019d slouch and find my most comfortable self, lost in the worries of another\u2019s story, slipping into the only real way I\u2019d mastered to counter loneliness.\n\nAll that\u2019s in the past. Somewhere along the way, we lost my maama and mum. We are now armed with Netflix, a Chromecast, and the convenience of torrents. My dad is at an age where he can barely stay fully awake through the runtime of a film.\n\nYet, the only question that keeps us together is, \u201cDekhna, picture kaun si lagi hai?\u201d\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":1156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[439],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-modern-family"],"yoast_head":"\nKaho Naa... Parivaar Hai<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-16T23:58:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Preeti Vangani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Preeti Vangani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Preeti Vangani\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82faa781ec7ad78d8efb8bf4e24e1a86\"},\"headline\":\"Kaho Naa… Parivaar Hai\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-16T23:58:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155\"},\"wordCount\":1057,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1499439778.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Modern Family\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155\",\"name\":\"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1499439778.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-16T23:58:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82faa781ec7ad78d8efb8bf4e24e1a86\"},\"description\":\"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1499439778.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1499439778.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1155#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kaho Naa… Parivaar Hai\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82faa781ec7ad78d8efb8bf4e24e1a86\",\"name\":\"Preeti Vangani\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/024f8562416eab6ebb2b480b2484af5e1a249047c264e87ac5bd65640aa374c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/024f8562416eab6ebb2b480b2484af5e1a249047c264e87ac5bd65640aa374c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/024f8562416eab6ebb2b480b2484af5e1a249047c264e87ac5bd65640aa374c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Preeti Vangani\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=112\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai","description":"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai","og_description":"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-04-16T23:58:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Preeti Vangani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai","twitter_description":"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Preeti Vangani","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155"},"author":{"name":"Preeti Vangani","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/82faa781ec7ad78d8efb8bf4e24e1a86"},"headline":"Kaho Naa… Parivaar Hai","datePublished":"2016-04-16T23:58:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155"},"wordCount":1057,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg","articleSection":["Modern Family"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155","name":"Kaho Naa... Parivaar Hai","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-16T23:58:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/82faa781ec7ad78d8efb8bf4e24e1a86"},"description":"The routine abrasiveness of our family life dissolved in darkened cinema halls. We\u2019ve cried together in the saddest pits of Kal Ho Naa Ho and laughed like close friends during Hera Pheri.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1155#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kaho Naa… Parivaar Hai"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/82faa781ec7ad78d8efb8bf4e24e1a86","name":"Preeti Vangani","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/024f8562416eab6ebb2b480b2484af5e1a249047c264e87ac5bd65640aa374c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/024f8562416eab6ebb2b480b2484af5e1a249047c264e87ac5bd65640aa374c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/024f8562416eab6ebb2b480b2484af5e1a249047c264e87ac5bd65640aa374c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Preeti Vangani"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=112"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1499439778.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}