The Saga Ends

I just returned from a show of George Lucas' opus: Star Wars Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith. This post will celebrate what the Star Wars saga means to me, so if you are a) Cynical, b) Too grown up, c) Looking to crack a few jokes about "tubelight fighting", d) Looking for a short post or, e) An idiot in general, don't read it...

However, if you want to share in some of the finest moments of my life as a kid in love with movies, come on in...

Frankly I am at a loss about how to write this long-promised post. Do I write a review of Episode 3? Naah... that's too narrow. In two words though, the movie is Immensely Awesome. Do I praise George Lucas to the sky for his imagination, for his melding of my two favorite genres of science fiction and fantasy? Naah... too academic. He did however manage to meld Joseph Campbell's distillation of myth with pure imaginitive fun. I could write about it as a pop culture phenomenon, commercial franchise, multi-billion dollar machine, or leaps in technology.

But no. Today I'd rather write about the boy I once was - and the boy I am.

I remember a store in the middle of Tilak Road; near Aurangabad Book House for those who know it; where I remember going sometime in the very early 90's and asking for a Star Wars movie, having heard about it from a friend. The surd goes back into his library and brings out a cassette labeled simply "Star Wars". I take it home, and am sorely disappointed when the title reveals that it is "Episode IV: A New Hope". I didn't want to watch the saga from the middle, but I owed the surd 20 Rs anyway, and so I watched it. Bad print, worse VCR... you get the picture.

But still I was tantalized. I was Luke Skywalker... No, Han Solo... No, Darth Vader... oh what the hell, I was even R2D2. And I was in awe. So I go back to the store and ask the surd's helper to find me Episode 1. And naturally, he can't find it.

You see, back in 1977, Lucas made the decision to make Episodes 4, 5, and 6 first. And he hadn't yet got around to making the rest. Small town that Aurangabad was, I could not locate any other Star Wars tapes.

1997, and with a media blitz with few precedents George Lucas re-releases Special Editions of the first trilogy (which I now knew consisted of episodes IV - VI). They release in India about three impatient months after their release worldwide. They play at the smallest screen in town - Abhineet, with about a hundred seats - and are looked at with disdain by the idiots that are the public.

No one wanted to watch the movies with me. I remember that distinctly. I remember asking a couple of friends and them saying no. And then I remember being in line, on the day Episode 4 released, alone. I watched breathlessly as the dimly remembered, scratched-print tale of years ago came alive in regal splendor and surround sound.

I don't know if you've ever watched a movie alone... It is at once a poignantly sad and absorbingly splendid experience (if you like the movie). Incidentally, I went on to watch several movies alone, including the two Matrix sequels (at E Square, my first movies there)...

So after A New Hope, I came back home reeling, and naturally raring to watch it again. And this time, my normally movie averse Dad came with me.

I don't remember how I talked him into it. I guess he saw how excited I was and couldn't say no to my insistence that he watch it. He watched all three movies with me! For The Empire Strikes Back (Ep 5) and Return of the Jedi (6) I stood in line and watched the movies alone on day one, and later watched them a second time with Dad as and when he had the time. He sat through all of them patiently - I don't remember if he liked them or said nice things about them. I do remember however, that never once did he make a negative comment to puncture my enthusiasm. And I remember the twinkle in his eye as he watched me go on and on about them.

Let's leave it at saying these are the only three movies me and Dad have seen by ourselves in the theatre. Thanks, Dad. Curiously enough, I look at that first trilogy as a growing up tale, and a father and son saga - and both those things apply to my personal experience of it.

Watching The Empire Strikes Back (largely considered the best of the saga) was a thrilling experience. I still remember the shiver that ran up my spine - the lump in my throat - when I heard that fateful line - "Luke... I am your father." And then Return of the Jedi with Luke's dignified and final "You've failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me!" sealed the pact. I was a fan for life.

1999, and Lucas decides that it is time to tell the first tale. The tale of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. I remember staying up all night, waiting for a constantly dropping dial up connection to download the 3.2 Mb Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace teaser trailer (and later the full trailer). My first ever trailer downloads! I remember being breathless when I watched the many moments in it - "Obi Wan Kenobi, meet Anakin Skywalker", or Obi Wan's scream at the end of one after Darth Sidious says "Wipe them out... all of them..." (Noooooooo!) I actually had a lump in my throat.

Funny thing is, I never saw Episode 1 in the theatre. It played as "Anjaan Khatra" or some such shitty title as a hindi translation in Aurangabad, which I refused to watch. Instead, it was back to bootlegs - a VCD this time - which I watched twice back to back the day I got it. The movie was widely panned - by critics and fans. Critics saw their usual cynical chinks. Fans wanted more than the movie offered - and they hated Jar Jar Binks.

I, however, pride in the fact that I recognized it as what it was, the first act of a grand saga, with much exposition and stage setting to do. Once again, Star Wars was a personal thing. For reasons I will not elaborate, Yoda's "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to suffering." became something of a personal motto.

And John Williams' triumphant yet eerie "Duel of the Fates" became my all time favorite background score. (Star Wars has great music by the way - the classic theme, "Imperial March", "Across the Stars" and now, "A Hero Falls" are all amazingly poignant. Hats off to Williams!)

My fan-hood grew in the meantime. I became a regular at TheForce.net Jedi Council Forums - where I am one of the veteran "lurkers". I discovered "spoilers"... I read annotated screenplays, books, ebooks. I played video games (Jedi Knight 2 - Dark Forces and Jedi Knight Dark Forces - Mysteries of the Sith are some of my favorites to date. Nothing like swinging a lightsaber at a Stormtrooper!)

Onward then, to Pune, 2002. Attack of the Clones released in India at the same time as in the US - an ode to globalization. I saw it at Inox, I think in the first week. I had dragged Shishir along - poor guy - and I remember having a merry run around Pune trying to locate Inox. My first movie at Inox by the way, at a then unaffordable price of 90 Rupees - and I saw it twice!

This one disappointed me a little. While it was eye candy and a lot of fun, nothing too important seemed to happen in it. Or perhaps I had grown up in the time I had been watching these movies. Suddenly the chinks that critics seemed to be worried about started to become apparent. Wooden acting here. Bad dialogue there... But then there was Yoda again, with "Victory? Victory you say? Master Obi Wan... not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun... the Clone War, has."

I bought both Episodes 1 and 2 on VCD anyway when they came out. My first bit of internet shopping - albeit done via Dad's Rediff id and credit card. Dad indulged me this time too... Oh, and those were my first two VCD's in what has now become a 60+ title collection on VCD and DVD.

And then, May 20 2005, today I watched the final heartbreaking chapter of the saga. This movie is everything I wanted it to be. It is an enormous leap in technology (digital filming). In music, in duels, in performances, in story, in tragedy, in nostalgia, it is pretty much the acme of Star Wars. I had a lump in my throat for so many reasons at the end. Anakin Skywalker is no more. Darth Vader rises. And oddly enough, I feel all grown up.

You see, I watched this last instalment in the best way possible - with a kid. A 7 year old sat in the seat next to me. She sighed when Anakin cut down the Younglings, albeit off screen. She was scared when Darth Sidious became a deformed monster. She cried when Anakin finally burst into flame... and she couldn't watch when Padme died and Darth Vader finally arose.

On our drive back in the cab, I was bursting with joy - and grief. A moment had passed which would never return. I had watched the last Star Wars movie I ever would. I had in many ways finished with another piece of my childhood. And then I turned to the kid next to me and asked her,

"So, how did you like the movie?".
"I didn't like that the poor kids were separated at birth", she said of the twins.
"Oh, but they meet later. And they bring back their dad to the good side."
"Really?"
"Yes. I have those episodes on DVD... you want to see them?"
"Can I?" The kid's eyes lit up, and she looked at her patiently smiling Dad.

And that, you see, is what Star Wars is about. Moments...! Not cynical reviews and "grown up" chuckles about fighting with tubelights (lightsabers, you smug bastards, lightsabers!). It's about memories of moments... "I am your father" and watching the movie with your own father. It's about growing up and it's about holding on to your childhood. It's about a good yarn of good and evil and redemption and love and fathers and sons and robots and planets and stars. It's about all of that...

And yes. I love it.