Movie-ing in the City!

Be it by the Hudson or East rivers' in NYC or the Arabian sea along the western coastline of Bombay, there is a mystical spell that the water's edge holds. Maybe because it's nature's most tangible element and visually, the most pleasing to the eye. Maybe because of it's dual nature, being the only natural element that can consume you and be consumed by you. Give it the backdrop of one of the most powerful skylines in the world and you have nature and man in a perfectly synchronous setting. I spent last evening in one such location.
The juxtaposing of the arts or art-related entertainments' with such semi-natural-semi-man made settings has been one of the commonly identified formula's for public activities in metropoli's such as NYC and Bombay. In Bombay - the music concerts at the Banganga Tank, In New York - the Brooklyn Bridge Park Summer Film Series.
The BBPC (Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy) is one organisation, that celebrates the spirit of the city by promoting public screenings of various films, all connected to Brooklyn in some way. There are numerous such summer fests ( mostly linked with parks) organised all over the city in the summer, more as an effort to optimise the few months of sunshine and beautiful weather that New York enjoys from April-August.
My mind went back to my days in Architecture school in Bombay, where on our annual function week-nights we shared a similar experience on the lawn, in school. Only, there was no backdrop other than the school building. Being stretched out on the lawn to watch a movie, together yet in closed huddles, was an enthralling experience by itself.
I also could'nt help wondering why Bombay's only drive-in theatre closed down and whether it's plans to re-open had worked out or not. Being a dedicated student of Urban Design, I had always wanted to include such public-related activities in my laboratories of design, then - Bombay/ Calcutta.
What could be the possible repercussions of a similar activity infused in sites such as the Bandra-Kurla drive-in theatre complex or even any of our own beach fronts?
Would such recreational activities work in a high-density city like Bombay where space ( even public) is at such a premium? Where our awareness levels and responsibilities towards the sanitation of our public spaces differ from those towards our own?
Where there are so many people without homes that such a public screening activity would actually mean encroaching upon people's spaces who actually live and sleep in the park?
Where the lines of demarcation between classes have become so distinct that perhaps the only people who would come to watch these movies in the first place, would be the homeless who inhabit the park?
All the movies being showcased at the BBPC's summer fest are easily accessible on DVD's or on the net. And they are screened on Thursday's, a weekday. Even then the movies run to packed audiences. This film fest is not as much about the films as it is about being part of an experience. It's about lying on the grass, by the river's edge and viewing - the celluloid or the skyline, is then just a matter of personal choice!

GOOD WATCH: Gandhi