Senior citizens throng Mumbai’s film festivals

As the end credits roll for the first film of Mami’s Mumbai Film Festival, Hyder Currim, 88, uses a walking stick and gingerly descends down the aisle.

Climbing the stairs of the auditorium is no deterrent for Currim, a regular at film festivals in the city. “I’ve told my friends that I’m off for a holiday of sorts,” he jokes.

Currim is just one among the numerous senior citizens who throng the city’s numerous film festivals. It’s thanks to them that multiplexes hosting film festivals like Mami have respectable occupancy levels during morning and day shows on weekdays.

Conservative estimates by the organisers state that as much as 30% of the festival’s attendees are aged above 50 years.

If this requires travelling in congested trains, so be it. Thane resident N Mohanan, 65, doesn’t mind the commute towards the western suburbs for the few days of the festival.

“I’m going to attend the Third Eye Asian Film Festival after Mami, as well. I actually timed my annual stay with relatives in Kerala last year to coincide with the International Film Festival of Kerala,” Mohanan said.

For this year’s edition of Mumbai Film Festival, senior citizen attendees have reason to cheer, as a newly introduced category titled ‘Celebrate Age’ is showcasing eight short fiction and documentaries on senior citizens and “the fun of growing older.”

Ramesh Sippy, who heads the jury for this category, says that contemporary Indian filmmakers are no longer writing storylines about senior citizens.

“Most of our films are targeted at young audiences because of the demand. Somewhere along the line, we’ve alienated a huge section of film lovers. It would be interesting to see how the ‘positive side of ageing’ as a subject is handled by film-makers.”

The big attraction is the award-winning Young@Heart, which tells the true story of 25 senior citizens living in Northampton who formed a singing group. The average age of the group’s members is 81, and they battle handicaps of age and health to participate consistently.

There’s also the French film Forget Me Not, the story of an old couple’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. There are two Indian entries as well.

There’s Sheeba Naaz and Sumiran Preet Kaur’s short film What Lies Ahead, about the importance of planning for retirement.
There’s also the much-awarded Good Night by Geetika Narang, which tells the story of a retired engineer, who wants to start each day of his disorganised life in an elaborate routine.