Mr. India

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'Mr. India' had released in 1987. I was then five years old. Most probably I was in Upper Nursery or Kindergarten at that time. In those days we had a black and white television in our house. We did not have any VCR. However my uncle who used to stay in Ballygunge had a colour television in their house. They also had a VCR. Therefore almost every weekend we used to go to their house to watch hindi films in their VCR. A man from the local video parlour used to come to their house regularly, especially on weekends. He used to carry a big black bag. Inside it there were many video cassettes, especially those of the latest hindi film releases. I still remember that man's face clearly. He was a young man and had a moustache. It was a real fun activity to choose a few video cassettes from his bag. 

I first saw 'Mr. India' at my uncle's house. I was simply blown away by this movie. The whole concept of an invisible man was mind blowing and mind bending. I must have seen this film almost a dozen times. I was really fascinated by this movie. The only problem was that watching this movie with my uncle and aunt and other family members, I used to feel a bit uncomfortable during the 'Katey Nahin Kaat Tey' song. Anyways as a child I used to pretend to be an invisible boy and I used to play 'Mr. India' games with my brother and cousins. 

In those days 'Mr. India' pencils were available in the market. They were blue coloured with the face of Anil Kapoor on them and also the words 'Mr. India' were written on them. I had forced my mother to buy me those pencils. Normally I used the ordinary and common Nataraj pencils in school. Our teachers had warned us and had told us not to bring 'Mr. India' pencils to school. Still one day I took those 'Mr. India' pencils to school and showed them off to my friends. My friends were really fascinated by those pencils. It was a proud moment for me to own and possess those pencils. Luckily I was not caught by my teachers...

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