watching sad movies drives people obese !!!!

Do you like seeing ‘comedy’ films or ‘tragedy’ films impress you !

We have all seen this story .... a feudal lord's son, falling in love with a poor girl  - not able to marry .... ends up spending life in frustration in the company of liquor.  Heart-broken he dies in front of her house singing as a destitute seated near a dustbin with a stray dog in company – the song ‘ulage mayam vazhve mayam’ of Ghantasala remains evergreen hit....  the film ‘Devadas’ – 1953 released in Telegu starring A Nageswarara Rao, made in Tamil too – based on the Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Devdas. Samudrala Raghavacharya wrote the dialogue and screen adaptation. The film is listed among CNN-IBN's list of hundred greatest Indian films of all time.

William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ is considered one of his darkest and most powerful works. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfill the ambition for power.  Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with the sovereign, narrating the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death.

Kamal – Sridevi – Sripriya starrer ‘Vazhvey Maayam’ released in 1982 was a hit with the music of Gangai Amaran and lyrics of Vaali – it  was a remake of Telugu film Premabhishekam.  The 1970 Malayalam movie of the same name directed by KS Sethumadhavan left a lasting impact on Malayalam cinema.  This is no post on movies but the physical impact it could have on its viewers !!

An article in the Science section of MailOnline states that people watching sad movies could become more fat.  Next time you sit down to watch sad film, leave the snacks in the cupboard. Research shows that we eat up to 55 per cent more when watching a weepy movie than a happy one. It is thought that we comfort eat to make us feel better. With popcorn and ice cream among the favourite foods of film-goers, the phenomenon spells bad news for dieters.

People ate up to 55 per cent more snacks when they watched a sad film compared to a funny one !  US researchers offered a group of office workers range of snacks while they watched the epic Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw weepy Love Story and Sweet Home Alabama, an upbeat, funny film. Researcher Brian Wansink, of Cornell University, said: ‘After the movies were over and the tears were wiped away, those who had watched Love Story had eaten 36 per cent more popcorn.’ A second experiment involved collecting popcorn boxes from the floors and bins of cinemas and working out which films led to people finishing the carton. Those who watched the George Clooney tear-jerker Solaris munched their way through 55 per cent more popcorn than those who chuckled their way through My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

And it is not just weepies that are bad by the waistline. In a previous study, Professor Wansink showed action films also whet appetite.

Away from these – comedians are not fat and infact have had tragic lives sometimes.  Few decades ago, the Tamil tinseldom was dominated by  Sivaji Ganesan and MG Ramachandran – a comedian commanded salary on a par with them and, on a few occasions, even received more.  He had the distinction of singing in his first film Dhana Amaravathi (1947). He was a dancer and singing-actor, who introduced yodelling in playback singing.  But J.P. Chandrababu’s life was a tragedy and he died a pauper in 1974, befitting the title of the film Maadi Veettu Yezhai that he directed.

According to his biography, he led a royal lifestyle, bought a 20-ground plot on Greenways Road; designed it in such a way that he could drive the car straight to the first floor. But Maadi Veettu Yezhai put paid to his hopes and he plunged neck-deep into crisis. The property was attached by the court, and he died in penury !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th Mar 2015.