I finally watched Gone With The Wind, once again after more than a decade. I spent many waking hours devouring the book during my school days, in the quiet confines of the one and only loo at our flat in Darsait (Oman).
Pop highly disapproved of my hogging precious loo time, to read those ‘novels’. Incidentally, the cousins from my generation in mom’s side of the family have a penchant for spending many hours reading in the loo and under the covers in torchlight at night, whilst everyone in the household is asleep.
So, we watched the movie once again, on a DVD by BIG entertainment (that Zee brand).
Well, guess what? All the most passionately charged scenes between Scarlett O’Hara (of the 16-inch waist) and Rhett Butler were edited out of the piece!
It reminded me of the one and only Oman TV, the lone channel available in Muscat during the 80s, before satellite television changed our lives. When the hero makes love to his leading lady, we would get to see a video grab/ photograph of flowers, usually roses.
And coming back to censorship in today’s era, damn you BIG. Talibanisation of this classic is in bad taste.
Tags: Big TV, gone with the wind, Muscat, oman, oman TV, rhett Butler, scarlett o'hara, talibanisation, Zee
written with alot of passion