The ravenously consumed TV series, Game of Thrones airs on a local channel in India on Tuesdays, 24 hours after the rest of the world has seen it. But Bengalureans think it’s ‘cute’ (read lame) to wait to watch it on television. With the show picking up speed in its seventh season, fans get chatty about their viewing habits and how nothing can come in the way of them catching up with a brand new episode every Monday.
Take Hitha Chandrashekar for instance. The Sandalwood actress makes it a point to wake up early every Monday just to catch the show. “I know that the minute I get on social media, I’m up for spoilers. So, I’d rather wake up early and watch it online before logging on to Facebook. That way, I’m safe,” says Hitha about a ritual that she started after she stumbled upon spoilers for the infamous Red Wedding — the most shocking scene of season three. Another reason why the show’s fans catch the episode as soon as it’s on the Internet is because everybody wants to immediately discuss what they saw. “But if you haven’t watched it for whatever reason — download speed, laziness or no off day, you can’t say ‘spoilers, no thank you’ or claim rights to be shielded from them. That’s invalid and delusional on social media. And by the time you have, the world would have over-discussed the topic and moved on,” notes Bengaluru comedian Ajay Samson.
Some ardent fans stop at nothing to make their viewing experience unadulterated. “Just when the new season of Game of Thrones airs, I either deactivate my account or maintain a very low profile on Facebook to avoid spoilers,” says Jheel Ashwin Shah, a pre-school counsellor and freelance artist.
The GOT zealot who wowed audiences for her cosplay as Daenerys Targar yen at the Bengaluru Comic Con believes in binge watching instead. “With episodes releasing on a weekly basis, the urge to know what’s next is excruciating. I’d rather watch all of them at a 10-12 hour stretch,” she says.
With the golden age of the Internet, nobody seems to take to their television sets anymore. Hell, some of us don’t even know what TV we own! “I’d watch the show on TV if I didn’t have access to the Internet or Hotstar, but I wouldn’t want to. The edits, cuts and censorship on TV would make it seem like an entirely different episode, far from the original version,” says city-based writer, Pritam Ghosh. If you thought you were alone in your obsession for the show, nope. You have allies, unlike Daenerys (for now).
