Single screen v/s Multiplex : A view

Mumbai, October 2005

It has been 2 months since I have been to Mumbai. In the initial months there, after settling down, it was time to look around for some entertainment. And one form of entertainment that is hugely popular in Mumbai is films.
So, one fine day, we thought of going to a film. We selected to watch newly released "Hanuman" for 3 reasons.
1. It looked like the first really well made full length animated film in India.
2. I had never been to the multiplex and this would be my first
3. (With the fear of repeating)...entertainment.

We went to the movie and enjoyed it a lot...


Bengaluru, March 2008

It has been 2 days since I have been back to Bengaluru.After settling down for a day, it was time to look around for some entertainment. And one form of entertainment that is hugely popular in Bengaluru is films.
So, that day, we thought of going to a film. We selected to watch newly released "Shivaji" for 3 reasons.
1. Huge media hype and of course Rajnikanth,AR Rehman,Shankar combination.
2. It had been a very long time visiting a single screen and this would be a good time.
3. (With the fear of repeating again)...entertainment.

We went to the movie and enjoyed it a lot...


Single screen versus multiplex.

The most striking feature is the crowd. In multiplexes we see a rather above middle class crowd with funky clothes, polished accented English trying to show off. They buy cool drinks worth Rs 40/- and samosas worth Rs 50/-.Popcorns range from 35-50 again. Cozy seats, clean theatres are very common...infact when I watched jab we met, it was a gold class screen where three and a half ppl of my size could sit on a single seat and the total number of seats was 70.Whenever a heroine sparkles the screen showing her assets, family persons just move uncomfortably in their seats and others just let a small "WOW" sigh. Whoever the hero is the reaction of the general public is almost same.
Good film or bad they tolerate it, come out and slightly whisper..."bahut hi ghatiya movie tha".

But hold on.....if you are watching a movie on the single screen theatre...

First, you'll have to fight your way through the crowd (a 200-300 ppl trying to push thru the same door as if their life depends on it).Then you are ushered to a huge hall with ppl all over the place. You sit on a rock hard chair after you make your way through your way escaping all the pan spits all around. The crowd consists of all ppl from auto rickshaw drivers to handcart pullers to CEOs of companies. Then the film starts. If it is some hero who is a public favorite (read rajnikanth), then GOD save you...whenever he comes on screen ppl go the screen touch his feet and come back satisfied. Someone silently prays from his seat. And if there is a song ppl occupy the space front of the screen to dance and burst crackers!!!!!
The person sitting next to you blurts the punch lines even before the hero delivers it...

Now comes the heroines with the oomph factor. And this triggers a series of simultaneous whistles which is above the banned decibel levels of diwali crackers. Family persons (read rickshaw driver husbands) too join them even though their beautiful (!?) wives are sitting next to them... (Wives reaction??? well they don’t care .They know that dogs which chase cars can do nothing if they eventually manage to catch them).
Interval: 10 Rs cool drinks, 5 Rs samosas and 2 Rs popcorns.
And if by any chance the film is bad... (RGV ki aag does not qualify in "BAD" it is still worse), then you can hear all possible local galis you have ever heard.
SO you finally come out of theatres missing the punch dialogues, songs buried under whistles and an uneasy body with a cluttered mind.....Hoping never again you visit this place..

But it is this type of passion for films that bring you again and again!!!

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OOPS I DID IT AGAIN !!!

Yes the history repeats itself, atleast in my case. Again the start is the same ,same PM saying the same words regarding my impending 15 days travel to Germany, the same apprehension whether I would be sent or not. The only things different were the place I would travel to and the client I would meet and the excitement level which was not that high as it would be my second time.
Nothing special about my departure from here. Got a direct boring flight from Frankfurt got to my hotel and slept peacefully.
Only the next morning I realized that I did not have the address of the client I would be visiting .I was shocked, how I could be so foolish. But now that I had come so far I ha to find out a way. Being the Sherlock Holmes of India, I coolly went to the receptionist and asked for the nearest branch of Deutshe leasing. The logic was simple. If my company put me in a hotel in that place, the workplace would be near...Genious naa??

I went to the nearest railway station to got o my workplace. But there was only a ticket vending machine and none to help me. Since the station was deserted I could not get ay help to get me ticket and had to hire a cab to get me there. Got to work and worked happily ever after.

The Himesh effect:
This man has become a phenomenon. I realized this when I reached Frankfurt. The taxi which I hired from airport to hotel and then other from hotel to office, both had HR fans as taxi drivers. Though both were pure German and did not speak English too, had only himesh CD's to impress Indians. They both said that they liked his songs & that was the only Hindi CD they had heard in their life.HR rocks!!! Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo HR tera tera tera Surooooooooor.The only other bollywood ppl they like are SRK and Shilpa Shetty.

Office:
Nothing special ,went there, did my work, came out everyday .

Temperature:
I hoped for a hint of icefall everyday but no. The temp ranged from -2 degrees centigrade to 6 degrees but no ice fall .Second time unlucky :-(

Saturday:
Finally the most awaited day came. Since I was the only person traveling from my company to DL, I had to spend Saturday all by myself. I came to know of a hopping area in konstablerwache.So I tool a train to that place and roamed all day. (Yes by now I knew how to buy tickets, blindly follow steps taught by someone. Press the upper button first ,then yellow one, put the money, then type 52,then red button and wait for ticket and remaining change )

Business centre:
Frankfurt being a financial capital of Germany had nothing much to see than the famous commerce bank,deutsche bank and other sky scrapers. Once I saw all these buildings, I started searching for the river main. The most sought after destination in Frankfurt. I had a lot of time and made up my mind to find out my own way. But then Murphy had planned to strike me with his law "If anything has to go wrong it will”. I had started walking in the opposite direction.(My gut feeling cheated me).I kept roaming looking for signboards, going to all types of cross roads and lanes after roaming for 4nonstop hours finally relented to ask a German about the whereabouts of zile river. I did not know the way (As if I did not know it already) and that I had to walk half an hour to get to the river.

River main:
The effort was worth it, I reached the river in the middle of city with city spread over both sides of river. They were innumerable bridges all along the river. Each of the bridges were of different types and kept me absorbed for quite a while. There were joggers, skaters and cyclists too that kept me absorbed :-)

Sunday:
Sundays are so boring that shops are closed :-(

.........Have stopped writing this as I felt bored and nothing special to write :-(

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