"Times Change, People Change"

satchitananda · May 25, 2015

[JUSTIFY]"Times change, people change". Not said by me but by one wise man whose favourite quote this is. This I experienced to the fullest, yesterday.

Being one of those people who rarely ever see a film in a movie hall, it was a treat yesterday when we went to watch the film 'Piku' at PVR. I am fairly out of touch with movie halls and suffice to say, the last movie I watched in a theatre here was "3 Idiots".

So yesterday was quite an eye opener. For starters, BH took a suggestion (or is it demand!) I made a few days ago quite seriously (one I had subsequently given up on as a lost case) and suggested we go and see the film. He is one of those people who hates going out, looking for parking places and getting stressed out. All along he has resisted on line transactions tooth and nail. That would mean going early enough to book the ticket, come back and then go back to see the film. Too much hassle. I totally agree! So he chooses to watch films at home. (The last film he watched in a theatre was "Rab ne bana di jodi" and this was the 5th film he is watching in a theatre in the last 20 years)! Yesterday was that day when "things change"; once the suggestion was made, I quickly booked the tickets online before he could change his mind.

Normally he would park somewhere and walk all the way to the hall. This time around, he listened and decided to give the parking lot a try. Pleasantly enough, the parking lot was on the same floor (of the MLCP) as the theatre. Just walked in and found our seats and settled ourselves comfortably without having to squeeze past others who were already seated.

The first offer on the cinematic menu were advertisements. "What happened to the half an hour documentary" I wondered. I was suddenly transported in time to the days when a film started only after a regular dose of ads and a documentary about my Mahaan Bharat. I suddenly missed those B&W offers. Just as the ads were going on, some guy came along with a pamphlet (a menu card of sorts) asking if we needed something. This was an absolute first for me. Talk of hard sell - ads in the background for visual and audio (and what a strong audio message) in the background - sorry foreground) and simultaneous not so subliminal messages by directly tempting the public! I have heard about high value tickets where one gets special seats and can spend 3 hours developing bad dietary habits - eating while watching a movie, thus sending messages to neurons to develop permanent conditioned reflexes (watch movie / telly / internet / read book, feed face), but had never ever come across something like this 'in-situ' sales service.

That the film was a laugh riot, so much so that my chest hurt with laughing, is another story altogether. I wondered at the dessert on the cinematic experiential plate - the national anthem. That too was missing. Remember the times when "The End" would be flashed on the screen to finally tell people that the story was finally over and be followed by the national anthem? May be people did not stand up or started walking out when it was being played. One cannot change people's attitudes (yes, people change, but not the Grand Collective), so probably the simpler solution was to get rid of the ritual. However, that was not the only part that had changed. The experience also changed perceptions and it changed the person whose favourite quote is "Times change, people change".[/JUSTIFY]

Kamalji · May 25, 2015

Dear Satchi,

So menu in the movie hall eh ! Well when these multiplexes had started a decade back, i had told my wife, that they must charge good rates no problems but make moive watching memorable, so why not serve kababs and whiskey in the theatre, and allow smoking, like in the planes they used to have smoking zones once upon a time, so that it will make a lazy guy like me go and watch a movie.

But times have changed, so have i.

A friend of mine, he has a video library fellow who downloads all these movies , u name it, on a pendrive, and charges him 30 bucks, and he can keep the movie for ever, lovely prints, no advtrs .

So i borrowed his pendrive, and i watch movies at leasiure on my 50 inch TV in the comfort of my home, and the plesure is all the same for me, as watching in a theatrem, for here i am eating papad, pausing the movie, answering the phome, then again starting the movie.

piku i have heard a lot about it and will watch it , again at home.HAHA

Regards

kamal

umaakumar · May 25, 2015

Dear Sachitnanda,

This is exactly how I felt when my daughter took me for a movie in the multiplex. I had never been to the theatre for years. Preferred watching at home. She had booked ticket online.

Apart from the guy bringing the menu card, people were buying the large packets of popcorn with pepsi and getting into the hall.

I told my daughter I missed all the excitement of going to a movie, because movies meant standing in the line jostling and pushing to buy tickets. Hearing songs before the ads began, then the documentary. Movie - rushing outside to buy popcorn during the interval etc.

My daughter said "You are crazy Mom"

Regards
Uma

Srama · May 25, 2015

Oh Satchi, talk about the change. The last movie I watched in a theater in India was "Zindagi na malige".....after a long time perhaps after "Raaj Hindusthani" :hide: and I was needless to say stunned. I did go to one of those seatings that you speak of and you know once I got the food, I realized I could not split my attention between the food and the movie, so ditched the food and watched the movie :biggrin2: I can greedy about Indian food you know....but when I came out of the movie, I almost fell backwards looking at the crowds in the mall...there was electricity failure right at the moment and people were clamoring to get out before the generators turned on and it was ..dispersal again!I did feel a little broke after the movie and I have not been drawn to a movie or a theater oh well, the multiplexes at least since then and I look at the stand alone theaters, with the usual crowds longingly hoping they would play a good Hindi movie instead of those kannada movies and go back in time when we would bunk a class or two to catch a movie with friends - the thrill of it all was so much fun.

It is okay here for us still...a little line yes in the multiplexes, some popcorn before we enter if we wish, a little uncomfortable seating...and some ads....nothing fancy and a total movie experience. So now I look forward to watching Indian movies in the theaters here and the last one was PK....that too twice

Viswamitra · May 25, 2015

Dear Satchi,

Thank you for sharing your experience of watching a movie. I am not a regular movie watcher either and we go to select movies whenever my son wants to watch a movie or recommends us to watch a specific movie. The last one I watched was "Lucy" a movie that described the effect of a synthetic drug in a lady who was supposed to transport that drug installed inside her stomach. Her brain utilization level reaches 100% and she was able to touch the pulse of a person and download what was in a person's mind. Even though it was supposed to be a scientific fiction, the movie had a very high philosophical content that excited me.

Generally, the movie watching is assumed in the US as a time when one can break the standard diets and have a sort of free for all time. It is high time, theaters in the US have a gym room adjacent to the theater for those who are conscious of what they put in their mouth. Generally, the trailers of the movies about to be released are the ones that are shown in the theaters before we finally get to the movie in the US. With the background of India, I always thought the movies are received in a film role and shown through projectors in the US.

Recently, I came to know that theaters that show a specific movie receive the right to access the private Satellite content by using a unique password and download the movie during a specific period of time which is called "right to use period". The room that displays the movie must be much more sophisticated than regular projector rooms where a person is loading a new role when one role is about to end. So Netflix and Amazon are not new concepts and they were existing in the theaters before but now it is expanded to the common people through the right to download movies.

Viswa

Joyoflife · May 25, 2015

Kamalji said: ↑

Dear Satchi,

So menu in the movie hall eh ! Well when these multiplexes had started a decade back, i had told my wife, that they must charge good rates no problems but make moive watching memorable, so why not serve kababs and whiskey in the theatre, and allow smoking, like in the planes they used to have smoking zones once upon a time, so that it will make a lazy guy like me go and watch a movie.

But times have changed, so have i.

A friend of mine, he has a video library fellow who downloads all these movies , u name it, on a pendrive, and charges him 30 bucks, and he can keep the movie for ever, lovely prints, no advtrs .

So i borrowed his pendrive, and i watch movies at leasiure on my 50 inch TV in the comfort of my home, and the plesure is all the same for me, as watching in a theatrem, for here i am eating papad, pausing the movie, answering the phome, then again starting the movie.

piku i have heard a lot about it and will watch it , again at home.HAHA

Regards

kamal
Click to expand...

kamal ji can I borrow your friends pen drive. Me and DH also like to watch movies and cricket matches at home.

Balajee · May 25, 2015

Nowadays , people hardly go to Cinema. The last time I ever went to a commercial cinema ( I mean by that cinemas other thabn embassy or govt auditoriums) was to watch the third part of The Hobbit trilogy last year. And I could count with my fingers the number of people in the hall. Even I go to a cinema only when I think that particular movie needs to be watched on a big screen and that is very rare. Yiou mean you went to a cinema the last time when they were still playing the national anthem? That must be eons ago./

satchitananda · May 29, 2015

Am extremely sorry for the inordinate delay in replying. So here goes......

satchitananda · May 29, 2015

Kamalji said: ↑

Dear Satchi,

So menu in the movie hall eh ! Well when these multiplexes had started a decade back, i had told my wife, that they must charge good rates no problems but make moive watching memorable, so why not serve kababs and whiskey in the theatre, and allow smoking, like in the planes they used to have smoking zones once upon a time, so that it will make a lazy guy like me go and watch a movie.

But times have changed, so have i.

A friend of mine, he has a video library fellow who downloads all these movies , u name it, on a pendrive, and charges him 30 bucks, and he can keep the movie for ever, lovely prints, no advtrs .

So i borrowed his pendrive, and i watch movies at leasiure on my 50 inch TV in the comfort of my home, and the plesure is all the same for me, as watching in a theatrem, for here i am eating papad, pausing the movie, answering the phome, then again starting the movie.

piku i have heard a lot about it and will watch it , again at home.HAHA

Regards

kamal
Click to expand...

Kamalji, are you sure the theatre owners did not hear you making that suggestion? Of course, scotch is still not on their agenda.

Well, it is a good idea to watch movies in the comfort of one's own home but there are some movies which are nice to watch on big screen. Piku was one of them, for sure.

Harsha must be really glad, Kamalji, in fact very relieved about the change! Lage rahiye Kamalji!

satchitananda · May 29, 2015

umaakumar said: ↑

Dear Sachitnanda,

This is exactly how I felt when my daughter took me for a movie in the multiplex. I had never been to the theatre for years. Preferred watching at home. She had booked ticket online.

Apart from the guy bringing the menu card, people were buying the large packets of popcorn with pepsi and getting into the hall.

I told my daughter I missed all the excitement of going to a movie, because movies meant standing in the line jostling and pushing to buy tickets. Hearing songs before the ads began, then the documentary. Movie - rushing outside to buy popcorn during the interval etc.

My daughter said "You are crazy Mom"

Regards
Uma
Click to expand...

LOL Uma, those times were also fun. Of course, today it is tough going and standing in queues once to buy the tickets and once to go and see the movies, given the traffic conditions, crowds etc. Am sure the younger generation would have a tough time imagining what it was like those days.