END of MULTIPLEXES ?

             Cinema halls all over India not very long ago used to be stand alone buildings. Their owners took pride in making beautiful structures, with something unique in each hall, to make it famous.

Early cinema hall had English names, no doubt influenced by the British rulers of the time, with names such as :  Palace, Capitol, Odeon, Eros, Ritz, Regal, Plaza, Jubilee, Rivoli, Orient, Mayfair, Minerva, Novelty, Excelsior, Delite, West End, Imperial etc.

With Independence names took a drastic change to Indian-ness, and we saw such names come up :  Maratha Mandir, Umrao, Moti, Liberty, Golcha, Filmistan, Sheila, Khanna, Jagat, Shekhawati, Amar, Raj Mandir etc.

'Maratha Mandir', Bombay. courtsy - Twitter

The public felt pride in visiting and watching their favourite film in these halls. People used to boast that they have seen a film in the famous hall of Delhi, Jaipur or Mumbai. A visit to these famous halls was photographed, remembered and discussed. Persons who had not been lucky enough to visit any of them were envious of those who had been.

These halls of capacity of about five hundred to nine hundred ran to ‘House full’ for three to four shows daily and for months or years together.

'Raj Mandir' Jaipur, courtsy - Antoine Taveneaux

Due to several reasons, mostly financial, these halls gave way to Multiplexes. Grand structures were pulled down and Malls built in their place. Somewhere on the top floor were built three or four small auditoriums of hundred to hundred fifty capacity, to screen films. Ticket rates became astronomical, but business was good, as they were a novelty and the public wanted to see films.

Came March 2020 and the Corona epidemic with its lockdown, danger of being in crowded places etc., etc. All public places restaurants, malls, picture halls etc were shut down.

People were closeted in their homes and TV was the only medium available for entertainment, apart from ludo, chess and cards.

There were the Cinema channels on cable TV network with no variable choice.  Grabbing the opportunity, several new exclusive paid sites came up  like ZEE5, Sony LIV, Netflix, Disney Hotstar, Amazon etc. called OTT platforms.

People started subscribing to them and viewed films / serials etc of their choice, at a time convenient to them without moving out of the home.

The advantages soon became the USP of these OTT. Whereas an outing to a multiplex for two cost roughly a thousand rupees just for one film, you could subscribe in the same amount to two or three OTT for a month and watch unlimited films during that time. For the cost of two outings for self & wife and two outings for the children at the multiplex, people could subscribe to half a dozen OTT for less.  Everyone in a household could watch films of their choice, throughout the month, in one subscription.  You could also watch a film piecemeal, in installments. OTT’s gradually increased and there are more than twenty available at the moment.

Also eliminated were the parking hassles at the multiplex. Food could be ordered home delivered. Everyone was happy.

With Corona nearly ended, and life mostly back to normal all over India, business at these multiplexes has not picked up.  While continuing their OTT subscriptions, people do not find going to the multiplex viable any more.

Has the film distribution network with its hassles of shortage of cinema screens, booking cinema screens months in advance to release a film, exhibiters & distributers come to an end?

The multiplexes are not getting viewers, are running empty. The owners are worried.

Will this be the End of Multiplexes ?

Other alternatives are being probed.

Do not be surprised if in the near future you see the small auditoriums of the multiplexes revamped into showrooms, restaurants, offices or even coaching centers lecture halls !