Where Are The Movie-Goers? Crores At The Box-Office, But Cinema Halls Are Empty

In the old days when there were just single-screen theatres, the entire nation was aware about which film was releasing when and in which cinema halls. Everyone knew that the advance booking for the new release opened on Mondays and one was prepared to stand in long serpentine queues to purchase tickets for your family. Cinema was the cheapest form of entertainment and tickets were available in three slots. The Balcony seats were patronised by the affluent. The middle class preferred the Upper Stalls, usually the last 10 rows of the auditorium, while the Lower Stalls were the cheapest tickets where front-benchers made the maximum noise. They whistled, sang songs and flung coins upon the superstar’s entry.

In the 1960s and the ’70s cinema halls got dressed up in garlands for a new release. There were live bands playing on the footpath and when a South film featuring Sivaji Ganesan/ MGR and later Rajnikant/ Kamal Haasan was releasing at Aurora Theatre in Mumbai, large cutouts of the respective actor were bathed in milk and musicians invited from temples to play naadaswaram in the lobby. I have witnessed this on my way to school and later to college. We never visited a cinema hall without advance booking because shows got house-full within hours of the box-office window opening, even though there were no promotions those days. All the cinema halls uniformly screened three shows seven days a week — 3pm, 6pm and 9pm, and a matinee show featuring a vintage film at 10.30-11am, targeted mainly for the college students. Gradually, the matinees were replaced by a 12-noon show of a release and the new arrangement suited both the audience and the exhibitors.

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Till the 70s all movie screenings commenced with documentary footage and a few advertisements, and most of the single-screeners were non-air-conditioned and strangely, nobody complained about the creaky fans hanging from high ceilings. In the dark auditorium as emotions soared and stories unfolded on the big screen, the rich and the poor bonded behind exits draped in thick curtains. Our generation was not exposed to soundproof walls, to reclining chairs. The wooden seats often hurt and rats scampered on the floors. The washrooms were far from clean but nothing mattered as long as the film was engaging and we were transported into a world of fantasy.

In the interval the canteen sold modest snacks, mini samosas wrapped in newspapers and popcorn in palm-size plastic bags but most families carried snacks from home in cloth bags. There was no security check then and film buffs strolled into the auditorium carrying school and shopping bags; some carried tiffin boxes too, but nobody carried personal water bottles as they do today. There was a drinking tap and as children we were trained to bend our head and use this device expertly. Tea was served in cups and saucers; I remember this because my parents shared their tea — mother sipped from the saucer and father drank from the cup.

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The songs were not the main attraction those days. They served as cigarette and bladder breaks. When the film ended, it was a mad rush to the exit and not particularly safe for women but we learnt to be careful and to wait till the crowd dispersed. There were no paparazzi then, no cameras outside theatres as it is today, no journalists thrusting their microphones on your face seeking your reactions but the black-marketing team was all around gauging your expressions. One glance at the crowd and they knew whether to hike or lower the price of the ticket for the next show and they were never wrong.

In the ’90s came the multiplexes, the cinema halls turned glamorous and the elite embraced the change. Not the common man. The shift in ticket rates was a rude shock and for a long time, he stayed away. But as more and more single screens shut down and multiplexes mushroomed with multiple screens, the common man reluctantly gave into temptation for the sake of his children, and every outing made the hole in his pocket deeper — but was anybody listening? Life changed for everyone post Covid, especially in the context pf viewing movies. OTT was the light in the dark phase and everyone was hooked onto web series, our only soulmate in isolation that time. Two years later, when we emerged from the crisis, a lot had changed. We had disconnected from people and public places and no longer wanted to make an effort to meet people or watch movies in cinema halls. OTT was serving us a variety of entertainment and the best part was that it was in our control.

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Show business had to get back to normal, though, and soon it was raining films at cinema halls; the question was, were people going to the theatres? For a long time, they didn’t. Then a combination of permutations like superstars and super music clicked and the wheel tuned! Today we seem to be apparently over the hump but is the filmmaker or the biggest superstar ever reassured of his success? Big banners announce big projects year after year and every Friday, trade pundits announce flattering box-office collections — yet, mysteriously, our cinemas are always empty and tickets are always easily available. So where is the conflict? Too many screens or too little audience?

I have been talking to a lot of PR companies, trying to understand their strategies, and I think the problem is in the promotions. Pre-Covid, the public made their entertainment choices from newspapers where a specific space informed them about forthcoming movie/ theatre titles/ cinema halls and show timings. There were half- or full-page advertisements of new movies and banners pasted all over town — on walls and lamp posts, and you could not miss them. All that changed after Covid. Some smart publicists decided that nobody reads newspapers post-Covid, and shifted all promotion budgets from print to digital. Suddenly, all banners were taken out of the print media and diverted to digital. It was a disastrous decision because even today, there is a large majority that is still battling the digital world. It is the generation that is still watching Tata Sky, has never accessed Book My Show or used a Kindle, and they were confused with the OTT stars on lollipops all over town.

The unfortunate part is that movies are no more a priority even for the staunchest film buffs. They still love movies and are well versed with technology to access information, but they will do that on their terms and time. Entertainment is a choice today, not a necessity as it once was. As a film critic, I watch movies week after week and put up my reviews on all social media platforms — in print, audio and video, but let me confess that none of my friends or family are ever clued in about what film is releasing when. I often bump into my neighbours in the building lobby or elevator, but nobody has the faintest idea of what is showing in the theatres. That burning desire to immediately watch a new release in the cinema hall is no more common, and it makes me wonder if only two tribes are following every release — filmmakers and film critics like me! Again, however, if the exhibitors are raking in 100 + 200+ and 500+ crore film after film, then something has to be right somewhere.

Bhawana Somaaya is a film critic and author

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