STANDALONE Vs MULTIPLEXES : A STUDY OF

CHANGING TRENDS OF EXHIBITION IN

INDIAN CINEMA.

SARITA BOSE
ROLL NO – 0006000501025

Dissertation Submitted towards Fulfillment of the Requirements

of MA 4th Semester Examinations, 2008

Department of Film Studies

Jadavpur University

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There are people I would like to thank, whose co-operation and

suggestions have helped me through this dissertation. First, I would like

to thank Dr. Moinak Biswas, my dissertation guide and Head,
Department of Film Studies, without whose suggestions and advice this
dissertation would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Sri
Abhijit Roy, Sri Anindya Sengupta, Sri Manas K. Ghosh and Sri Shubham
Roychowdhury for their many valuable inputs in my dissertation and for
answering my queries. I equally thank Sri Shubhajit Chatterjee and Ms.
Madhuja Mukherjee. My gratitude towards Sri Mrinal Kanti Mondal and
Sri Pranab K. Patra for helping me with books and journals in the library.
I also thank Sri Kishalay Basu, Smt Archana Ghosh and Sri Subrata Dey
for their kind co-operation and help during the preparation of this
dissertation. Finally, I thank my fellow classmates.

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 SYNOPSIS

The film exhibition sector in India belongs to the disorganized industry.

And it also goes without saying that the exhibition of films in India is the
most under-studied area in the Indian cinema. The form of exhibition in
India fueled by the liberalization of the economy has experienced a major
change over the last decade. This change is seen in the rapid
mushrooming of multiplexes throughout the major metros and suburbs in
India. The content and the form of films are also getting influenced by
this emerging trend of multiplexes in India.

In this dissertation I have tried to connect various socio-economic and

political events which helped the multiplexes to grow so rapidly in the
last few years. I have also discussed about the logic behind multiplexes
being constructed inside shopping malls, their structures and interiors
and how all these appeal to the Indians. The stories or content of the
films are also changing with the form of exhibition in India. This
dissertation also tries to find an answer behind this. To sum it up, this
dissertation is an account of new form of exhibition of films in India and
how is this having an effect on the Indian film industry.

3
 CONTENTS
Chapters Page No.

Chapter 1 : An Introduction to the History of Picture Palaces

and Multiplexes 1

Chapter 2 : The Old and The New Exhibition of

Films in India 9

Chapter 3 : Incredible! Indian Films and its Exhibition 21

Bibliography 30

4
 CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF
PICTURE PALACES AND MULTIPLEXES

There is no denying of the fact that multiplexes are on the rise in the Indian cities.

Multiplexes have stirred the film exhibition sector and has changed the way of watching
films. There are both economic and social reasons behind this rise of multiplex-culture in
India. In the chapters of this dissertation I will try to critically examine these reasons and
will also try to understand the kind of 'consuming class' and 'spaces' that are being created
through the culture of multiplexes. To start with, I will talk about the history of film
exhibition in both America and India. Though the history of exhibition of films can be
said to have been existing from the very inception of films, what is important here is to
locate a certain kind of history of film exhibition which can be compared with the
modern day structure of film exhibition in multiplexes.

Film Exhibition : American Chapter

As early as the 1920s, many film exhibitors had built picture palaces in the central

districts of American cities that earned huge profits 1. Picture Palaces in America were
film theatres which performed vaudeville and stage shows before the start of a film.
These were mainly located near market areas and places which were well connected to
the other parts of the city. Since they provided that extra entertainment to its audiences
apart from films, the picture palaces grew popularity among the middle class of America.
Douglas Gomery observes that, “The principles of retail location theory, urban
geography, and microeconomics all lead to the conclusion that the picture palace was the
most sensible economic activity large-city motion entrepreneurs could have undertaken.” 2

1
Douglas Gomery, „The Picture Palace: Economic Sense or Hollywood Nonsense?‟ in The Hollywood Film
Industry, ed. Paul Kerr (New York: Routlegde & Kegan Paul., 1986) pp. 205-215.
2
Ibid. p 206.

5
By the early 1920s, movie-goers preferred to watch a film 'now rather than later' and to
take advantage of the popular vaudeville and stage shows motion picture entrepreneurs
started to build lager and larger theatres. The central business districts of the cities were
the most obvious locations for these picture palaces as it was easy to travel there. These
districts were also an important location because they provided the heart of shopping
centers. “Moreover, since downtown was the average city‟s largest shopping center and
home of many other commercial recreation activities, city dwellers could combine their
shopping and recreation activities all in one journey”, states Gomery. 3 The movie palaces
thus supported by the logic of more-show-per-show and shopping center dominated
locations grew to become a wannabe for the citizens. The most significant movie palaces
in different parts of America were the Leow‟s (New York), Stanley (Philadelphia and
Washington DC), Balaban and Katz (Chicago), Saxe Bros. (Milwaukee), Finkelstein and
Runin (Minneapolis), North American (San Francisco and Seattle), and West Coast (Los
Angeles). 4

All these movie palaces offered live acts and music during the show. A film show during
the 1920‟s would generally start with a ten-minute stage act composed keeping in mind
the theme music of the film that was about to start. Orchestras would play on the stage
followed by a prologue or a presentation. Even comedy and news reels were presented to
the audiences. The popularity of these shows indicates that the film goers wanted that
„extra‟ zing to be added to their leisure time in inclusion with the films. Thus with a
location where it was easy to travel, a place where there was large seating capacity and to
top these advantages a place where there was screenings of newest films and live
entertainments, it would be hard to believe if these picture palaces were not in demand
among the American citizens.

3
Douglas Gomery, „The Picture Palace: Economic Sense or Hollywood Nonsense?‟ in The Hollywood
Film Industry, ed. Paul Kerr (New York: Routlegde & Kegan Paul., 1986) pp. 205-215
4
Ibid. p. 207.

6
This form of film exhibition in American was in vogue between 1925 and 1950 and

undoubtedly fetched huge amount of profits. But this business went down with the Great
Depression of America. But prior to that period there was an emergence of urban mass in
America who had good deal of purchasing power into their hands. These new
„suburbanites‟ that evolved during that period purchased automobiles in great numbers,
usually from dealers in outlying shopping centers 5. Between 1920s and 1930s the number
of vehicle registrations in the US was up by three times and majority of the owners
belonged to the middle and the upper middle classes. And due to the fact that the central
business district and the outlying business districts did not have the infrastructure to
support this sudden outburst of privately owned cars, the outlying centers gained position
as they provided shorter drives, less congestion and more parking spaces for the
automobiles. The sociologists of University of Chicago recognized this phenomenon and
called the outlying centers as “„bright light areas‟ attracting city wide attendance”6.

The Motion picture entrepreneurs, recognizing what potential these picture palaces had,
invested in them in accordance with the shape of the city which determined the ease of
transportation of the masses. For example, the 'fan shaped city' had most of the picture
palaces due to its centrality and transportation advantages; the 'rectangular city' had a
lesser number of picture palaces, and even less picture palaces existed in the 'square
cities'. Later events such as the Great Depression, the advent of television, the further
growth of American cities and the antitrust decisions against Hollywood big studios,
destroyed the basis of monopoly profit on which the profitability of the picture palaces
rested7. Picture palaces were built in an optimal location between the rich who lived in
the edges of the city, and the middle class, living in the inner parts of the city. Douglas
Gomery says that, “Mass transit and automobiles made the journey to such theatres
inexpensive and convenient. Nearby restaurants, cabarets, dance halls, and arcades
provided entertainment before and after the movie show”. These outlying theatres
provided total entertainment through live vaudeville and stage shows accompanied by
5
Douglas Gomery, „The Picture Palace: Economic Sense or Hollywood Nonsense?‟ in The Hollywood
Film Industry, ed. Paul Kerr (New York: Routlegde & Kegan Paul., 1986) pp. 205-215
6
Ibid. p. 213.
7
Ibid. p 215.

7
orchestras. Though the ticket prices were as high as two-thirds as that general theatre the
shows were immensely successful.

Besides these factors, the parking facility provided by the outlying centers also

contributed to the popularity of the picture palaces. As has been discussed earlier that
there had been a sudden outburst in the purchasing power of the middle class and there
was a huge sell of automobiles, the outlying centers took full advantage of this trend thus
increasing the popularity of picture palaces more than what otherwise their popularity
would have been without the parking facilities provided by them. All of these above
factors thus resulted into huge revenues for owners like B & K and exhibition of films
were being counted among the most profitable enterprise in the film industry.

Television and the American Film Industry

During the late 1960s America witnessed the growth of Television which effected the

number of film going audiences into theatres8. In his book Paul Monaco states that the
decrease in the footfall in film theatres by the American film goers is “caused by the
impact of Television accompanied by changing demographics and lifestyles” 9. It was
observed that where TV came first the decline was most quick. Not only this, it was also
observed that whenever there would be a new telecast or programme in an area the
footfall in the film theatres would decline more rapidly in that area. Television
viewership was thus inversely proportionate to the viewership of films in theatres. It was
later found out that the Americans haven‟t lost interest in films rather they had lost
interest in leaving the comforts of their houses to spend time and money on leisure. Thus
a remarkable shift was happening in the American film culture.

8
Paul Monaco in The Sixties (1960-1969), (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), pp. 40-51
9
Ibid.

8
There was 95% growth in metropolitan areas and people dwelling in these areas had

many other options other than watching films to spend their time with. Some of these
included outdoor sports like swimming, golfing, tennis, bowling etc. apart from watching
Television. Thus Television became a competitor of the film industry. This was just one
among many other problems that the film industry was facing. In Paul Monaco‟s words,
“Real problem was that films produced in the new formats still relied on Hollywood‟s
Classic story formulas, sentiments and themes” 10. The same old plots were no longer
drawing attention of the masses. There was a change in the very composition of the
audiences. Films with family as its main theme were no longer attractive to a group of
people. Also these old formulas were not in lieu with the thought process of the young
generation as these plots made the young generation feel alienated.

In the later years of the 1960‟s, there was an increasing interest for art films. It was the
young generation who were to be found inside the art film houses. The art films appealed
to their sensibilities. As Monaco puts it, “The art film audience was self defined as better
educated, more sophisticated and more cosmopolitan in its tastes” 11. More European art
films were gaining popularity with this generation. They had their own identity by being
different from the classical Hollywood cinema which relied more on formulas. The art
houses were already making a mark in the exhibition sector and the Hollywood film
industry had to find ways to survive in the race. The main problem that posed before the
Hollywood film industry was that they couldn‟t identify what was drawing the young
adults to these art houses. Whether it was the art houses with their aesthetically made
„cutting edge‟ films or the films themselves which had sensationalistic effects merged
with Hollywood formulas. Whatever the reason was the fact that the art houses were
gaining importance over the classical Hollywood cinema is to be noted here.

10
Paul Monaco in The Sixties (1960-1969), (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), pp. 40-51
11
Ibid.

9
These art films had alienation and existential angst as their main subject or theme and it
got down well with the educated and sophisticated young adults. From horror films to
soft core sex to action and adventure everything was in demand with them. These films
represented their own mental condition in one way and on the other brought out the
rebellious part in them. They were constantly liking films which attacked or challenged
the American culture and society. Films challenging the American conventions, rules,
family/parental values and representing present day thoughts about society were much
popular in this circuit of the young adults. “They identified at a more intellectual level
with the visceral and emotional rebellion of restless, alienated young suburbanites” says
Monaco12.

Changing Face of Film Exhibition in America

There were reasons the coming together of which brought in the concept of multiplexes
in America during the 1960s. The spread of education and the rise in sophisticated
individuals brought about by it is one reason of the many reasons. Other reasons include
growing land prices. Due to the backlash of audiences many exhibition houses had to be
closed down or to be sold off amounting to huge losses. The growing land prices were
becoming heavy on the exhibitors who had to buy areas in order to build the theatres.
Other form of exhibition as that of Drive-Inns also faced failure due to this.

Drive-Inns were a popular form of film exhibition in America during the 1940s. These
were „outdoor movie theatres‟. People would come and watch films under the open sky.
There was no rule to keep mum so as not to disturb others. Though the Drive-Inns were
subject to weather conditions they were quite popular among many people. Teenagers
could talk among each other while watching a film; parents could watch a film with their
baby sleeping on the back seat. The reasons differed but the result was always on the side
of the Drive-Inns. But these film watchers definitely had to compromise on the „aesthetic

12
Paul Monaco in The Sixties (1960-1969), (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), pp. 40-51.

10
value and the entertainment value‟13 of watching a film inside a theatre. With the increase
in the land prices they too had to close down since they required more space to project
films on the screens. Drive-Inns thus became hard to afford. Since the rising prices of
lands made to open Drive-Inns nearly impossible in suburbs and many theatres by that
time were closing down, a new smaller cost effective form of exhibition emerged as
„Multiplex‟.

Stanley H. Durwood of Kansas City, Missouri was the first person to construct a

multiplex inside a shopping mall consisting of two screens and a single projection booth.
This system also resized the labour and projection costs. The exhibition form was thus
reformed and Durwood‟s model of multiplex became a standard model and a blueprint
for further development of such multiplexes. When other theatres and Drive-Inns were
closing down multiplexes were growing in number. Multiplexes also had the commercial
advantage of less investment per screen, labour and projectionist‟s prices. These
multiplexes were built with cinder blocks and contained two to eight separate theatres
each having 100 to 300 seats. The staffing was also done meticulously. The staffs were
mainly younger in age who were able to do more within a given time.

But what is important to be note here is that all the multiplexes were strategically placed
in or near shopping centers. This brings us back to the works of Douglas Gomery where
it had been observed that during the 1920‟s almost all the picture palaces were built near
market areas. In 1960 America, what is found is that multiplexes were not only built near
market places they were built inside shopping malls. By the late 1960‟s multiplexes were
becoming commercially more viable. The number of persons visiting a shopping malls
also depended on the multiplex or the number of screens it had. Many would just come to
watch a film. Since most shopping centers provided free parking spaces, multiplexes used
this to their advantage of remaining open till night. Due to this shopping centers also
started to remain open till late into the night. This also amounts to the fact that the
shopping malls also subsidized rates for the multiplexes.

13
Ibid. pp. 40-51

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Many old theatres were renovated after this trend of multiplexes in the later years of

1960 and were converted into multi screen theatres and many among them made it a
point to provide free parking spaces. For e.g. Sacks „Cheri‟, a three-plex, is the world‟s
first self proclaimed “Drive – Up”14. The „Cheri‟ provided garage for a thousand cars
which was equivalent to the offerings of free parking spaces by the suburban shopping
malls. This is thus logical that due to this structure of film exhibition many entrepreneurs
would come into play. Companies like General Cinema and National Cinema became
prominent in the film exhibition sector. But there was also a not-so-glamorous side to
this. Many projectionists were losing their jobs. Since the multiplex owners were strict on
cutting down their investments and multiple screen theatres didn‟t required more than one
projectionist the position of the projectionists slowly slided. Monaco states that, “Given
the enormously changed demographics of the movie going audience by the late 1960s,
then, the most typical ingredients for exhibitor success became a combination of
shopping center locations, multiscreen operations, free shopping center parking (or the
“drive-up” concept), limited seating per screen, projection automation, and the
elimination of projectionists from the payroll” 15. This singularly concludes the condition
of the film exhibition sector or the reasons behind the growth of multiplexes in America
during the 1960s.

14
Paul Monaco in The Sixties (1960-1969), (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), pp. 40-51
15
Ibid.

12
 CHAPTER 2 : THE OLD AND THE NEW EXHIBITION OF
FILMS IN INDIA

In India film exhibition theatres could be found to exist since the early 1910s. Kaushik
Bhaumik in his Ph.D theses has done a research on the emergence of Bombay Film
Industry and in one of his chapters he talks about theatres in Bombay during the 1910s.
The earliest theatres in Bombay were located in two different zones of the city. These two
were the Fort area and the Native Town. In the former area there existed The Excelsior
and the Empire and in the later area other theatres were located. The two cinema halls
that were located in the Fort were quite enriched in the sense of its structures and locales
catering mainly to Europeans, Eurasians and the Upper class Indians thus garnering a
disproportionate amount of cultural capital of the cinema industry. To quote from
Bhaumik: “They showed an exclusive selection of imported films, mainly Hollywood
social dramas, comedies and costume dramas. They were theatre halls and provided the
audience with comfortable surroundings” 16.

The construction or rather the architecture of the theatres, the films that were being

exhibited there and the kind of audiences they drew reflected the atmosphere of the Fort
area in Bombay, which was known as a place built up for the pleasure of elites far from
the maddening crowds and noise of the city. The rest of the cinema halls were located
near the market area or the bazaar. Between 1913 and 1916, many cinema halls came up
on Sandhurst Road. This road was built during 1910s and the cinema halls grew
alongside the road. The earliest of the cinema halls like the Coronation, the American –
Indian, the Olympia and the New Alhambra were located at street junctions alongside this
road and were surrounded by open spaces. These bazaar areas were filled with wholesale
dealers and shops selling goods of all kinds and employing a considerable section of the
work force of the city. High commercial activities formed the din and bustle of this road.

16
Kaushik Bhaumik, '1st Chapter: The Bombay Cinema: The Silent film Era, 1913-1928‟, in The
Emergence of the Bombay Film Industry, 1913-1916, (PhD thesis, St. Antony‟s College, University of
Oxford, 2001), pp 24-29.

13
Majority of the audiences that flocked towards the cinema halls of this road would
include merchants, shopkeepers, clerks, coolies and servants and young people.

Watching cinema had become a complex experience which was related to the growing
urbanity of early 20th Century Bombay. The show-timings of these picture palaces, (these
were also sometimes called picture palaces as with their counterparts in America) were
flexible in accordance with the urban lifestyle of being. They began to have more varied
ticketing system. With the coming of the World War, the shows were extended to include
a comic film and news gazette as part of the programme. There was a high commercial
growth during World War I and its effect can be seen through the rise of many cinema
halls during this period. Cinema became a part of this new commercial life. Not only
cinema halls but branded products also came to the fore. Many individual ventures also
came up. There was a change of outlook towards commerce which then again had its
effect on the lifestyle of the people specially the commercial community and its workers.
Bhaumik says that, “If the maze of streets bordering Sandhurst Road reflected an older
style of mercantile capitalism, Sandhurst Road itself was the symbol of the new economy
based on branded goods and leisure spent in the cinema, restaurants and retail shops.
Cinema became a branded good to be sold to new classes of audiences being formed in
this period”. 17

There were also other players in this context. One of the majors was The Grant Road-
Lamington Road Cinemas. Though Grant Road was established on the other end of the
same street that opened on Sandhurst Road it had in addition to what Sandhurst Road had
a more cosmopolitan atmosphere, billiards rooms, bars, refreshment rooms, bakeries,
professional chambers, schools and upmarket residential localities, which gave it a more
urban outlook compared to the bazaars which characterized Sandhurst Road. Imperial, El
Dorado, Majestic and Precious were the main cinema halls that came up in Grant Road.

17
Kaushik Bhaumik, '1st Chapter: The Bombay Cinema: The Silent film Era, 1913-1928‟, in The
Emergence of the Bombay Film Industry, 1913-1916, (PhD thesis, St. Antony‟s College, University of
Oxford, 2001), pp 24-29

14
These theatres were popular among the elite and can be said that Grant Road possessed
the same aura that the Fort had if compared to the Native Town.

The new cinema halls projected a different image of the cinema. Bhaumik in his theses
says that, “They were symbolic of the cinema-as-urban-lifestyle, an activity which had to
be separated from the humdrum routine of life and stood for the gaining of cultural
capital from the experience. If the Sandhurst Road halls sold cinema as a new
commodity, the Grant Road - Lamington Road halls bestowed prestige on it” 18. The war
proved to be profitable for some entrepreneurs who made hefty amounts during the war
time and were now investing in the exhibition sector. Cinema halls outside the Fort was
no longer leisure, it had already acquired a cultural prestige. This was clearly reflected
through the décor and architecture of the cinema halls. Another road that came up during
the 1910s, named as Lamington Road had much higher „urbanity index‟ 19 than the Grant
Road. The Royal Opera House (ROH) which was opened in 1915 became the symbol of
the shifting scale of entertainment halls in the Native Town. It was one of the places
where distinctions broke down between the Joneses and the masses in the post war
period. Combining imported music-hall entertainment, Parsi theatre and imported
cinema, it catered to a mixed audience of Europeans and Indian upper and middle classes.
It became a major site of interaction between Indian and Western popular cultures. The
facilities that ROH provided to its audiences were much higher than what the owners of
the cinema halls in the Fort provided. ROH symbolized the new era of entertainment in
post war Bombay. “In keeping with the increasing commodification of leisure activities,
the ROH reflected the attitudes and changed lifestyles of the new middle class 20” says
Bhaumik.

18
Kaushik Bhaumik, '1st Chapter: The Bombay Cinema: The Silent film Era, 1913-1928‟, in The
Emergence of the Bombay Film Industry, 1913-1916, (PhD thesis, St. Antony‟s College, University of
Oxford, 2001), pp 24-29.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.

15
Though everyone from the Fort to other smaller parts of Bombay watched the same

films, the contexts or rather the atmosphere in which they were watched were different or
rather it can also be said that the „experience‟ of watching cinema varied from theatre to
theatre and from one area to the other. The segregation of the audience‟s tastes went a
long way towards expanding the exhibition circuit and the entrepreneurs tried to ensure
that a good number of the population saw films without stepping outside their locality.
Thus more the segregation of the audiences more the creation of a audience-niche which
again means more films in the market and which eventually effects the number of cinema
halls.

The above as borrowed from Bhaumik theses clearly indicates that the existence of a

place which merged cinema with other forms of leisure already existed. They were called
picture palaces or the movie palaces. They took a back seat in later decades. Single
screen theatres later came to rule the roost. These theatres were mainly constructed in
market areas or on road sides. But majority of these theatres were constructed keeping in
mind the common man barring some which had really good infrastructure and was only
for the elite class. After the liberalization of economic policy in India in 1991 and the
opening of doors to FDI, the form film exhibition sector has changed. There is now
corporatisation of the film exhibition sector, which has led to a rapid growth of
multiplexes in India.

Television and the Indian Film Industry

As in the case of America, Indian film industry also faced trouble with the coming of
Television in India. The rise of Cable TV in India had negative effect on the film
industry. With the rise of Cable TV Networks films reached inside peoples houses thus
declining footfalls in theatres. The first Cable TV Network goes back to 1984 with 100
subscribers21. After that there had been a steep rise in the number of subscribers of Cable

21
PC Chatterji, „Postscript‟, in Broadcasting in India, (New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., 1991)
p. 220

16
TV. There was a steady rise of subscribers from 100 to 450 recording a hike of almost
350 percent. There had been a consistent rise of subscribers from 50 to 70 percent after
that22. Thus the popularity of Cable TV was on the rise as more and more people started
subscribing to it.

Cable TV thus became a good refuge to spend the leisure time. Now one can share time
with family, within the comfort zone of the house. There was no need to go out of home
to watch a film or theatre. One can now lay back at home, relax with family members and
enjoy whatever channel or TV content they want to. This is not saying that everybody
would do the same or the man vanished from the streets or film theatres but it is to say
that Cable TV proved to be a good alternative for spending leisure time with family
without getting out of home and spending money on film tickets. This sudden spread of
Cable TV among the masses posed a problem for the film exhibitors.

Most Cable Channels would broadcast several films a day, a privileged facility for the
subscribers alongside telecast of other different channels. This obviously meant that now
people can enjoy films within the purview of the comfort of the four walls of their homes.
Thus there was a gradual decline in the number of film goers. This eventually affected the
film exhibition houses and which again had its effect on the number of films produced
annually. As PC Chatterji says, “The chief motive for subscribing to a network is to get
more entertainment and entertainment means mainly viewing Hindi feature films” 23.
Hindi features were being broadcast alongside Doordarshan and other foreign channels.
Other popular programmes that were being watched by the subscribers were Western
musicals, English feature films and plays from Pakistan. Apart from these TV
programmes, Cable TV owners would broadcasted Hindi feature films which was one of
the most sought after facilities that the subscribers looked for and thus with these
facilities the number of Cable TV subscribers steadily increased due to which the number
of film audiences started to wane thus affecting the film exhibition theatres.

22
PC Chatterji, „Postscript‟, in Broadcasting in India, (New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., 1991)
23
Ibid.

17
And since less audience in theatres meant less number of films produced as they are

directly proportionate to each other, the production of Hindi films was also effected by
the decline of audiences in film theatres. A table to show the decline in Hindi film
production is given below:-

No. of Hindi
Year film produced
1986 159
1987 150
1988 182
1989 176
1990 200
1991 215
1992 189
1993 183
1994 155
1995 157
Source: Encyclopedia of Indian Films

The above statistics is clearly indicating the fact that that the production of the number
Hindi films has declined after 1984, the year when the first Cable TV Network started its
broadcast. The numbers of films produced are well below 200 films per year. This is
startling given to the fact that India is world‟s second largest country in production of
films. Thus, as given in the table the films produced per year were inconsistent and low in
the early years of Cable TV. Though production crossed the 200 mark in 1990 and 1991
but then again a gradual fall could be noticed in the production of films during 1992 to
1995. In 1995, Government of India passed the Cable TV Act, to put a check on the
Cable TV operators.

18
The Liberated Economy of India and it’s effect on Film Exhibition

In 1991, the Congress Government with Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister
of India passed The Liberalisation policy or The New Economic Policy in which market
share of foreign investment companies were upped to 51% from 49%. This made many
foreign companies to invest in India as India emerged as a free market to the world. This
brought about a major change in the economy of India which affected the demographics,
lifestyles and mentality of the working middle class.

Five years after the liberalisation India experienced an annual growth of 6.7% GDP 24.

Information Technology (IT), Banking and Finance emerged as the mega industries with
high income salaries for its employees. Global IT companies were hiring more and more
of the educated middle class. This eventually gave a global platform for the middle class
Indians to work on and to think global. This was also the time when more and more
employees of these global companies would be sent to their main offices situated may be
in America or some other developed countries of the world. There was also a gradual rise
in the number of Non Residential Indians. What Acharya finds is that, “The policies
towards foreign portfolio and direct investment have been greatly liberalized. As a result,
the ratio of traded goods to GDP has more than doubled from less than 15 percent to
nearly 33 percent. Because of the sustained boom in software exports and worker
remittances, the ratio of current receipts (goods exports plus gross invisibles) has more
than tripled from 8 percent to over 24 percent of GDP. Foreign investment has risen from
negligible levels to US $ 20 billion in 2005/6”25.

24
Shankar Acharya, „India‟s Growth: Past and Future‟,
<http://www.gdnet.org/pdf2/gdn_library/annual_conferences/Eigth_annual_conference/acharya_plenary1.p
df>. visited on 4th April, 2008.
25
Ibid.

19
Thus the new middle class was rising with growing aspirations with their global

counterparts. This new rising middle class was now effecting consumption, production
and investments in India. This working middle class which was growing with a steep rate
had a hefty earning with quite a disposable amount. The numbers are rising still and the
business giants are leaving no stones unturned to gain as much as they can from this
highly educated and sophisticated global Indians.

From this economic change in the lives of the middle class Indians it is not hard to say
that their lifestyle and thinking are also bound to change. They were now thinking global
and were availing all the facilities that they can possibly achieve with their disposable
incomes. Thus a new class was emerging. This is the class which would spend a
considerable amount of money on leisure and luxury. They would spend on buying new
cars, luxury houses and getting something extra out of each spending.

During the early years of 1990s, many new private channels were also launched. Many
Private companies were investing in media brining out channels each different from the
other. There were different programmes too dedicated to different sections of society. For
e.g. there would be cartoons for children, teleserials for the elders in a family and also
teleserials for teenage viewers that would be telecast in a single channel in different time
slots. Thus the channels would try to get hold of everyone in a family through their
programmes. This was also a time when Cable TV Network was spreading rapidly. The
new middle class were subscribing to their Cable operators so as to get not only Indian
channels but to get globally dominant channels as well. This shows a shift in attitude of
the new class. Since they also could watch a film in their Cable channels, it was illogical
to for them to go out to a cinema theatre just to watch a film. The comfort of the house
was too much to compromise with. The film exhibition sector was thus experiencing a
reduction in footfalls in theatres which eventually effected film production (page 14).

20
The now rising affluent middle class was considering home to be a better place to watch
a film rather than visit a shabby theatre. Since films were also available in Cable channels
and CDs, there was no need to worry about latest films. There was one more reason
added to the decline of audience in theatres. It was the availability of parking lots. This
new emerged class owing cars wanted to park their cars in safety places rather than on
road sides. Since most of the cinema halls provided no such facilities they were
cautiously neglecting these theatres. As Taneja puts it, “The gentry drives
cars……….The gentry has seceded from the city‟s chaotic public transport network. The
gentry is seceding from the older model of the cinema hall, which with all its class
differentiation, was still a space where all social groups sat under the same roof”26.

Thus, a place to park the car also became a condition for the urban middle class. Taneja
records a report that had been published in The Indian Express

New Delhi, August 8: MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) Commissioner

Rakesh Mehta today filed an affidavit before the Delhi High Court, detailing a
coordinated policy to improve parking facilities in the city. “The court had, on
August 4, asked the Corporation, the NDMC, DDA (Delhi Development
Authority) and the Transport Department to work together and draft a policy on
parking”. Mehta told the court today that the growing vehicular population was
one of the major problems. All the agencies have observed that multi-level
parking is needed in view of the shortage of space, he said. 27

Thus the number of cars were rising in the streets of the capital of India resulting into the
reluctance of the affluent middle class to visit places which didn‟t have parking facility.
And since almost all the theatres had no parking facilities this class was slowly
diminishing from these theatres so much so that many of these theatres had to either close
down, sold or reduce the ticket prices to as minimum as possible.

26
Anand Vivek Taneja, „Begum Samru and the Security Guard‟ in Sarai READER 2005: Bare Acts (Delhi:
Sarai Media Lab)
27
Ibid.

21
Taneja while investing this trend in Delhi says that, “Mr R.K. Saxena, the Proprietor-

Manager of the Delhi Commercial Press, Chandni Chowk, which once printed tickets for
over 40 Delhi cinemas, told me how, in his business, the cinema ticket printing is
increasingly being replaced by tickets for parking (multiplex cinemas have computerized
ticketing, and do not outsource). The manager of Moti Cinema told me that the gentry
will not come to the hall because there is no parking space. Eros Cinema in Jangpura,
currently closed, is stated to open as a multiplex in two years. The manager claims that
they will wipe out the nearest competition, 3Cs, because they have parking space for 150
cars.”28

India’s brush up with Multiplexes

Though there are many reasons behind the steep growing of multiplexes in India,

providing of parking area is one. And since multiplexes are constructed inside shopping
malls, the people can shop and watch a film at the same time. It becomes an outdoor spot
for family gatherings. It is the facility of getting everything under one roof is what
attracts the people. One can come just to shop or just to watch a film or can come to do
both. There is no dearth of options and the middle class is spoilt for choice as to where
and how they would spend their money. And with facilities such as free parking spaces
one can come shop or do whatever one wants inside the shopping mall without ever
worrying about the condition of the car or the car being theft. PVR Cinemas which is
India‟s first multiplex, opened in Saket, New Delhi in June 1997 consisted of a parking
area which could accommodate 300-400 cars at a given time29. It also pays the Delhi
Government the highest entertainment tax.

Delhi having more cars than any other metros taken together is sure to face trouble when
it comes to parking. And when this comes to the upper middle class they are sure to
prefer effortless parking rather than being clueless about where to park their cars in the

28
Anand Vivek Taneja, „Begum Samru and the Security Guard‟ in Sarai READER 2005: Bare Acts (Delhi:
Sarai Media Lab).
29
Ibid.

22
busy markets areas and roads. Thus the number of upper middle class has receded from
the busy streets and shabby theatres of Delhi and they are more to be found now in the
multiplexes where there is ample space for every car. Thus parking lot played an
important role drawing the urban upper middle class crowd towards multiplexes.

A revolution was started by PVR Cinemas in 1997 in the exhibition sector. Many

business groups later came up with their multiplex brands. Important among them are
Adlabs Films, INOX Leisure and Shringar Cinemas. These business houses have two
major advantages over single screen theatres. Firstly, they were constructed inside
shopping malls thus decreasing on the amount of land investment. With increasing high
land prices especially in metros it would be very heavy on the investors to construct a
multiscreen theatre with a lot of parking space. The easier and a more cost effective way
is to merge with a shopping mall thus subsidizing investments on both the land owning
and parking spaces. Generally, the shopping malls and the multiplex owners share the
same parking area both of them thus cutting down on parking space prices.

Secondly, the multiplex owners get huge tax exemption from the Government 30.

Multiplex owners not only get lower entertainment tax on themselves they also get an
added advantage of getting 100% tax exemption for constructing multiplexes in some
major metros for atleast five years, while the story is still different for many cinema
theatre owners who have to comply with the taxation laws of the Government. The
multiplexes besides getting tax exempted from their revenues also get the advantage of
pricing their tickets very high without any law from the Government to hold back their
prices. Thus the ticket prices are as high as 6-4% as compared to the ticket prices of the
single screen theatres. But this doesn‟t stop the multiplexes from getting more and more
attention from a class belonging to a high income stratum with a generous amount of
disposable income. They are the new emerged upper middle class „global‟ Indians. They
prefer facilities and luxuries provided to them by these multiplexes. Facilities as that of
parking areas and luxuries such as special seats of sofas and couches merged with various

Adrian M. Athique, „Leisure in the New Economy : The Rapid Rise of the Multiplex in India‟,
30

Unpublished seminar paper, (University of Queensland).

23
food items served to them during the film. This new class firstly wants to feel special and
privileged and they are efficiently made to feel so by these multiplexes.

Also they want to feel like a global citizen which is why the huge architecture of

shopping malls made up of glasses, overhead neon lights, central AC system and spaces
made in such a way so as to commensurate with their global counterparts. I would like to
argue here that shopping malls and the multiplexes become an extension of the corporate
offices which too have the glitz of neon lights and lights coming out of the computer
screen. The lights have a very different glow which dazzles the human eye. The glitz and
glamour that the shopping mall provides is completely in compliance with the interior of
private offices with dazzling structures, colours and lights specially those of the IT
offices. Taneja quotes Sonali Rastogi, a representative of Morphogenesis Architecture
Studio, a firm that designs corporate offices, shopping malls and multiplexes, “Global
Indians. We need to ensure that our newly built environment corresponds, and the
paradigm shift in Indian culture be addressed,”31.

Thus many things were happening at the same time. The liberalisation policy, the advent
of Television, the rise in the incomes of the middle class and their purchasing power,
growing land prices, all these coming together lead to multiplexes being constructed
throughout the country. And this is efficiently done with various facilities and structures
so as to draw as many people as possible.

31
Anand Vivek Taneja, „Begum Samru and the Security Guard‟ in Sarai READER 2005: Bare Acts (Delhi:
Sarai Media Lab)

24
 CHAPTER 3: INCREDIBLE! INDIAN FILMS AND ITS
EXHIBITION

This chapter looks into some emerging trends and features that the Indian Cinema is

experiencing by the change of its exhibition form i.e. from single screen theatres to multi
screen theatres or multiplexes. The visible change in the present day Indian Cinema is
contributed not only by multiplexes but other socioeconomic changes also. This is
discussed in the earlier chapter. In this chapter some case studies of this new trend in the
content of Indian Cinema will be done taking into account specifically three areas.

Firstly, I would like to draw attention towards a thematic shift that is now occurring in
Indian Cinema. This is a shift from the usual masala flick of Bollywood where one would
find seven to eight songs embedded in a three hour long feature film with the protagonists
singing and dancing around the trees. The shift is now towards the depiction of reality on
screen. Real in the sense that now the actors behave more humanly as opposed to what
70‟s hero did, fighting ten people at one go without major or with minor injuries. The non
understandable fight sequences, where one may sometimes gets confused about who is
thrashing whom, are being replaced by stylized actions with hi-tech guns, motor bikes
and cars and fight techniques like martial arts and karate. But a shift not only in the
stylization but also in the narrative structure of the films is also occurring. It is this shift
that I first want to draw the attention to.

I would like to say here that the multiplexes have given birth to a particular kind of

cinema, a kind which is at par with Western standards and they not only win accolades in
foreign lands and award ceremonies but also become a major hit among its Indian
audiences. The making of the so called off-beat films, films depicting real lives, real
stories was first braved by independent film makers or rather film makers not belonging
to any camps. They would make films keeping in mind an audience which has enough

25
sensibility to understand what is being said. A kind of audience who is educated and is
interested towards the artecrafts of film making.

India witnessed one such film, Hyderabad Blues (Dir. Nagesh Kukunoor, 1998), in the
second half of the 1990‟s. It can be said that Hyderabad Blues was India‟s first film to
have a mix of Hindi and English language usually known as „Hinglish‟. Interestingly,
this was just one year after the first multiplex in India was built. Though the film was first
released in Mumbai and not in the PVR Cinemas in Delhi, it went on to become a major
hit in India. The popularity of a film like this, which was first ever in India, indicates how
the Indian Cinema market was gushing for a breadth of fresh air. The story could easily
have been the experience of one‟s next door neighbor. The film had the theme of a NRI
coming to India to get himself an Indian bride. NRI matches are a major segment of
matrimony in India and there are many Indian films which skillfully play with this area. It
should not be forgotten here that this time of the decade saw many Indian corporate
executives being transferred abroad and eventually their settlement. This created a huge
market for the NRIs. And many films were made with marriages as the main theme
around which the narrative revolved.

In case of marriages, Indian films has the tendency to depict them with gala events such
as Sangeets, lots of colour, foods etc. It was what the West wants to see and knows about
the Indian marriages. These are specifically Punjabi marriages. From Dilwale Dulhaniya
Le Jayenge (Dir. Aditya Chopra, 1995), to Pride and Prejudice (Dir. Gurindhar Chadha,
2004) a great Indian wedding is witnessed. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was India‟s
first film which grossed a huge profit outside India as well. Earlier, films profited mostly
from inter-country distribution but now an Indian film got footing on the global platform.
So, naturally when it‟s India it will somehow try to incorporate marriage. It can easily be
said that most Indian films are based on love relations, sometimes love triangles, and
would always try to end up with a happy note of marriage and a notion of „they lived
happily ever after‟.

26
After Indian films started to become global, the marriages also got costlier. One can then
find a multi-crore wedding being functioned. Monsoon Wedding (Dir. Mira Nair, 2001) is
one such film. Wedding was the central theme and other small stories cropped up here
and there from time to time among the family members. Relatives would pour in from
different parts of the world and they would talk in Hinglish, participate in sangeets, wear
branded clothes and so on and so forth. The characters here are rich and spend lots of
money to make the wedding a gala event. The marriages in Indian Cinema are a
spectacle. Instances like this can be found in many other films as that of Bend It Like
Beckham (Dir. Gurindhar Chadha, 2002), Pride and Prejudice and even films like Kal Ho
Na Ho (Dir. Nikhil Advani, 2003) and Kabhi Khusi Kabhi Gham (Dir. Karan Johar,
2001) not only show NRI families but their big fat Indian weddings. And it is the
Punjabi‟s and the Gujrati‟s which dominate the scene when it comes to the depiction
Indian marriages.

But as the recent trend goes, marriage as the central theme is shifting away. Films are
now focusing on individual relationships and lives rather than family gatherings. As
Homi Adajania, Director of Being Cyrus puts it, “After all, India is not just Bollywood
and a Punjabi wedding” 32. Thus, films are now shifting its base from Indian marriages
and are concentrating more on how to project reality or realism on the screen. Examples
could be Jhankar Beats (Dir. Sujoy Ghosh, 2003) or Pran Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye (Dir.
Sanjay Jha, 2003). In Jhankar Beats one finds the life of three men revolving around their
marriage, work and their passion music. One can easily relate to their emotions, feelings
and passion. It is the life story of every Indian around. The mundane everydayness of
people‟s live is central here. The same is true for Pran Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye which
shows life in a Mumbai chawl where people share their lives together and how they come
together to save their chawl from the claws of a builder. The depiction of Indians is thus
slowly going through a makeover and it is no longer that big fat Indian weddings has to

32
Anupama Chopra, „Hindi Films Get Indie Sprit (No Dancing, Please)‟, The New York Times, 13 Nov.
2005
<http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:8zmgIr4V4vEJ:www.saiff.org/pressreleases/HindiFilmNYTimes.p
df+Hindi+Film+Gets+the+Indie+Spirit&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in> visited on 6th April, 2008.

27
get a screen space to make a film popular, it is now something else that is gaining ground.
This is depiction of real people, real lives.

This is a thematic shift. Coming back to Hyderabad Blues, we will find the film not only
kick started India‟s first Hinglish film but also it had a different way of story telling. It
could easily have been like DDLG or Monsoon Wedding, where in both cases we find the
story of a NRI groom coming to India for the cause of marriage. The same theme plays in
Hyderabad Blues but the mode of telling the story is definitely different. The issue is
dealt with more sensitively. The confused condition of an America returned Indian when
to have to terms with Indian realities is something Indian audiences have not seen before.
There are many films made after the success of this film. Here I would like to argue that
multiplexes have encouraged the making of such films which would caress the urbane
sensibility.

Multiplexes are literally blurring the boundary between commercial cinema and art

cinema. Films like Hyderabad Blues if made in 1980‟s would have easily been labeled as
„art‟ cinema. But no more. Films like Astitva (Dir. Mahesh Manjerekar, 2000), Split wide
Open (Dir. Dev Benegal, 2000), Every Body Says I Am Fine (Dir. Rahul Bose, 2002),
Joggers Park (Dir. Anant Balani, 2003), Morning Raga (Dir. Mahesh Dattani, 2004),
White Noise (Dir. Vinta Nanda, 2005) can also be labeled as the so-called „art‟ films. But
the Indians now don‟t consider them to be art films anymore in the same sense as they
would have done 20 years ago. They are films which can compete globally. All these
films are off beat and deals with different subjectivities.

The story line of these films is different from what the stories were used to be in the 70‟s
and the 80‟s. During the 70‟s one could predict the end of the narrative. The hero wins
atlast and everybody knows it all the way long. But these emerging films may have the
protagonists much in place but they don‟t necessarily win at the end. Their persona is
different from what it was for the 70‟s hero. For example, in Joggers Park, there is no
hero as such. The story revolves around an old judge (played by Victor Banerjee) falling

28
in love with a young aspiring singer (played by Parizad Kolebian). The story is plain and
simple. But the way the narrative proceeds the audience is bound to keep glued to the
screen to see the end of it. What is found in these films is the apparent lack of a hero who
at the end of the film would come and save the day, as it happened during the 70s. Rather
we find that the hero is just another person. The protagonists are like common people
whom one can easily find on streets or markets. It seems one already knows the
characters and can relate to it. It is a story from the life of an usual Indian. Not like hero‟s
of 70‟s or 80‟s having extraordinary powers to fight goons and always coming first in
competitions.

One film that transcends all these and was a major hit in 2005 is Being Cyrus (Dir. Homi
Adajania, 2005). This is India‟s first all English film and has been a hit internationally
too. The film is a song and dance less black comedy that revolves around a dysfunctional
Parsi family of the Sethnas. The film is set in two locations, Panchgani and Mumbai. The
Sethnas lets in Cyrus into their home as pottery artist Dinshaw‟s assistant and all hell
break loose after that. The sewing of the story is very interesting. It is the protagonist
Cyrus (played by Saif Ali Khan) whom we at the end find to be the main criminal of the
story. It is hard to differentiate between the hero and the villain. The hero is the villain
and one wouldn‟t know what to do with such a character. Love him or hate him. The
point of view with which one watches the film at the end becomes the POV of a criminal.
The film is totally twisted and the audience is left to construct the story themselves with
flash backs and voices heard by Cyrus.

This kind of films specially gets released in multiplexes mainly due to two reasons.

Firstly they cater to a „niche‟ audience. The audience for whom the film is made belongs
to the affluent middle class and they have grown up watching Western films. For them
relating to films like Being Cyrus or Joggers Park is nothing new. They know how to
make sense of the film. These niche audiences which prefer to give multiplexes a visit to
watch a film are also providing the film makers with various options to make films for
them. “A film is a conversation” says director-producer Ram Gopal Varma, head of the

29
Factory, a production house, “The multiplex gives me flexibility and enables me to have
a conversation with my intended target audience without worrying about small towns and
villages”33. This shows that how the film makers are being constantly being moved by the
multiplying number of the urban middle class who like to watch a film in a multiplex
rather than in a shabby single theatre with infected seats and refuse filled floors.

Secondly, these films opt for a pan Indian release in all the multiplexes thus recurring the
money within weeks. Since the multiplexes have high ticket prices i.e. three to four times
higher than that of the prices of an average single screen theatre, and with so much of a
wide release of films in multiplexes it is not hard on the producers to get back the money
invested in such films. The fact that whether the film is a hit or a miss only comes later.
Thus multiplexes work both ways, by giving freedom to film makers to make whatever
the kind of films they want to make and by raising the money for the producers within
few weeks of the film‟s release.

In compliance to the above another kind of films are also emerging. That is of low

budget films. It is these films that I take to be the second category. Many film makers are
now making low budget off beat films and which is also raking money in the Box –
Office. Hyderabad Blues again comes to fore in this category. The film is essentially low
budget and director Nagesh Kukunoor himself played in the film as the protagonist. With
multiplexes the directors are now ready to experiment with various themes and stories.
Some low budget films like Bheja Fry (Dir. Sagar Ballary, 2007), Johnny Gaddaar (Dir.
Sriram Raghavan, 2007), Mixed Double (Dir. Rajat Kapoor, 2006), Gangster (Dir.
Anurag Basu, 2006), Khoshla ka Ghoshla (Dir. Dibakar Banerjee, 2006), Corporate (Dir.
Madhur Bhandarkar, 2006), Iqbal (Dir. Nagesh Kukunoor, 2005), Page 3 (Dir. Madhur
Bhandarkar, 2005) and Teen Dewarein (Dir. Nagesh Kukunoor, 2003) has not only
received its fair share in the Box Office but also has won many critical acclaims.

33
Anupama Chopra, „Hindi Films Get Indie Sprit (No Dancing, Please)‟, The New York Times, 13 Nov.
2005
<http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:8zmgIr4V4vEJ:www.saiff.org/pressreleases/HindiFilmNYTimes.p
df+Hindi+Film+Gets+the+Indie+Spirit&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in> visited on 6th April, 2008.

30
Previously small budget projects were used to be taken up by Television or NFDC

(National Film Development Corporation). The Films Division would sponsor projects
which were not exactly mainstream and were unable to secure a place in single screen
theatre time slots. But times have changed. Now film makers are confident about making
small budget films which deliberately lack the fun and galore of spectacles of weddings
and designer costumes. Working with a low budget of $450,000 to $1.15 million as
opposed to more than $2.5 million of Bollywood, these films are really making it big in
the film industry. Page 3 made with a budget of $575,000 made a gross profit of $2.3
million and Iqbal got back its invested money of $685,000 within five weeks of its
release34. None of these films have A-list star in its casting. Page 3 shows the life of a
newspaper journalist, played by Konkona Sen Sharma, obstacles faced by her and her
friends in both their personal and professional life. The film shows many ground realities
that is present in Mumbai socialite circuit, lives of celebrities and politics. The film also
shows pedophilia and drug business being exchanged among the social high class of the
society. In Iqbal on the other hand, one finds the wish and struggle of a deaf – mute boy
to play in the National Cricket Team.

Both the films uses actors known for their „serious‟ acting. The films do not have the
glamour and glitz of the mainstream Bollywood and is made in a very stylized fashion,
every part of narrative interwoven intrinsically with each other. Only ten years ago these
kind of films would find no producers. The film makers would have to look out for
Governmental or other sources for investments. But now many corporate houses too are
investing on Cinemas such as Adlabs Films Pvt. Ltd, Planman Motion Pictures and UTV
Movie Production. They invest both in commercial mainstream cinema as well as off beat
films thus blurring the boundary between them.

34
Anupama Chopra, „Hindi Films Get Indie Sprit (No Dancing, Please)‟, The New York Times, 13 Nov.
2005
<http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:8zmgIr4V4vEJ:www.saiff.org/pressreleases/HindiFilmNYTimes.p
df+Hindi+Film+Gets+the+Indie+Spirit&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in> visited on 6th April, 2008.

31
This is the third trend in Indian cinema that I want to draw the attention to. Earlier one
could have easily made a distinction between commercial cinema and art cinema.
Mainstream would be the camp of films with major stars such as Amitabh Bachchan or
Shah Rukh Khan and Art Cinema amounted to small budget films with minimal star cast
and a serious story line. But, now a new form of films is emerging. These can be said to
stay in the boundary of both commercial and art cinema. A Film like Being Cyrus is both
that. The film grosses a profit both in India and overseas and is also an off beat film
because of its both content and form. Thus the commercial – art cinema binary is getting
replaced by a kind of cinema, fueled by the growth of multiplexes in India which is both
commercial and art and at the same time.

There is one more reason behind these films getting time slots in the multiplexes. Since
the number of screens are more the multiplex can accommodate more than one film at a
given time. Moreover, the multiplexes don‟t follow the 12-3-6-9 show timings rule as in
standalone theatres35. Thus this leaves the multiplex to juggle time slots between the
films. And since the off beat films usually are shorter in length compared to mainstream
the multiplexes don‟t find it difficult to fit them into the time slots. As Aparna sharma
says, “The ability to manipulate schedules allowed for films of varying lengths to be
accommodated. Since non-mainstream films are of varying lengths and usually shorter
than an average feature, they could easily be integrated in the multiplex‟s film menu” 36.

The multiplexes also slates out time for mainstreams as they are the main grosser. They
still have to compete with single screen theatres as they outnumber the multiplexes since
they are situated in every nook and corner of the city. The multiplex reach is not yet that
deep. But what multiplexes offer is a film viewing experience. Films are one among the
many options that one can opt for in the conglomeration of shopping malls and multiplex.
The consumers are spoilt for choice. The shopping malls with its multiplex, food courts
and gaming zones provides a good location for family outings. Thus multiplexes are

35
Aparna Sharma in „India‟s Experience with the Multiplex‟, <http://www.india-
seminar.com/2003/525/525%20aparna%20sharma.htm> visited on 6th April, 2008.
36
Ibid.

32
catering to families and mostly affluent families who have the spending power. “Since it
needs only a section that would guarantee a sell out of its limited seats being offered at a
higher rate, it tends to exclude the average Bollywood film. But in so doing it has
managed to elicit viewership from upper class segments, who previously may have held
reservations towards cinema going, given the lack of facilities like air-conditioning,
upscale interiors and so on” says Aparna Sharma 37.

Thus multiplexes are here to stay with the fast growing economy of India. What future
effects will they have on the Indian film industry only time can tell. Since the film
exhibition sector is an under researched area, much more work should be done regarding
this. To sum up, this dissertation is an insight into a form exhibition of films through
multiplexes and the effects it has on the film making industry.

37
Aparna Sharma in „India‟s Experience with the Multiplex‟, <http://www.india-
seminar.com/2003/525/525%20aparna%20sharma.htm> visited on 6th April, 2008.

33
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Electronic Journals
Hughes, Stephen P. “The Pride of Place”. Seminar, The Monthly Symposium.
Seminar 525: May 2003; Unsettling Cinema: a symposium on the place of
Cinema in India. < http://www.india-
seminar.com/2003/525/525%20stephen%20p.%20hughes.htm>
Prasad, Madhava. “This Thing Called Bollywood”. Seminar, The Monthly
Symposium. Seminar 525: May 2003; Unsettling Cinema: a symposium on the
place of Cinema in India. < http://www.india-
seminar.com/2003/525/525%20madhava%20prasad.htm>
Sharma, Aparna. “India‟s Experience with the Multiplex”. Seminar, The Monthly
Symposium. Seminar 525: May 2003; Unsettling Cinema: a symposium on the
place of Cinema in India. < http://www.india-
seminar.com/2003/525/525%20aparna%20sharma.htm>

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 Singh, Bhrigupati. “The Problem”. Seminar, The Monthly Symposium. Seminar
525: May 2003; Unsettling Cinema: a symposium on the place of Cinema in
India. < http://www.india-seminar.com/2003/525/525%20the%20problem.htm>
Vasudevan, Ravi. “Cinema in Urban Space”. Seminar, The Monthly Symposium.
Seminar 525: May 2003; Unsettling Cinema: a symposium on the place of
Cinema in India. < http://www.india-
seminar.com/2003/525/525%20ravi%20vasudevan.htm>

Websites
www.sarai.net
www.cscsarchive.org
www.jstor.org
www.indiafm.com
www.imdb.com
www.indiantelevision.com

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