Y. Bhargava Krishna's Blog

Multiplex Melodrama

The Curious Case of the Silver Screen: it’s growing smaller in size, it’s showing unwanted gimmicks, feeding the most unwanted things, giving sofas to sleep rather than watch movies.

I want to see every good movie out there in a theater. I want to relish the movies on the silver screen which gives me the ‘cinemascope’ feel – the feeling that I’m seeing something larger than life. It’s a sorry state that modern Indian multiplexes are softly killing the experience in their own way. This shows that the men behind the multiplex business don’t understand their business; and it’s not business exactly. It’s Art. A ‘Confluence of Arts’ is a better phrase to describe it. A movie is a combination of different arts: Stage, Music, Storytelling, Dance and a director who orchestrates them all. A confluence of this magnitude deserves theaters that respect it. (Side note: despite such great arts coming together, there are movies which don’t deserve theaters; we’ll leave them out).

A theater without a ‘large’ screen has no soul. I watched ‘The Avengers’ in a branded multiplex. I knew I was cheated the moment I saw the matchbox of a theater. The ticket price was hefty. It wasn’t a weekend either. The screen was awfully small for a good movie experience. The worst part came while I was watching the movie. The top part of actors’ faces were cut from view, while I could see their mouths talking. A good top chunk had disappeared. This evidently meant a good lower chunk had been removed too. For lack of choice, I’ve been to multiplexes before and after ‘The Avengers’ and the sour experience has repeated. One is as bad as the other, no matter what brand of multiplex I step in. And with the price one pays for the ticket, one gets very little of what one deserves from the theater.

I’ve always avoided the 3D versions of movies. The 3D picture is dull. Some part of the picture, which fools the mind as watching a 3D image is falling on the glasses I’m wearing; so the ‘cinematic’ feel is gone already as I’m watching a very dull and diminished picture. Technology cannot make Art. Yes it can aid, but it can never become Art. History has proved this. Movies never became better because they were shot in colour. Good movies come with good stories, good actors and good directors. And a good movie theater aids in elevating the experience further. There are perhaps very few technologies out there which are aiding Art. IMAX, perhaps.  But the current 3D technology is utter garbage. And multiplexes (and studios) have again shown their greed by charging extra for this dismal technology. The ticket price is already higher. They need a deposit to lend you 3D glasses which in my opinion deserve a good crashing under your feet. They again charge something extra for renting the glasses for a few hours. All for a very unsatisfying and a forgettable experience.

Roger Ebert in his fantastic article says, “The theory is that the higher ticket prices are justified by the cost of installing the 3D projectors. Obviously the cost of these projectors has already been met many times over. This is like a toll road that continues to raise its tolls after it has long since been paid for.” The article also discusses the use of 48 fps for ‘The Hobbit’ which is slated for release this December.  While there are mixed responses on the use of 48 fps against the traditional 24 fps, it’s quite obvious most projectors (though the stats are given for US and not India) would require a change. I can already see the multiplex owners grinning their shark smiles ready for charging the viewers for an experience they might perhaps dislike. The viewers are going to dislike the price anyway.

I’ve found just one exception to the multiplex melodrama. Prasadz at Hyderabad has amazing multiplexes (if you count out the one at the corner, behind the popcorn stalls). Add IMAX to the list. It’s a perfect place for movies. There are quite a few stand alone theaters with high standards of movie presentation. Urvashi in Bangalore (their 4K sound just awed me!) is the finest example. Sangeet and Skyline in Hyderabad (which unfortunately have eroded in the wake of real estate boom) were two of the best theaters I’ve ever been to.

The facts presented here are nothing new to the studios and Hollywoods of the world. It’s just that the moviemakers’ love for film making is overwhelmed by the greed of studios+multiplexes.

If such is the experience the end viewer has to endure for watching movies (most of them are mediocre anyway; add the below-mediocre approach of multiplexes), the studios and Hollywoods of the world do not have any moral and ethical right in their fight against piracy. They are pirates themselves.

India strikes Olympic Gold!

A long time back, the three fellows in ‘The Good, The Bad, The Ugly’ had found it. A few years later, Mackenna had found it. Now it’s India’s turn to find its share of gold treasure.

In a spectacular event at the Olympics, India’s Rajiv Mishra has pulled off the unexpected! He has won the first ever gold for India in an individual event. Indians everywhere are immersed in neck deep jubilation.

Talking to an overcrowded and overwhelmed press room, Rajiv said, “This is a dream come true for me and all my fellow Indians. I’m so happy I could make them all proud!” When asked about the event, he said, “This is a one of a kind event, never seen or played before. Remember, we had to lobby a great deal to get this event going at the Olympics. Probably the only event that comes close to this is Chess where there is no physical exertion but just raw and tribal exertion of the mind. But this is much tougher than Chess. You don’t really have time to think. One mistake, and you are out. One needs immense mental strength to participate in this.” No doubt we all agree with Rajiv. In fact we know very well the kind of mental strength he is talking about. Many of us have indeed been through this sport.

Only this Olympics has witnessed a very rare event for the first time: The booking of a Tatkal ticket on IRCTC! All the other nations are flabbergasted at India’s success, which has also bagged silver and bronze for the event.

When the clocks struck 10 AM today, the users (participants) frenetically logged in to the website. But most of the Indian participants had logged in by 9:30 already. “There isn’t any rule that says you should not login before 10 AM. So we just logged in very early and kept browsing through the site so our session doesn’t time out,” said Rajiv. The foreign participants found it very difficult in just logging in. Most of them lost the race in the first step, unaware of the website’s behavior.

A jubilant Rajiv further says, “It’s unlike any other sport. Your opponents are not at all visible. You have no idea what they are upto. To finish booking you keep waiting and waiting till the page loads. Then you have to click at all the right places in the fastest possible way. Your hands could be shivering. You have to keep the ID proof numbers ready. Then comes the Internet transaction. You never know what is happening, except for a screen that says not to refresh your browser. It’s horrifying. A single mistake means you are down mentally and you have to restart. By the time you come back, you should be lucky to find any tickets left. When I finished, I didn’t know I won the gold. No doubt this is unlike anything we have ever seen!”

We asked IRCTC about their preparation for the event. An official replied, “There’s been no preparation as such. It’s just another day for us, except some Olympic users were logged in. This didn’t effect the site’s performance. It remained its usual self which I think made the event more interesting.”

The medal winners agreed they were regular at booking Tatkal tickets. Their previous experience has come into use.

We wish this is only the first of many Olympic golds. Some sporting personalities have expressed confidence in winning a gold outside this event. The clean sweep at this event though has come quite unpredictably, just the way a Tatkal booking goes.