Random Forays | The sadly fading lights of cinema halls

The elephant in the room which has caused this dissipation of collective energy that hitherto flowed towards cinemas, is the ease of viewing movies on a smartphone or even on a stationary digital device

There is a sudden vacuum in our lives. It is not one that is unprecedented, but certainly one that is rather painful. Cinema, the silver screen, the box office, Hollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood, Gollywood, et al, have all taken a beating in various ways. The over-the-top (OTT) era has snatched the zing from the erstwhile king of entertainment. There is hardly any reason to go “to the movies” anymore. Popcorn and cola sellers haven’t suffered as much since these are consumables which can be ordered at home but cinema halls are literally crying. Private television screens have gotten bigger, smartphones have gotten smarter and people are increasingly preferring their own comfort zones to consume visual content.

Thus, for some of us who don’t prefer watching films like Animal, Bhool Bhulaiya, etc, there is literally no place to go but home. (stock.adobe.com)

It is not as if multiplex cinemas have become dysfunctional. But they have taken a huge “hit” in the wrong sense. Even standalone cinema houses are still around, and still see some footfall every day. Yet, the charm of watching a movie in theatres, along with the accompanying addendums which would enhance the whole experience of movie-goers, have almost faded from our lives.

The elephant in the room which has caused this dissipation of collective energy that hitherto flowed towards cinemas, is the ease of viewing movies on a smartphone or even on a stationary digital device. The access to movies has become so facile in this era that people have stopped thronging towards movie halls. Even dating couples are nowhere to be seen at the movies!

And to further exacerbate this damaging trend, the quality of offerings that production houses are churning out these days are usually not suitable for viewing by normal viewers. Horror films, science fiction flicks, fantasy movies and the like are all that one can watch if one happens to lose one’s way towards the portals of cinemas. Normal people, normal situations, romances, comedies, feel good films, even historical films and the like, are fast becoming elusive and scarce from movie theatres.

Thus, for some of us who don’t prefer watching films like Animal, Bhool Bhulaiya, etc, there is literally no place to go but home. The last film that one watched in a theatre was the animated children’s film “Inside Out”! And before that, it was the most memorable “biopic” on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, aptly titled, “Sam Bahadur”. This fantastic celluloid tribute to the great man contained charming dialogues, situations that lent themselves to subtle humour, marvellous old fashioned songs, down to earth portrayals, and real life people. This inspiring film didn’t have any R2-D2 robots popping ominously up from under the carpet! We didn’t notice any creepy crawly monsters of the dastardly variety bulldozing their way into our cognisance, accompanied by utterly bone chilling 4D effects!

The irony is that whenever our busy family finds that we’re finally all available to go out for a movie plus dinner night, we find nothing even remotely enticing playing at any of the cinemas in town! Gone are the days when even modern actors like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone would play everyday roles and would mouth dialogues of substance. These days they are just too busy flying around like superheroes over entire cities and serenading their so-called beloveds with one liners which are all too fleeting!

Gone are film makers like Yash Chopra and Shyam Benegal, as also directors of films like Jab We Met, Dil Chahta Hai and even Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani. All such artistes and their ensembles seem to have migrated to the OTT world and left average cinema-goers stranded.

Indian cinema has caught the hi-tech bug just like all other fields of endeavour. Thus, the order of the day are ultra special effects and snazzy scenarios. Dialogues, expressions, pauses, meaningful glances and winsome smiles have taken a back seat. Nay, they have almost been obliterated from the scene.

The brilliance of nuanced film-makers of India has sadly been reduced to the platform of small screens, even though these devices have evolved into mega avatars of their ancient tiny relatives.

How we yearn for an enjoyable evening at the movies, even today! Sadly, they may never return.

vivek.atray@gmail.com