SILVER SCREEN ROBBERY: WORSE THAN DAYLIGHT ROBBERY

During my youth, I was a movie buff. I used to regularly visit the theatres in Chennai during those days. I fact I believe I hold a few records such as having seen the same movie twenty eight times and sitting in a theatre from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in what used to be called continuous shows during those days.

 I remember even having visited theatres where they screened two movies back to back for just a rupee and the best part was that they used to allow us to smoke inside while watching the movie. However times have now changed and the movies have now really moved on.

 With the advent of the multiplexes with multiple screens I gradually withdrew from watching movies on the big screen since a common man like me could not afford the high priced tickets and I therefore stuck to watching movies on television and on video. It is quite some time now since I last saw a movie on the big screen and when my daughter who has of late been feeling the pressures of work wanted to relax herself this weekend, we decided to take in a movie and she being a Tamil movie buff she booked tickets for the entire family online for a recent release which none of us had seen.

 The movie like all Tamil movies did not have the story quality that I would want in a movie but that is not the purpose of this post. This post is not to whine about the quality of Indian movies or the price of the tickets but in fact to share my gripe about the price of snacks being served at these multiplexes. All my three kids are voracious eaters and whenever they visit a movie hall they require the inevitable pop-corm and soft drinks.

 With the arrival of the multiplexes the age old tradition of taking snacks from home to the theatres and opening out bags and boxes of snacks and enjoying them while watching the movies did come to an end. As a result most of us who like to nibble at some snacks while watching a movie are being held to ransom by these multiplexes.

 In fact a box of popcorn is as costly if not more as the price of a movie ticket just as much as a watered down fountain Coke or Pepsi or Fanta is. The same popcorn would hardly cost one fifth of the price which they charge in the theatre if purchased form a store outside. I really don’t understand the rational of the high pricing at these theatres and wonder if we could petition the civic authority to prevent this daylight nay silver screen robbery.

 Needless to say that the movie outing cost me so much that I could have very well taken my family to dinner at a five star hotel and ended up paying less than what I spent on the movies.