People who know me well will vouch that I am a complete bollywood movie buff with an occasional dash of Hollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood and all the other woods existing in the world of cinema. Like any avid movie buff, TV or cable is no good for me. Nothing like watching a movie on a 70MM screen. The only regret I have is not being able to watch “Sholay” on the 70MM screen. Going to a cinema hall is a totally different experience. It’s a shame not being able to watch some movies on the big screen – Sholay, 3 Idiots, Dil Chahtha hai, just to name a few.
Around a month back, I went to a multiplex to see a movie. During the interval there was an advertisement played on the screen about video piracy. The message was loud and clear from all parties in Bollywood, that we should not buy pirated CD’s/DVD’s and go to the cinema hall to watch a movie. I could not agree more with the advertisement.
Another incident last week made me think if I really agreed with the advertisement. After having read and heard good reviews for the movie “Rajneeti”, we thought this was a movie for the big screen. Since the movie was in its third week, we thought we would get tickets easily, even for a Sunday afternoon. Of course we were getting tickets but the weekend price was 350/- per ticket. Weekday is a tad less at 250/-. Weekday morning shows are at 150/- for this particular movie, whereas other regional movies and other hindi movies are at 70/- for weekday morning show, 150/- for weekday any other show and around 250/- for the weekend.
This is the reason that makes me think twice before going to a cinema hall. If the multiplex is making a profit with majority of the tickets being sold in the range of 180-250/- and offering atleast 4-5 shows a day at 70/-, why hike the weekend ticket price for a few movies to 350/-? This is not business acumen, but pure greed. This is not about price increase due to the inverse relationship between demand and supply. An equilibrium price, in this case tends towards infinity and defies logic.
For a family of 4, the tickets will cost 1400/- plus average spend of 200/- per person on frivolously priced eatables and add another 50-100 for parking, if you happen to find one. The total cost of seeing one movie for a family is 2300-2500/-. This is the opportunity that fuels the pirated CD/DVD industry.
It is not enough for the bollywood industry to say stop buying pirated CD/DVD’s. The Bollywood industry including the multiplex business owners need to create an atmosphere conducive for everyone to go to the cinema. Until then, the pirated movie industry will continue to grow.
The movie industry wants a movie buff like me to come to the cinema and they themselves are also restricting me from coming. I am a movie buff, but I am not stupid and by no means am I so ethical to spend 350/- on each ticket. By the way, Pirated CD’s/DVD’s are available in Indira Nagar (Bangalore) for 35/- only. Now at that price, I don’t mind even if it works only once !!!!!
Indira Nagar is still costly, In Mumbai you get it for 20 bucks..... see greed again :) :)
ReplyDeleteMovie industry in India is one of the very few where product price has nothing to do with quality. All movies are priced the same - whether worth or not.
ReplyDeleteSachin
well said and well captured Sanjiv!
ReplyDelete