Readers Write In #874: Do the movie enthusiasts care about Big screen experience ?

By Ashwin Kumar

Deepavali brings brings back memories of movie releases which were events in themselves. We used to await for the big ones in excitement and these  times caught me pondering about the value of watching movies at the theatres.

I still remember watching The Dark Knight at the theater. There was this youngster(I was one too at that time) sitting next to me, and the moment Batman made his first appearance on screen, he burst out and  just screamed out of sheer excitement. And I had goosebumps. It really felt like watching a Rajini introduction. For a second, I felt connected to him to everyone there, really. The last time I felt similar was during the Manjummel boys rescue scene. 

And I’ve often wondered since – why does watching a movie in a theater feel so different? Why does even a mediocre movie sometimes make me feel more than it deserves to? Is it because as human beings, we tend to mirror others. When others laugh, we laugh. When they feel , we feel likewise. Not always, but often enough.

I clearly remember another one, a Tamil movie called Ivan Thandhiran. It was, honestly, a pretty average movie. But watching it in the theater, I didn’t feel that it was unwatchable. In fact, I enjoyed it. The energy in the hall carried me through. If I had seen the same film on TV, I probably would have turned it off halfway.

These days, I rarely go to the theater. But whenever there’s a movie I truly care about, I make it a point to go. Because I don’t want to lose out on that big experience and the joy of watching something together with others. And my favorite time to go to the movies now is the morning show — 8:30, 9:00, 9:30. At that hour, there’s hardly anyone around. Parking is easy, there’s a certain calm in the air, and the mall feels empty. We watch the movie in peace, step out quietly, have a quick lunch, and head back home. It’s relatively, comparatively, stress-free. We get the community experience without the crowd.

The only thing that still gets to me, though, is the food. The prices are mind-boggling. Even when I just want to buy a small popcorn for my son, there’s always this push  “Sir, make it large? Add a drink? Upgrade combo?” and it’s so blatantly visible that it becomes annoying. I have to politely but firmly refuse and tell them not to sell me anything more than what I want. That small exchange, every time, reminds me of how commercialized the experience has become.

And don’t even get me started on the advertisements. It’s like a punishment. We pay so much money to sit in the theater, and then we’re forced to watch endless ads which are  loud, repetitive, and often ridiculous. I honestly think someone should sue them for it. I am amazed nobody has yet. We didn’t pay for the ads; we paid for the movie. Nowadays, when we step out during the interval, my son says, “They’re going to flood us with ads so let’s go in late.” And we actually wait outside for a few minutes, just to skip that nonsense and get back in when the movie resumes.

And while we are on the subject of hidden irritations, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are sneaky little charges during online booking too on a few apps. You have to be careful to uncheck it. It’s small, but it’s there and if you care about where your money goes to the right cause, it’s worth noticing.

So here is my question – does it really matter in today’s times, watching movies in a theater? To this community – not the average movie watcher but the movie lovers, the ones who write, debate, and live movies on this blog.