Trying to increase cinema or marketing of theater?

 

October 13th is celebrated as “Cinema Day” in our multiplexes and on that day the movie will be screened for just Rs.99. Is it even one rupee less? anyway It's a great activity. This is actually an American idea. In foreign countries, different days are celebrated throughout the year in this way and it is reflected in us like Father's Day, Mother's Day, Friendship Day, Cinema Day. But why is this a 'fad' for a day? Why not have a show in at least one screen in every multiplex at a special discounted rate every day? Each multiplex has two or four-five, sometimes seven screens. The viewership of each screen is also less and less. If one of the screens is kept in such a way for an old movie play and its ticket price is Rs 99, then the movie buffs of yesteryear and today will surely welcome it "house full". Even in the era of OTT, the film on the big screen is heavy. In the world of the screen, we get lost, lost, lost. (National Cinema Day)

Now I said for yesterday's and today's generation that in the sixties, seventies and eighties we had a very popular “matinee show culture” in big cities. Those who crossed fifty today must have gone back to old memories. What happened to matinee show culture? So old movies are now showing again for a week in matinee shows. So what happens if the movie buffs of the previous generation get a chance to watch the movie that they have seen twice before, while the next generation now gets a chance to watch the movie of the previous generation. It was a good initiative. It was a good circle. It was a part of film culture.

It complements the rooting of films in the society and that's the way things should be. Suppose, if a movie buff wants to re-watch a film from the sixties, what was the medium at that time? So “street movie”. But for that, such yoga should come. The matinee show was a very good feature. From him came the culture of matinee show at 11:30 every morning. It became popular. Well established and especially on Sundays almost all matinee shows run to house full crowds. When I myself was growing up in Girgaon, I used to fill up my backlog by watching many old movies for matinees in theaters like Central, Roxy, Imperial, Naaz, Super, Dreamland, Shalimar. There were a lot of such film craze in those days. Now how do these old movies reach the next generation in that time? Parents used to know some things. During that time there was always good positive and good movie discussion in the family. Let's say movies were like that. Family movie going was the culture. When Doordarshan started in Mumbai in 1972, Marathi films were shown on Saturdays, Hindi films in the evening and Sunday evenings. On that occasion, the director, actors, songs of that film used to be discussed. (National Cinema Day)

Going beyond gossips, these were gossips. Gossips come and go as curiosity. Such vintage films had a special place in the print media of that time and had a readership as well. To give a few examples, Isaak Mujavar's flashback in "Rasrang" was Kailas Zodge's 'Kaha Gaye Woh Din', followed by Mujavar's 'flashback' again in Chitranand, Vijay Nafde's "Ghungat Ke Pat Khol" in Sunday Maharashtra Times. Marathi as well as Hindi and English newspapers, weeklies, magazines also give special coverage about old movies and read both the previous generation and today's generation.(National Cinema Day)

Similarly, in 'Rasrang', I remember, there was a saying, "Ek Naam Many Films". I mean G. P. When Sippy produced and Ramesh Sippy directed “Andaaz” (Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini and special guest Rajesh Khanna) was released, when did a movie called “Andaaz” fare better? “Andaz” (1949) directed by Mehboob Khan came. It starred Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Dilip Kumar. Through this method, the information of the old film was continuously brought before the new generation and the old generation also enjoyed the memory. A major push or booster dose in all these was the popular song, music and dance of yesteryear films. Especially the forgotten songs of various Bharati, juke boxes in Irani hotels, loud speakers in urban and rural areas on the occasion of various festivals, Radio Ceylon used to hum old songs.

Those songs used to grow the circle around that old movie and it used to be like we are watching that movie. Many songs from both Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor's films were hits, making the films more attractive. After Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Manoj Kumar, Rajkumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Jeetendra's old movies, the 'matinee show' was a great tool for the next generation to watch and if you get to watch an old movie. It was an unwritten rule at that time that its ticket prices would be low. That is, stalls were one rupee five paise, upper stall one rupee sixty five paise, balcony two rupees twenty paise. Today this rupee, two rupees seems to be a very small price, but in those days, one used to hold coins of this amount in one's fist and put it in the ticket window, then the booking clerk would count it, then slip the ticket in one's hand and once in a while sit in one's seat holding the same ticket in one's hand, and then these Matinee shows have become a habit, old movies must be re-watched now. Matinee shows had a special audience for two types of films, especially the sixties suspense picture and Bhoot Pat. Among them, Vijay Anand's films like 'Tisri Mandir', 'Jewel Thief' and ghost films were seen, while 'Bees Saal Baad', 'Kohra', 'Mahal' got good response.(National Cinema Day)

You know when lately I've felt like the era of the matinee show should come back today? On the occasion of Dev Anand's birth centenary, PVR Inox Multiplex organized a two-day Dev Anand film festival in many cities across the country. Vijay Anand's four films Jewel Thief, Johnny Mera Naam and Guide and Raj Khosla's 'CID' received almost spontaneous response from the fans in those two days. This means that the fans of both the previous generation and today's generation experienced the reception of these movies of Dev Anand. I myself went to Juhu PVR to relish the movie “Guide”. I first saw Guide in the seventies in the movie Khotachi Wadit Galli. After that, he watched matinee shows often. Then I saw it on satellite channel and sometimes on video. I kept watching it many times and still my love for that movie remained and this time I watched the show of “Guide” where Waheeda Rehman was specially present.

They were also curious as to when the film was starting. When he was requested to make a speech, he said that he will end the speech briefly and let's watch the movie. In between some of us film buffs especially Dev Anand devotees met Wahidaji and most importantly I took Wahidanji's autograph during today's selfie. The response I saw to the film was amazing. Almost every song and dialogue that was very vocally effective received a standing ovation. And that's when I thought that movie buffs are still eager to watch old movies on multiplex screens. What was once matinee show culture and glamour, may become glamor once again. One screen in a multiplex should be considered as a matinee show screen and many such old films should be screened there. I believe film lovers will respond enthusiastically.

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Now if we want to define an old movie then 'Kaho Na Pyaar Kya' released in 2000, 'Refugee', 'Lagaan' released in 2001, "Dil Chahta Hai" are also considered as old movies now. Now in the era of digital media, all these films, information about them are on Google, but actually the "film on the screen" is a live experience. Multiplexes can get a huge stock of old movies for matinee shows. That is, now the films of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s are known as old films. If it is released for one show and stays for a week, today's generation will surely watch the film. We get a glimpse into history in our film-crazy countries, an awareness of what happened in the past, and the songs we hear about over and over again. However, seeing all the chemistry that the old song is getting in different reality shows, there is definitely a large audience to watch old movies even today. The old to gold rule is more and more applicable to films.

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