Owing to the fantastic reaction to his earlier article, Kabir has decided to continue his Sunday weekly article. Who’s Kabir? Kabir is a young enthusiastic film buff. He is an advertising junkie whose family is not closely related to films. However Kabir knows the single day as well as lifetime collection of all the films. It’s his passion to keep a track on the insider happenings of the industry. From actor fees to the popcorn rates at any city multiplex, Kabir knows it all. Every Sunday we will share Kabir’s point of view on one topic related to the industry. But again today kabir is depressed, his feelings are supressed and his thoughts cannot be compressed Kabir’s Open Letter to City Multiplexes Dear Theatres, I decided to catch a late night flick at a suburban Mumbai multiplex this week but unfortunately by the time I left the screening it was breakfast time(slightly exaggerated but we are Bollywood lovers). Not that the movie was LOC Kargil but the film which was scheduled to start at 10:45 only started by 11:20. First there were atleast a dozen advertisements some promoting wedding wear, others promoting some detergent brand. After I was subjected to a short film on these continuous advertisements, I was hoping for some luck that the movie would start. As a stroke of bad luck a placard appears that says “Previews are a part of the film“and there begins a trailer showreel showcasing atleast 6-8 trailers (some upcoming films and rest what films the multiplex has acquired). Each trailer it seemed was competing with the other in terms of length. As the advertisements and trailers got over, I thought I had already seen my film. Enviously I looked around to see the people seated next to me with an entire platter of popcorn and diet colas smiling cunningly (denoting that they were well prepared as this wasn’t their first experience with the theatre). Also read: The downside of Hindi Film Industry I suffered from the “Ghajini” syndrome and for a few minutes forgot as to which film I had come to watch at the theatre. To make matters worse although the show started some 20 minutes late there were people walking in even after the show had begun. I wondered if they were late for this show or early for the next. Then I realised they were regular patrons who had miscalculated or taken for granted the multiplex buffer start time. A sincere request to you and the other multiplex properties to not take our time for granted. A maximum buffer of 10 minutes is good enough but beyond that it makes a regular movie goer restless and uninterested. Anyway, the multiplexes are facing a rough patch in terms of footfalls, these unnecessary advertisements and plug in only ruin the experience further. A suggestion – since they are key units to earn revenue do play them during the interval. Since the multiplex staff does take orders inside the cinema nowadays many people are already seated in the interval. Also the advertisements and upcoming promos do play on the digital screens outside the movie screen. Many that will come early or reach in time will eventually get a glimpse of them as they await to enter the movie screen. Our take It’s vital that every multiplex respect the time of their patrons. While we always discuss the hike in ticket rates and quality of cinema, somehow we feel this issue is always left out and unnoticed. A tight time schedule will only enhance and make a movie goer happy. We feel this dilemma is faced by one and all and we are glad Kabir brought this issue up. If you have faced such delays in movie scheduling – do share your experience and thoughts with us on the same.