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Showing posts with the label penguin

OTT vs. Theatres – Who will win?

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Jurassic Park released in 1993 and I remember watching in awe how a digitally mastered Dinosaur fought humans in the epic film when I saw it at one of the biggest screens in the erstwhile Madras at Devi Theatre Complex, Mount Road. Much was spoken about how the film was conceptualized and produced. For reasons unknown to me, I skipped The Lost World as well as the other sequels which released in later years. I decided to make do with it and therefore tuned in the films one after the other on our Smart Tv at home. The film is hosted on the Hungama App and I was asked to subscribe to watch the film. The cost of an annual subscription was Rs. 1,299 for which I get to watch – to begin with all three releases and thereafter, an unlimited dose of films hosted on the platform. The cost was almost the same as a movie outing for four of us or perhaps a Continental Meal at our favorite restaurant in town. We went ahead and watched the films on our 42” Tv and I was again in awe of the concept.

Relevance of Cinema Theatres

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Two weeks back, we were watching Dharma Durai at home feat.  Superstar Rajinikanth on Raj Tv, a regional Satellite Tv channel that has remained in ”existence” for over 2 decades as a GEC. No matter which channel has innovated or grown, this one remains loyal to its user base telecasting movies of yore from the 70s, 80s and sparingly from the 90s. When Thalaivar appears in the first scene (in a negative film mode, a novel attempt by Director Rajashekar those days and repeated later by Director Suresh Krishna in Baasha!) and fights off the rowdies, I was howling, clapping and all excited in front of the TV screen much to the surprise of my kids – perhaps with almost the same enthusiasm I had when I watched First Day First Show at National Theatre, Tambaram ( a suburb of Chennai) on 14 Jan. 1991.  I was, with all glee sharing the events of that day with my  family when I witnessed lathi charge for the first time as Police was regulating the frenzied “rasigans” outside the theatre wh