So what’s the future of theatres?

In 2019 when I met Ajay Bijli founder of PVR Indiarsquos first and largest multiplex chain we were talking about OTTs versus cinemas Before I can even remind him about exactly what hersquod said then he interrupts ldquoI feel the same even now Look around you on OTTs people usually ask about shows Khaki dekhi aapnerdquo Ajay has just binged on The White Lotus S2Meaning people are chiefly consuming longform series on streamers Conversations around cinema on the OTT are at best restricted to films commissioned directly by those platformsWhich was obviously not the case soon after 2019 when the world more or less shut downmdashas did cinemas altogether for 18 months Ajayrsquos 886screen multiplex empire survived from a corpus fund they created through lsquorights issuesrsquo of the company with investors chipping in and mallowners waiving rentAll this while Ajay was certain that cinema was going nowhere ldquoIt is Indiarsquos number one outdoor entertainment They say it takes 21 days to kick a habitmdashI donrsquot even know a drinker or smoker thatrsquos true forrdquoAjay Bijli and Sanjeev Kumar BijliHe was apprehensive alright when Reliancersquos Sooryavanshi in early Nov rsquo21 and 83 Xmas rsquo21 were hitting screens first ldquoThey were gutsy enough to go aheadrdquo he recalls Theatres were allowed to reopen at 50 per cent capacity ldquowhich is neither here nor there not good for PVR nor Rohit ShettyrdquoAlso Read Naah canrsquot review this Avatar 2Itrsquos when RRR late March rsquo22 went off the block on full capacity hitting R900 crore at the boxoffice followed by KGF2 midApril going much past that Ajay says he knew ldquoIt was business as usual Volatility in what works doesnrsquot will always remain But here we were at Rs 900 crore backtoback collections that never happened even before the pandemicrdquoEvidently public was returning to cinemas albeit for individual movies rather than as accepted weekend rituals alone Sanjeev Kumar Bijli Ajayrsquos younger brother and PVRrsquos cofounder tells me at the end of 2022 their business is at 70 per cent of prepandemic levels ldquoThe remaining 30 per cent will happen by next year given the content pipelinerdquoTheatre business Sanjeev explains operates on ldquotwo tentpole releases a month to sail throughrdquo Say for Dec rsquo22 those two were Avatar and Cirkus Further during national holidays that quarterly results depend on there is a threeweek buffer created for a big release which if it doesnrsquot do well ldquocauses a vacuum in the businessrdquo Ajay saysAs happened with Laal Singh Chadha and Raksha Bandhan tanking together in Q2 rsquo22 Many other movies especially from Bombay but from the South too bombed in succession Generating a perception that there was such a thing as an lsquoOTTrsquo and a lsquotheatricalrsquo film The former being the preferred home for anything not a spectacleTake mediumbudget entertainers with strong messaging that say Ayushmann Khurrana would headline ldquoI was excited about Khurranarsquos An Action Hero have you seen itrdquo Ajay asks me ldquoYeah thought killer firsthalf with nowhere to go afterrdquo I offer my solicited opinion He says ldquoThere you go itrsquos about the film alwaysrdquoTake Drishyam 2 he says that disproved all postpandemic punditrymdashsmall film shot over a ldquomile radius for a settingrdquo remade from a Malayalam movie already on Amazon Primemdashldquocrossed Rs 250 crore at the boxoffice touching Rs 300 crorerdquoBasically nobody knows They never did Businesswise whatrsquos clear is the upside on a theatrical release is infinite ldquoConsider Kantara or The Kashmir Files fetching say around R350 crore plus at the boxoffice It would earn a markup of 2050 per cent of the cost of production on an OTT There too the platform will be disappointed if they donrsquot pull in enough new subscribers basis the investmentrdquoWhich isnrsquot to suggest the Bijli brothers baaps of multiplex biz in India donrsquot see OTT as a commercial threat It is to counter that among other reasons that Sanjeev says PVR went in for a civil marriage with its main rival Inox that has about 700 screens nationwide Registration papers are in courtThe new entity ifonce merger is through will practically be a onestop shop for cinema in India expanding to newer townsterritories I wonder if theyrsquoll further jack up multiplex rates Often movie tickets cost more than a monthrsquos Netflix subscriptionThe Bijlis are aware of this criticism Ajay says it comes from a few people in posh parts of DelhiBombay where there are expensive seatsaudis equipped with highend projection ICE tech in NCR recliners blankets butlers food menus from masterchefs the worksBoth Ajay and Sanjeev themselves come across as spiffy South Delhi cityslicker showbiz men to me Having met them separately the other thing I find in common is perhaps their love for analogiesNo matter how yoursquore seated the movie remains the same nomdashI tell Sanjeev He says ldquoItrsquos like travelling on Emiratesrsquo First Class or Indigo to Dubaimdashdestination is the same isnrsquot itrdquo Likewise for audiences preferring OTT over cinemas 2020 onwards Ajay asks ldquoDid you visit a restaurant during the pandemicrdquoNope and not to theatres either of coursemdashhoping all through for lines before the boxoffice soon Because thatrsquos what by definition movies are And theyrsquore back PhewMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper