220 bucks for a film

There was a time, not long back, we just waited for someone to utter the word 'film' and we took off. We just took off, took an autorickshaw to the nearest multiplex to watch a film without second thoughts. Which one you ask? who cared ! It was more about spending two hours in a comfortable reclining chair, in a nicely air cooled theater over soda and popcorn.  The film was a side order. A reasonable amount of money was required for the whole affair and even if the film starred the likes of Lara Dutta, Salman Khan, John Abraham or Bipasha Basu, the outing was well worth the money. This is Ahmedabad, a few months back.

Now going to watch a film is a conscious, well thought out decision, driven by a basic understanding of the law of diminishing marginal utility, the Engels law, fuel charges and increasing price of aspirin. After having exhausted options like 'chai', 'window shopping in the mall' , 'big bazaar food court', 'rent a DVD', someone whose shares are doing well, once in a while, utters, 'film'? He/She is greeted with burning faces like urchins starving for days just saw alu parathas on the roadside they cannot afford. Then, bedlam breaks down. Reviews, phone calls inquiring experiences of distant relatives, checking out offers on bookmyshow and exploring various credit card offerings, all are undertaken to understand the risks of the investment. To add insult to the forthcoming injury, the multiplexes here are far below quality so the film watching experience is not even a part of the deal. The only object one pays for, is the film. So unless its a Quentin Tarentino directed Aamir Khan, Vidya Balan starrer written by Scorcece with Morgan Freeman as the narrator, one has to practice due diligence before getting oneself involved. To add to the misery, Bollywood has surpassed its previous best of releasing one garbage film every week of 2006 to 2 garbage films every week this year.

The film along with the snack and transportation costs about 500 bucks which for most people is a lot of money and it gives plenty of reasons for one to lead to the temptation of buying a 50 Rs DVD that has 4 films of reasonable good quality and watching it on their laptops running pirated Windows XP with cheap pizzas and cokes in the comfort of their homes with countless friends. The 40 odd Rs Moser Baer Cds and DVDs are also a  good substitute and go easy on ones conscience as well, much better and safer than going to a multiplex with the impossible hope.