Multiplex Audience Essay

The third audience

The key intrusion in urban space, the Multiplex Audience is by no way limited to the interiors of a multiplex theatre; it’s about more…

Purba Roy

A new social space rises

The inception of multiplex in India during the late 90’s has reconfigured the social space in which dedicated single-screen cinema halls with large audience capacity happened to be the platform for theatrical exhibition of feature films. Interestingly, the adoption of this multiplex format has been aligned with the perspective of the economic liberalization era which essentially saw an immense social change taking place. Thus, considering the timeline, the rise of this new social space in the realm of exhibition of films has been both a sign and an icon of a new set of social values as well; to create a consistently a new audience profile for globalized middle class and upper level consumers. The labyrinth of lavish interiors, the luxurious ambience with food and other amenities, the multiplex culture which is an essential ingredient of the spread of shopping mall culture and other privatized public leisure, has a lot to cater the consumers with, but at what cost? Certainly the world of multiplexes has altered the meaning of what is it like to be inside a cinema hall, but do more enticing interiors inevitably mean a more urbane

Every dominant has a recessive counterpart too and the South India, especially Karnataka seems to have overpowering single screen audiences rather than the multiplex lovers. Pal Chandani, a Mysore distributor said, “Apart from the three multiplex manifested cities of Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore, 90% of the audiences are regional and most importantly single screen audiences. And when there is a big festival like Diwali on the card, there are hardly viewers to grab a show in a multiplex which essentially showcases Hindi