Watching a movie is a unique experience. My early memories of watching movies in a theater is the weekly outing as a kid when we did not have a TV. Every Sunday, the 5 of us would load on to my dad's motor cycle and go watch a Hindi movie. We went to something called a drive-in theatre. Apart from a movie hall, it had a huge lawn with speakers in the open air. You could choose a spot near the speaker in the outdoors and enjoy the movie. We watched them for so many years until we got a TV at home. And then it was weekly movies on TV - Saturday evenings with Kannada movie and Sundays with Hindi movies. That used to be our quota of the week since Doordarshan was the only channel at that time.
I loved watching movies on the big screen. All big and colourful. The leading lady had make up and the pretty dresses on. Everything was so glamourous. But once we got the TV, mom and dad went to the theatre on their own and sometimes we kids would tag along.
We did not have cable, so the movie on demand concept came to our lives really really late. Almost when I started working and got a TV for my room with the cable connection. And the idea of watching a movie on Friday nights - that's when DD Metro had a movie I think or some other channel, I don't recall.
I was so excited when we got a computer with a media player and speakers, in the 90s. I watched the same movies that we had over and over again cz it was so much fun to watch movies in colour and on demand.
When I was in college, going to watch a movie in a theatre was the ultimate decadence. An act of rebellion, if you will, instead of going to class. I watched very few films during 5 years of college since I was a good girl (eye roll) and my circle believed in going to class like good children.
And then came multiplexes with their fancy seats and pricey tickets. I must have gone to multiplexes a lot mostly after my wedding. I wasn't allowed to go on my own or friends before that. But I could obviously go with my husband. Life size movie watching on a big screen with a big tub of popcorn. Even theatres gradually evolved into fancy places with gourmet menu and seats that went flat all the way. For a price of course. Watching a movie was a regular weekend activity when we did not go out to eat. These were times when movies released in theatres and there was no Netflix. So going to a theatre was the only way to catch up with new flicks.
And then came Netflix. An on demand cornucopia of movies and series. You could watch any movie any time. In fact, before Netflix became a thing, I used to play music all the time when I was alone and working. But with Netflix, I could play sitcoms over and over again to keep me company while working. We still went to movies for the experience and the latest film. But then we also knew that soon it would be released on online platforms too. Gradually Netflix was not the only place one could watch movies on. We just got spoilt for choice.
With the pandemic, the theatres closed for the longest since people crowding in a dark hall wasn't exactly a great thing for preventing the spread of corona virus. Even people did not want to be in close proximity with other people where one sneeze could spread germs that had nowhere to go.
Netflix and other OTT became our main source of entertainment. All movies released on OTT first since the theatres weren't operational. With Swiggy delivering food, going to the theatre seemed like such a huge effort. OTT had movies and Swiggy sent food making the perfect entertainment spot at home. There were 2 years when I did not want to step out at all. Not that I am keen to do that now. But I wouldn't mind going for the experience once in a while. But with a new movie and food at home, there doesn't seem to be the need to go to theaters that often. We have big screen TVs now and with the right speakers, we have the theaters effect right here at home.
So from no TV to single screens and then multiplexes, I seem to have seen all phases of cinema entertainment evolve. This is just entertainment. When I think of it, there are so may other things like the internet, communications, shopping, professions, travel etc that have transformed in the last 4 decades. It should be fun track a few of those down the memory lane and follow the way things have changed.
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