Caviar for popcorn, lassi before the interval

MUMBAI: That day at the matinee, the air felt like Alaska. After the show, a full house spilled onto Mumbai’s tar-toasted roads feeling like maharajahs. Regal cinema had redefined film viewing for them with an astonishing contraption called air-conditioning.
That was the spellbound ''30s. In the cynical new millennium, a new breed of theatres finds the job of pampering patrons a little more challenging.Setting out to woo an elite audience with unabashed viewing luxury, these theatres are offering everything from business-class seats, sound-proof baffle walls, laidback lounges, beer on tap and butlers on call. The gilt- edged experiment is being powered by young theatre owners with international exposure who are keen to put their ideas to the test.
Sample a few gems on offer. The 60-seater ''Gold Class Theatre'' by Shringar, which will be housed in a plush shopping mall in Malad, is modelled on business-class travel in an international airline.
The tickets, to be priced between Rs 300-Rs 500, will be designed like airline passes.
Hostesses will escort patrons from the ticket counter to a luxury waiting lounge stocked with magazines and refreshments, and then into the theatre. Inside, one sinks into exec-class plane seats, each of which cost the theatre management Rs 40,000. Hollywood studio Sony Picture Entertainment, meanwhile, has come up with a 56-seater preview theatre at Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, which one can book for around Rs 7,500 per movie and slide into comforts like 24-inch wide-body seats, seven-track Dolby, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, a double projection system and yawning legspace.
The theatre, aimed at private and corporate parties, has seminar facilities and an attached cafeteria. The IMAX dome at Wadala, which ushered in the new wave of elite viewing with its giant screen, is now starting midnight screenings at which the audience will be served mint- new Hollywood movies and beer in a pub atmosphere.
In a time when theatres are closing down for the want of audiences, some in the cinema business say that offering such luxuries is luxurious gambling. "When there are no good movies, why would one buy a 500-rupee ticket to be served chicken stew?" said an insider.
However, Shravan Shroff of Shringar defended his optimism. "The only way from such a low is the way up," he said. "Sooner or later, things are going to improve." He is banking on Mumbai and Delhi, which "have a lot of spending propensity".
He said that there exists a very small, niche audience that is looking for such a luxurious viewing experience and is willing to pay a price. "Even a college student may feel it is worth investing the money for a date with his girlfriend," he said.
Newer cinema viewing have always drawn tremendous interest, even if it left the wallet lighter, said film historian Feroze Rangoonwalla. "There were endless queues when pushback seats and machine tickets were introduced at Liberty in 1949," he said.
Soon, each theatre was racing for quality. Metro sacked a staffer for a one-minute delay in changing reels, Sterling increased audience involvement with a wider spread and shorter projector throw, Apsara charmed with its winding staircases and Minerva towered with its tall ceiling. Theatres even arranged ''zenana shows'' in the afternoon for the ladies.
But the target audience today—at the SPE preview theatre, for instance—comprises film trade representatives, cooperative housing societies, institutions like IIT, companies, schools, birthday parties and even kitty parties. "Human-resource managers may book the theatre to watch a film like ''Anger Management'' with employees," said Vikramjit Roy, publicity manager with Columbia Tristar, an SPE concern.