AJAY BIJLI MD/PVR Cinemas The pioneer of multiplexes in India, Bijli believes they have propelled the process of segmentation

SHRAVAN SHROFF MD/Shringar Cinemas With plans for 21 multiplexes over the next three years, Shringar will be a big national player

The great Indian multiplex saga (from almost none a decade ago, there are now 73 multiplexes across 15 Indian cities) is not just about watching films in a different ambience (and how!); rather, it is about a change in the kind of films we watch. Ajay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR Cinemas, believes multiplexes have propelled the process of segmentation. That is the same language most producers speak and it can be easily explained thus: a niche-appeal movie can still fill up a theatre in a multiplex because most multiplexes have at least one hall with 200, maybe fewer seats. "Some films are made only for the multiplexes," explains INOX Leisure's COO Alok Tandon.

What started as an essentially urban phenomenon has now moved to even smaller towns. "Multiplexes offer benefits like flexible show timings, which provide a high level of convenience to customers," says Arun Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, Shringar Cinemas, explaining one not-too-well-known reason for their growing popularity. They are also highly profitable. Reason? With their smaller capacities, they run to capacity more often than not. "The revenue per seat from a multiplex is five-to-eight times higher than that from a single- screen theatre," says Ravi Gupta, CEO, Mukta Arts. There's a surprising flip side to this popularity, one that is summed up by Nagesh Kukunoor, the director of movies such as Iqbal and Hyderabad Blues: everyone wants to have their movie shown in a multiplex. "We thought this was an opportunity (for film makers like US), but we have just ended up jostling for space."