Multiplexes to breathe life into the city

65 cinema halls have been shut in Orissa and six of these are in Cuttack itself. Most of the cinema halls are under renovation. There is no source of entertainment in these cities. But cinemas halls continue to screen movies despite their small number.

Multiplexes are common in metro cities, but the twin cities which are the upcoming metros and the next IT hub, lack the concept of roping in Multiplexes. There are no places for people to hang out or to relax in the city. Movies or Cinemas are always considered to the most common source of entertainment. Sugit Mohanty, an employee, says, "There is no problem in opening Multiplexes, but the question is how feasible will it be in terms of profit? When a big film is released it hardly manages to be houseful for two or three days. As piracy rules the market one would get CD/DVD the next day itself. Then who will pay 100-120 rupees to go for a movie to Multiplex?"

Multiplexes can bring about an increase in the sales of film tickets and hence increased revenure for the marketers and the producers, who don't usually make much in the twin cities. The concept of multiplex can bring about a great change in the marketing of films. Even people would like to watch the movies in Multiplexes. Prasanta Nanda, producer, says, "People would like to watch an Oriya movie at an Oriya place with Oriya flavor. Many directors have created many films but have failed in creating the atmosphere of watching a serious movie in a serious atmosphere but multiplex will bring that change in atmosphere and that is bound to bring in change in quality of films also."

People need some source of entertainment after a hectic and busy schedule. The twin cities lack places to hangout. The youngsters think that as the twin cities are becoming metros there should be multiplexes as well. They think that this would solve the problem of lack of entertainment to a great extent. Even the college-going students think that the idea of bringing Multiplex into the twin cities would be good. Soven Mohanty, a student says, "We don't have proper places to hang-out. Multiplex to an extent will solve the problem of entertainment."

The crowds in the city want to watch movies in a nice environment and also are very much concerned about the security and safety of their family and girlfriends. Rishav Nanda, a business man, says "Multiplex will surely segregate the elite and the non-elite classes." So he thinks the security would be higher.

The cities lacked FM stations but now three channels have come up in a span of one year and more stations are expected to be starting their FM relay centers here. The city is getting better and better with more infrastructures and Multiplex would add on to the growth of the city.