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Sundown for morning show

ZIYA US SALAM

Morning shows are but a thing of the past in Delhi. However, all is not lost as multiplexes are reinventing the concept.

Photo: V.V. Krishnan

LAST RUN Most cinema halls have stopped morning shows in New Delhi though Sangam still shows South Indian movies on the weekend.

The sun has set on the morning shows. Once offering affordable entertainment to the plebeian population, and every now and then gaining social legitimacy by screening art films, they are all but confined to memory. According to an estimate, more than 90 per cent cinema halls in Delhi no longer have morning shows. From Alpna and Amba in North Delhi to Golcha and Imperial in Central Delhi; from Moti, Excelsior and Westend in Old Delhi to Vishal and Milan in West Delhi; to Sapna in South Delhi... all have put up the epitaph of morning shows.

In some cases, the audiences have dwindled because the neighbouring markets, where a sizeable patron population used to work, have shifted. In others, the demographic profile of the area has changed. In still others, it is just that others are offering better, more affordable entertainment. Not to ignore the multiplexes which have stolen away the serious cinema audience by playing films like "Parzania" and "Black Friday".

Audience profile

Among the mainstream single screen halls only the likes of Sangam, Paras, Regal, Chanakya and Gagan play morning shows on a constant - not regular - basis. Explains Kirit Desai, owner of Moti cinema, which used to play English films on Sunday mornings till the 1980s, "The audience for the morning shows has shifted. The exhibitors used to play old films in morning shows. Or in some cases mythological films. Now, old films are freely available on DVDs and TV channels. And nobody is interested in mythologicals anymore. Filmmakers are no longer making mythological films."

Incidentally, Delhi played host to jubilee shows of three major mythologicals in the 1970s and early 80s in morning shows. "Jai Santoshi Maa", "Bhakti Mein Shakti" and later "Shiv Mahima" all played to good response in theatres like Minerva, Imperial and Khanna. Often the shows were at reduced admission rates. Importantly, while Minerva has been closed for more than a decade, the other two are no longer frequented by the gentry crowd due to their proximity to the Pahar Ganj market with its floating population of business tourists and foreigners.

Not too far from Minerva, in the late 1970s and early 80s two films smashed box office records at Ritz with their morning show collections. They were the suggestively titled "Man ka Aangan" and Feroz Khan's "Mela". While the former ran to good response in the first run, Khan's "Mela" was a rare film to do better in repeat run. Adds a trade pundit from the Bhagirath Place's film trade circuit, "Rajshris bought G.P. Sippy's `Sholay' for a period of 11 years in 1975 for Rs.35 lakhs. They shelled out Rs.50 lakhs for the repeat run in the `80s after the film's stupendous run." Ritz too is on the brink of closure again, having been revived just a few years ago.

At the time the Rajshris were buying the rerun rights of "Sholay", Girdhar Art International's "Be-Aabroo" was doing a roaring business in the morning shows across Delhi. The film initially opened in regular shows at Jubilee with half a dozen other halls but soon shifted to the morning slot after it found favour with the bachelor crowd even as the family audiences gave it a thumbs-down.

Student crowd

Enlightens seasoned film distributor Sanjay Mehta, "Morning shows used to cater to either the student population and hence the cinema halls near major colleges or school used to be better. Else, the shows used to be targeted at the local labourer-domestic servant base. Many years ago a film of ours, `College Girl', starring Amita Nangia, did very well in morning shows while a film like `Gupt Gyan' ran for eternity."

Similarly, Shammi Kapoor's "Junglee" and Rehana Sultan's "Chetna" ran for unending shows at halls like Rivoli, Plaza, Golcha in the 1970s. Informs a trade pundit, "The posters of both films were re-worked showing a woman's legs to attract the young audience." Continuing the trend were Malayalam films with ample exposure. Or English films like "Sky High" and "The Body" that completed a diamond jubilee in morning show run in Delhi with most of the audiences frequenting the movies not knowing the language. Mehta says, "A local police order banning students wearing uniform from entering cinema halls has taken away a big chunk of possible patrons."

However, it was not that morning shows were all about sleaze. Films like "Jaane Bi Do Yaaron", the ultimate benchmark in comedy, did a golden jubilee run at Shiela while Prakash Jha's "Hip Hip Hurray" enjoyed a good run too. As did "Jagte Raho" and "Ab Dilli Door Nahin" much earlier and "To Sir with Love" and "Ben Hur" a little later.

Explains Desai, "The audience for serious films has shifted to multiplexes who are playing such films regularly." Multiplexes like Adlabs and PVR also have special shows on Sundays for kids. And there are occasional films from the Children's Film Society of India that are screened for a select audience.

Changing concept

Today, the handful of halls that still play morning shows, have a different target audience. Says Mehta, "Paras plays Nepali and Garhwali films targeting the local domestic helps. There are no regular shows throughout the year. There are shows in March and then in summers when the servants get some more time. There are about 30 weeks in a year when such shows are on." Sangam plays occasional South Indian movies keeping in mind the resident composition in the neighbrouhood.

Then there is the new niche market. Films like "Hanuman" and "Krishna" have been packaged as healthy entertainment for school going kids. And there are block bookings for morning shows for students. Much like "Aisa Kyun", an attempt to spread awareness about HIV in the format of popular cinema. The film has had block bookings for certain schools recently. Just like Arindam Chaudhuri's "Rok Sako to Rok Lo" earlier.

Then, as Mehta informs, "There are corporate houses sponsoring some shows for specific movies. There the larger purpose is their own business, not the run of a film as such."

So, the mornings are all but over in single screen theatres. But the multiplexes are the process of redefining the concept with their reduced rates for the first shows of the day. All may not be lost yet.

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