My uncle (he is around 50) was in Mumbai recently for work. He is in the Merchant Navy and obviously travels a lot. Needless to say when he comes on leave, he is catching up with family chores. So, this time when he had spare couple of hours before his flight back home, he decided to watch a movie (Turned out to be Talaash). Needless to say, he really looked forward to it, well...he does not remember the last time he has watched a movie in a theatre.
He stood in the queue to buy his ticket, and behind him stood 2 young girls. And when his turn came and asked for a ticket, the person at the counter said 250. My uncle with a cheeky sense of humour coolly looked behind and then replied to the ticket seller, "No, no. Not for 3. Its just for me." I can imagine what the girls and the guy at the counter must have felt...or I can't actually!
We had a hearty laugh when he told us that he was shocked that one ticket costed him 250 bucks. I said that was cheap. If it was a weekend, he would have had to shell out 350 bucks, and he was SHOCKED. The last time he had spent 15 bucks on a balcony ticket.
I was flashbacked to my first movie watching experience in a theatre. I was in my 11th std and we were a bunch of teenagers from the same class and for most of us it was the first movie outing alone without parents. We were supposed to watch 'Jumanji'. And when we reached 'Priya' theatre in Delhi, it turned out that the tickets were all sold. Ya, dumbnuts! None of us thought of advance booking. And we ended up watching the other movie which was running: 'Mission Impossible'. I don't even remember how much the tickets costed us. But we enjoyed Tom Cruise in the action flick.
Many such movies followed when I was in college. And most of the times a movie costed me 50 bucks. And then there was Shakuntalam Theatre n Pragati Maidan. The ticket came dirt cheap at 25 bucks. It was fun when fun came cheaper :)
Today, when we go for a movie, spend almost 700 for tickets and another 300 for popcorns. There goes Rs. 1000. Sighhhh. But there sure is something about the box office. It never goes out of style or budget!
Labels: Experiences