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DIGITAL CINEMA PRACTICES AND CINEMA GOING AUDIENCE IN

PONDICHERRY

Article · June 2018

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 Asian Journal of
Multidimensional
Research (AJMR)
( Dou b l e B li n d Ref e r ee d & Re vi e we d I n te r n a ti on a l Jou r n a l )

UGC APPROVED JOURNAL

DIGITAL CINEMA PRACTICES AND CINEMA GOING AUDIENCE IN

PONDICHERRY

*Research Scholar,
Pondicherry University, INDIA.
Email id: sreesanthcms@gmail.com
**Assistant Professor,
Pondicherry University, INDIA.
Email id: basan1908@yahoo.com
_________________________________________________________________
ABSTRACT

In the year 1963 Puducherry became officially an integral part of India, however French is one
of the official languages in Puducherry and a good number of population still speak French in
Puducherry. In order to locate the lived experiences of cinemagoers in their social, historical
and cultural contexts and to investigate the role of cinema going within everyday life and leisure
culture, scholars turn most often to qualitative methodologies, small research designs and micro
level ethnographic approaches, interviews, observations, diaries and other written and spoken
accounts, testimonials and memories. Cinema theatres were present in almost all the main
locations in Puducherry until 13 of them closed down in the recent past. Among the closed
theatres majority of them were A-class releasing stations. Anna theatre, which was located near
to Puducherry new bus stand, became Mass hotel. More than picture quality, sound quality was
one aspect that most of the people discussed about cinema theatres. Another aspect of theatre
preference stated in the interview was budget. Some of the observations from the study are; the
location of a cinema theatre has a role in its growth. A locality with cinema loving / cinema
going audience will definitely help the theatre to survive. Also true in the case of rural cinema
theatres like Vasantharaja and Asok as well as Jaya, where the audience mostly from the locality
itself.

KEYWORDS: Accounts, Testimonials, Officially, Undeniable, Qualitative Methodologies

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INTRODUCTION
Puducherry city is located at a distance of 162 km from Chennai, often referred as Pondicherry
which still holds on to the rich culture and traditional legacy of the bygone French era. The cityis
situated on the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal; and other three sides by Tamilnadu bound it
on the west. Puducherry liberated from French rule and merged into Indian union in the year
1954. In the year 1963 Puducherry became officially an integral part of India, however French is
one of the official languages in Puducherry and a good number of population still speak French
in Puducherry. Puducherry people and their cultural fairs and festivals reflect their social
structure, where majority of the fairs and fests that are celebrated are religious in nature. Akin to
Tamilnadu and Tamil culture, Pongal is the main festival in Puducherry, celebrated by the people
every year. People and the culture make Puducherry cosmopolitan in nature where people
belonging to different caste, creed and religion reside. Puducherry cityis designed in such a way
that it is divided into two quarters where one section is termed as French quarter where the
French people reside and the Indian people i.e. Tamil population occupy the Tamil quarter.
Puducherry city architecture is a replica of the French grid pattern, that features perpendicular
streets.
Like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh cinema in Puducherry seems to be an integral part of the
life and is next to TV (Swamy & Enukurthi, 2015). According to DAVP (directorate of
advertising and visual publicity) Puducherry state consists of 16 cinema theatres altogether
including the theatres in Yanam and Karaikal. In Puducherry main centre there are currently
seven cinema theatres, out of which one is a multiplex with five screens, one is a two-screen
theatre and the rest are single screens. All of them are now projecting in digital format, where
UFO and Qube are the channels through which these theatres receive films. Owing to the fact
that South India loves its celluloid and cinema stars, the union territory of Puducherry is no
different. However, the French window of India does not have its own film or movie industry
like Kolly wood and Bollywood, the region primarily enjoys Tamil movies, which releases on
the same day as Tamil Nadu. Puducherryis not considered a separate market for movie industry
but it conceived to be a part of Tamil Nadu market for a movie's statistics and market. Just like
Chennai or any other part of Tamil Nadu, Superstar Rajinikanth's movies are celebrated as
festivals in Puducherry. Even the unusual scenes of the massive cutouts of Tamil matinee idols
getting milk abhisheka for their beloved fans are usual affair in Puducherry. These social

Puducherry. Sociality, as explained by Robert C Allen, is a group of people converging upon a

particular place to experience together something understood to be cinema(Allen, 2014).
In her study on cinema halls, locality and urban life Lakshmi Srinivas states that, both the spaces
of film exhibition and audience practices of cinema going are relevant for understanding how

public culture of cinema brought about by the proliferation of multiplexes, an examination of

movie theatres and the cinema experience before the advent of these standardized spaces is all
(Srinivas,
2010a). Understanding the cinemas in Pondicherry and the cinema exhibition practices as well as
cinema going would help in understanding how cinema intertwined with the people of
Pondicherry. The actual viewer enters the movie theatre, and identifies with - not the film's hero
or heroine - but with himself, his 'inscribed' self, but this time round a self that has become
narrativized, and therefore one that can imagine itself as something like a fully formed subject of

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society (Rajadhyaksha, 2000). Enabled by the specific spatial, social and technological
characteristics of the movie theatre, the collective emotions are responsible for the emergence of
something that was non-existent before the beginning of the movie: a mutual we-connection
among (largely) anonymous strangers(Sobchack, 1992). Thus, cinema exhibition space or a
cinema theatre is not a mere space but a space where the audience assemble and become a
heterogeneous group and it could be even considered as a public sphere. However, the historical
experience of cinema at any particular moment in any particular place remains both
undertheorized and given its scope, diversity and historical contingency largely
undocumented (Allen, 2014).
Main objective of the study was to explore the cinematic landscape of cinema theatres in
Pondicherry city, wherein it tries to understand the present status of cinema going in Pondicherry
city and the programming practices of movies in cinema theatres of Pondicherry city. As Adrian
Athique in his study on Indian multiplexes states that, India's new chrome and glass multiplexes
have been much appreciated by middle class cinema-goers seeking a 'better' standard and wider
choice of entertainment than the older large capacity halls provide(Athique, 2011). There is also
a new trend of cinema going showing up in all major cities and sub urban locations where the
multiplex cinemas are the major attraction. Here this study looks at the cinema experience of

research findings from one historical map of cinema going practices can be difficult to transfer,
and this does represent an immediate challenge to the validity and usefulness of the mapping
(Katherine Bowles, Deb Verhoeven, & Colin Arrowsmith, 2009). As Katherine Bowles

technologies for historical cinema audience res

not only historical; at the same time as expanding our understanding of past cinema going
practices, it enables us to develop instruments to help the contemporary film production,
distribution and exhibition industries analyze the decision making behavior of particular
(Katherine Bowles et al., 2009). This study also
aims to find a new path to study about cinema exhibition and cinematic spaces.
METHODOLOGY
An exploratory approach with an emphasis on oral history employed to study the past and
present-day status of cinema theatres and cinema going culture in Puducherry. In order to locate
the lived experiences of cinemagoers in their social, historical and cultural contexts and to
investigate the role of cinema going within everyday life and leisure culture, scholars turn most
often to qualitative methodologies, small research designs and micro level ethnographic
approaches, interviews, observations, diaries and other written and spoken accounts, testimonials
and memories. Oral history is a method used in social sciences, which is similar to biography,
narrative analysis, life-story work and life review. All these methods draw on individual
accounts of experience, which becomes the sources for understanding change and continuities in
society across time and within generations and epochs (Thompson, 2000). Here, the aim of oral
history research on cinema going is not to objectively reconstruct the past based on subjective
memories of respondents, but to look at how memories of cinema going are constructed and how
they complement or contradict institutional, economic or text based approaches to the historical
study of film reception (Kuhn, Biltereyst, & Meers, 2017).
Fieldwork was conducted in Puducherry district to collect oral history data about Puducherry
cinema theatres. Participant observation as well as in depth interviews with the help of semi
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structured questionnaire were used to collect the data from Cinema theatre owners, cinema
theatre staff, cinema theatre operators and cinemagoers. Data thus collected was transcribed,
coded and analysed using NVivo. Participants of the study were asked to remember their
preferences for particular films, stars and genres/types of film and cinema theatres. Apart from
this, secondary data from government of Puducherry website, newspaper and books collected
and used in the present study.
PUDUCHERRY AND ITS LEISURE SPACES
Puducherry has an undeniable tourist interest which pulls in both foreigners as well as Indians
who come to this former French colony looking for the French touch. Leisure and attractions in
Puducherry include the city walk, which filled with the yellow buildings of Foyer du Soldat,
French Consulate, Lycee Francais de Puducherry, Alliance Francaise de Puducherry and the
French Institute, which are the still existing remnants of the French era. Some other places of
interest include the ashram established by Sri Aurobindo located on Rue la Marie, which is one
of the wealthiest Ashram in India, with devotees from India and all over the world. Auroville or
the city of dawn designed by the French architect Roger Anger inaugurated in the year 1968 is
yet another place of interest. Leftovers from the French era are visible in every nook and corner
of the city, which include the city planning also. Le café the only waterfront café in Puducherry
situated on the beachfront was one of the port office when the railway ran along the beach road

two favorite public leisure time spaces for Pondicherrians. As both of these give relief from the
scorching sun on hot summer days in Puducherry.

where the interview data shows that, the second most preferred leisure time activity is to visit the
beach in Puducherry. The city has three main beaches where peopleare seen in the mornings and
evenings. Promenade beach or the Rock beach is the pride of Puducherry, which is a 1.5km long
walkway along the Bay of Bengal where only pedestrians allowed in the mornings as well as
evenings. Several landmarks are situated along the promenade, which includes the cold and

statue, the old lighthouse, the remains of the pier, customs house etc. Auro beach which is close
to Auroville bus stop on the right side of ECR and the serenity beach adjacent to Auro beach are
the two other well-known beaches in Puducherry. Some of the other public spaces and tourist
attractions in Puducherry include the museums and religious shrines. Puducherry Museum,
Ananda Rangapillai Museum and Bharathidasan museum are the most important museums in
Puducherry, which are within the main city limits. Multiculturalism is seen in Puducherry with
its wide range of people and their cultural and religious beliefs. There are Temples, Churches
and Mosques inside the main city, which dates back to 17th and 18th century. Some of the
important temples include Varadaraja temple, Vedapureeswarar temple, Manakula vinayagar
temple and Kamatchi amman Koil. Important Christian churches within the city includes the
Basilica of the sacred hearts of Jesus established in the year 1907 and Immaculate Conception
cathedral built in 1791. Mulla Street in Puducherry comprises of the most important Muslim
mosques in Puducherry that includes Muhammadia mosque known as Mahadampalli, Jamia
mosque or Kuthuba palli, the first mosque in Puducherry believed to be built in 17th century.
Another important religious destination of Muslims in Puducherry is Meeran mosque, also
known as Meerapalli, built almost 350 years ago.

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CITY AND ITS CINEMAS
With a population of over nine lakhs, Puducherryis the biggest region of the state as well as the
capital city of the state. Puducherry had altogether 20 cinema screens in the past, including the
ones which are still working. Cinema theatres were present in almost all the main locations in
Puducherry until 13 of them closed down in the recent past. Among the closed theatres majority
of them were A-class releasing stations. Anna theatre, which was located near to Puducherry new
bus stand, became Mass hotel. Moving towards Anna Salai junction, New tone is the next
immediate theatre, which is not working now. New tone was infamous for screening porn movies
and old films until the year 2013 - 2014. Mohandas, a theatre staff at present working in
tone theatre and its location is very apt for bringing
audience, but once a theatre starts to screen sex movies, then it is very difficult to bring back its
usual audience. When the audience reduced, they started screening sex films and thus women
who used to come stopped turning up. As far as I am concerned, woman means Mahalakshmi
(goddess). If they stop coming to a theatre, it is a loss to the theatre. Because a woman coming to
theatre to watch film means that, there will be at least two to three people with her i.e. a family.
When this stops then the theatres will suffer. This happened with New tone as far as I
(Mohandas, 2016)
market segment. Ladies are believed to bring families with them (Srinivas, 2010b). Also, studies
states that the embodied practices of middle class women reveals that cinema halls are not
simply spaces for film viewing: rather they are spaces where audience members locate
themselves socially (Srinivas, 2010b).
On Anna Salai alone, only two are now exhibiting films out of six theatres. The space where one
of the huge super markets in Puducherry, Pothys, which is spacious and easy to access, as it is on
Anna salai, was once a theatre in Puducherry named Raman. This theatre was one among the
most preferred choices for any cinemagoer, remembers Mr. Chandran one of the respondents.
He remembers the show when Chemmeen, a national award winning Malayalam film screened in
Raman theatre(Chandran, 2017). Naveena theatre, which was located in Ilango Nagar Opposite

accessible as it falls very near to Kamaraj Salai. Onto the end of Anna salai towards the north
existed Kandhan theatre, which is now demolished. This theatre was one among the big theatres
in Puducherry, remembers a saloon owner who runs his saloon just opposite to Hotel Zaffron
which is now one of the establishments that has occupied the space where the theatre existed.

complexes, and a a hotel. Next theatre that existed on the same road is Ananda and Balananda,
two screen cinema
(Balaguru, 2016), remembers Balaguru,
who was one among the eight operators then. This space now transformed into a hotel named

suitable for conducting wide variety of functions including marriages. Ajantha theatre was
situated on the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Salai very near to the signal where MG Road meets with
Anna Salai and Sardar Vallabhai Patel Salai. This space is presently occupied by a hotel named
Athithi, a star hotel like Ananda Inn. Getting down from the bus at Ajantha signal would have
been an easy access for a cinemagoer to reach Ajantha, Ananda and Kandahan theatre, as these
three theatres were very close to each other.

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Selvam theatre, which was located on Sithankudi main road, almost 500 meters from Kamaraj
Salai, is now a workshop. This theatre was the only theatre which was not easily accessible to the
public as it was located away from the main road. Kamaraj salai is one of the roads that had
major theatres of Puducherry out of which four are now closed. Jayaram hotel located on
Kamaraj salai was once Jayaram theatre. This theatre was located opposite to Jeeva Rukmini
theatreand close to Balaji theatre and Naveena theatre. Moving towards the west on Kamaraj
salai, Rajeev Gandhi statue junction had two theatres in the past. Out of them only Muruga
theatre is exhibiting films now. Bharathi theatre, which was also in this location is now Hotel
Accord, Puducherry.
Moving away from city limits on to the north of Puducherry, there were three theatres on MG
Road namely Renuka, Ambika and Devi. Renuka theatre located on MG Roadwas demolished
recently. Renuka was located on the main road, where the bus stop itself named after the theatre.
Renuka stopping is still a bus stop for busses from Puducherry city towards the north of
Puducherry. Ambika, which was at around 500 meters away from MG road, is now Ambika
apartments. Even though this spaceis not directly connected to MG road, there is road
connectivity to MG road. Venus theatre, which located on Veluchokanatha Lingam road, is last
in the list of closed cinema theatres in Puducherry city limits. This space is now occupied by
Ginger hotel. Similar to majority of the theatres in Puducherry, this theatre was also near to a
road, which connects ECR and MG Road. This shows that almost all the main roads and main
junctions in Puducherry had a cinema theatre. This could be vice versa also, that is, these cinema
theatres would have attracted people from different parts of the region to come and watch films
and hence the other related trade and business activities including the roads and connectivity
been developed later. Table 1 shows the land where cinema theatres were located in Pondicherry
which are now converted to other establishments.
TABLE 1
S. no. Theater Present
1 Ajantha Hotel Athithi
2 Ambika Ambika apartments
3 Ananda, Balananda Hotel Ananda Inn
4 Anna Mass hotel
5 Bharathi Hotel Accord
6 Jayaram Hotel Jayaram
7 Kandan Zaffron Hotel and other shops
8 Naveena Pothys go down
9 Newtone Theater building remains (no shows)
10 Raman Pothys Shopping Mall
11 Renuka Theatre demolished.
12 Selvam Adhilakshmi Auto Works (Workshop)
13 Venus Hotel Ginger
ACTIVE CINEMA HALLS
Within the city limit, there are six single screen cinema theatres, which are at a distance of
maximum two to three kilometres from each other. Out of these theatres, two are on the way to
Ajantha signal starting from the main bus station. The first theatre Rathna cinema theatre, which

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and one of the busy roads in Puducherry city. Rathna theatre screens Tamil movies as well as
Tamil dubbed English movies. At present Rathna Theatre is one of the most visited releasing
theatres in Puducherry, which is one of the oldest theatres in the city. Next theatre on Anna Salai
which is still running is Raja theatre, located at the junction where Anna Salai meets with JN
Street. This is also one of the oldest theatres in Puducherry, which got recently updated to 4K
technology. Raja theatre is located in a prime location, which is easily accessible for
cinemagoers and near to main shopping market. Raja and Rathna are the two theatres that are
very near to Puducherry city. The other theatres in Puducherry are located away from the town,
where Jeeva Rukmini (Adlabs) and Balaji is on Kamaraj Salai, towards the west of the city.
Muruga theatre is also on Kamaraj Salai near Rajiv Gandhi statue junction. Jeeva Rukmini,
Balaji and Muruga being on the roadside, makes them easily accessible like Rathna and Raja.
Three theatres outside Puducherry city limits is located in Villiannur, Kalapet and Moolakulam,
ie. Asok, Jaya and Vasantharaja respectively. Even though all these three theatres fall into rural
and semi urban centres, they are at present releasing stations. With the arrival of digital cinema
exhibition, all the theatres in Puducherry are now releasing centres. Thus, on the day of a big
banner film release all the theatres in Puducherry will be showing the same film. In addition, the
interesting fact is that, in Puducherry all the theatres will be crowded on the release dates. If it is
a superstar film release day, then the crowd will be even higher, where special shows are also
organised, which will start as early as 5:30 am.
CINEMAS AND THEIR PRACTICES
In India, exhibition and distribution of cinema is regionally controlled. There are individual
distributors in each territory. Below them are the A centres, B centres and C centres i.e. A -
Major metropolitan centres, Second tier cities, Regional (mofisil) tows, B- Higher value cinemas
in districts., C - Rundown halls in poorer neighborhoods. (Athique, 2009). At a time when there
are numerous ways to access or watch films, cinema theatres in Puducherry city as well as rural
and semi urban locations still have their audiences. When we watch movies with others, we
automatically enter into a social relationship that changes our experience of the film. Collective
viewing is different from watching a film alone (Hanich, 2010). Hansen argues that, the presence

in a cinema or other communal setting (HANSEN, 1994). Considering the point of view of the
film exhibitors or cinema theatre owners and employees would actually give a better picture
about cinema audience of Puducherry and their cinema going practices, as they are doing this job

epends upon the

film that is being played in the theatre. In addition, of course nearby people are the primary
audience. Moreover, it also depends upon the ticket price of each theatre. Thus the two major
criterion of audience for a cinema theatre include; cinema being exhibited and the ticket rate or
(Somasundaram, 2016). Anbu, lease owner of Vasantharaja
the at
watching films at lower budget will prefer Vasantharaja since other theatres in the town are
(Anbu, 2016)
cannot be fixed i.e. the population may not be fixed from a particular region. For certain movies
(Asok, 2016). He remembers people coming from
Cuddaloor, which is 20 kilometres away from Puducherry to watch Rajinikanth starring Kabali
(2016). Mr. Asok explains the reason for this trend to be the ticket price, where there are three

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theatres in Cuddaloor and when they open online ticket sales, the rates will be higher i.e. around
150 to 200 rupees. However, the same movie, ticket rate here in Puducherry will be 60/- per
head. Mr. Balaguru, working as projector operator for the past 30 years in different theatres in
Puducherry, ascertains from his experience that, proper maintenance of theatre and a population

be good, if everything is taken care of, even a bad movie will get audien

the theatre is well maintained, the chances of people coming for watching cinema in the theatre
will be higher(Balaguru, 2016)
material conditions of film exhibition: this is memory from the perspective of the projection

in the technical equipment of cinemas and the possibilities it offers for controlling a film
cinemagoers, film projectionists do not
relate cinema to their dreams or desires: for them, cinema is a kind of sociocultural practice
.
PROGRAMMING PRACTICES OF MOVIES IN CINEMA THEATRES OF PONDICHERRY
CITY
Cinema theatre staff and the people associated with cinema theatre can give an account of the
practices followed inside cinema theatres. Even though cinema theatres are meant for watching
cinema, the space of a theatre is used by different set of people differently. Mohandas, theatre
staff for the past twenty years in Puducherry cinema theatres states that the 11:30 am show or the
morning show on weekdaysis usually filled with college students. This will certainly include
dating couples also, whereas the 6:30 pm show usually attracts family audience, and the second
show at 9:30 pm is crowded with drunkards, as this space used by these audience as a resting
place until midnight, after which their kick will come down and then they can go home.

(Mohandas, 2016). In the case of Selvam theatre, now a Go down and shelter
for workers, a murder happened inside the theatre. Such incidents will affect the space where it
happens. Anyone who remembers Selvam theatre in Puducherry will only remember the murder
that took place in that space. Apart from this, being a mass audience space, crowd maintenance is
also a big task, states majority of the cinema theatre staff.
There are also instances where audience had to suffer to watch the film. Balaguru remembers a
recent incident when Vijay starring film Theri was released in Vasantharaj
Balaji theatre in Puducherry city and Vasantharaja at Moolakulam got the release. Thus, the
crowd was very huge and it was in the month of April, when the mercury levels in Puducherry is
very high. Vasantharaja being a non-ac theatre failed to keep down the temperature and the heat
generated inside the auditorium was so high that, even the projector booth, which is air-
conditioned, became warm. And I could see from the projector cabin people removing their shirt
(Balaguru, 2016). On the release day of superstar films, the cinema theatres
in Puducherry will be crowded with audience, where the adjoining roads also becomes crowded.
One interesting trend in Puducherry that, for the release days almost all the theatres will be
houseful even when same film screened in all the theatres. Mr. Asok owner of Asok theatre

for the release days and Saturday-Sunday, but Monday show attendance will tell the truth about
(Asok, 2016).

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DISCUSSIONS
CINEMA GOING: STILL AN ACTIVE AND PREFERRED ENTERTAINMENT IN
PONDICHERRY
Developments in technology and the changes in audience leisure practices show that the space

increasingly embedded in malls and multiplexes, the practice of cinema viewing too are altered
in significant ways. Cinema viewing made part of a variety of acts of consumption eating,
shopping, and gamming. The experience of watching film in a theatre has been an amusement to
audience where they can see larger than life images moving on the screen, inside a large dark
auditorium where people sit and concentrate on the screen. This culture of cinema going has
been a part of Puducherry people, and the weekend crowd in both rural and urban cinema
theatres in Puducherry ascertains that this trend is still active. With the advancements in cinema
exhibition; projection as well as ticketing systems, there has been a tremendous change in the
way the theatres work. In the case of Pondicherry, it has removed the shifting of films wherein
now all the thea
had not come, theatre business i.e. single screen cinema theatres would have perished and
(Asok, 2016). Another

revolution as far as cinema theatres are concerned as it could ease the process of ticket booking.
(Somasundaram,
2016). Moreover, with technology developing in almost all the areas of entertainment industry,
cinema audience are now more intelligent as they get the updates regarding new films and its
reviews. Asok states th
film, i.e. Audiences are cleverer than us. People book the tickets online if movie is good. Some
check the seat availability, come directly, and get the ticket. They even ask for specific seats that
(Asok, 2016).

Map 1shows, the geographical location of cinema theatres that existed earlier (marked in pink
colour) in Pondicherry, also the ones that are still working (marked in blue colour). The
geographical locations show that these theatres are located at approximately 2 to 5 km from each
other and majority of these theatres are connected to the main road. Moving from one theatre to
another is easy in the case of Pondicherry. Interview data shows that, audience who used to go
for cinema in a group used to split and go to at least two theatres to make sure they get the tickets
in any of the two theatres and the others can join the group, which gets the tickets first. At
present, the number of theatres in Pondicherry has come down to less than 10. Within the city
limits, there are only six cinema theatres. Somasundaram states, the hike in land prices and the
growth of real estate business to be the major reasons for the closure of cinema theatres in
Pondicherry(Somasundaram, 2016). Map 1also shows that, there were cinema theatres in almost
all the main road junctions in Pondicherry.
Interviews with people and their memories of cinema going clearly show that, cinema theatre
and its ambience are not that important for an ardent cinema lover. One who wishes to watch the
film on the release day, will not look for the theatre quality and the theatre, instead he / she will
try to grab the tickets at any cost. However, cinemagoers are aware of the theatre and its
facilities; they know the good theatres in terms of audio (sound) quality and also the spacious

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theatres with good ambience. More than picture quality, sound quality was one aspect that most
of the people discussed about cinema theatres. Another aspect of theatre preference stated in the
interview was budget. A family of four who are from a rural place will compare the expense of
going to the city to watch film with that of watching it in the nearby theatre. Vasantharaja theatre
in Moolakulam is one such theatre where the peak days are the weekends where family audience
who think about their budget comes to watch films.
PRESENT STATUS OF CINEMA EXHIBITION IN PUDUCHERRY CITY
Theatre and its daily routine has changed with the developments in technology of cinema
exhibition. Major change took place in projection technology. Now cinema is distributed
digitally via digital servers, which send the finished cinema from the production house to the
respective releasing stations via internet / satellite connections or via digital content package,
encrypted with the authentication key. This process saves time and money, where the production
costs are saved by skipping the process of making film prints, which are very costly, and the time

availability of new release films online is yet another development of technology which has its
own negative effect on the cinema going culture of audience, where the audience have numerous
choices / media platforms to watch films unlike the earlier days when cinema theatre was the
people are
always busy on their mobile phones, majority will be looking into their phones during the
interval (Somasundaram, 2016). Technology has grown
to a level where there are plenty of screens around us and cinema has evolved or adapted itself to
different platforms, so that it can reach the audience. In addition, cinema theatre is one among
the platforms or the conventional medium / space where cinema is exhibited.
PROGRAMMING OF MOVIES IN PUDUCHERRY CINEMA THEATRES
Some of the theatres in Pondicherry still play songs through the loudspeaker just before the show
begins. As soon as the ticket sales close, song stops and the film begins. It is a practice that
exercised in almost all the rural cinema theatres in south India. It becomes an inviting call for a
cinemagoer to watch the film in the theatre or an announcement of cinema theatre exhibiting

song finishes, and t

the film reel and play the song once more for the audience. After the up gradation from film
based projection to digital, cinema theatres and operators could escape from this tedious process

rewinding and loading electrical circuits and projectors. However, in digital era, this task has
reduced to switching on the projector equipment and loading the digital film for exhibition using
a computer. Earlier, main centre cinema theatres used to have two film projectors to run the
show, where each machine used to run for 30 minutes simultaneously and the projector operator
had to load the second machine to avoid a break in the screening. Mr. Balaguru explains his
present job in the digital era as a job done by anyone who knows a little bit of digital technology.
He also notes that even though clicking a button is the only job, for a projector operator in the

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digital era, if the digital projector fails to work, then real tasks of the projector operator will
come to front.
CONCLUSION
The present study attempted to explore the cinemas and their landscape in Pondicherry city,
wherein the present status of cinema going in Pondicherry city and the programming practices of
movies in cinema theatres of Pondicherry city studied. Interview schedules with the cinema
theatre owners, projector operators, theatre staff and audience has given insights into the cinema
culture of Puducherry. Some of the observations from the study are; the location of a cinema
theatre has a role in its growth. A locality with cinema loving / cinema going audience will
definitely help the theatre to survive. Also true in the case of rural cinema theatres like
Vasantharaja and Asok as well as Jaya, where the audience mostly from the locality itself.
Another aspect that attracts audience to experience cinema in a theatre, the sound effects inside
the theatre. This one major factor which both the audience as well as the cinema theatre staff
states to be the crowd puller. Good audio quality makes a theatre unique in the minds of the
audience, where majority of the audience enjoy the sound effects, which they cannot experience
in any other form of cinema viewing other than cinema theatres. Another important factor is
about women audience, whom theatre staff as well as theatre owners considered to be special for
a cinema theatre, as they generally come with family which is always a good sign for a cinema

states that, films that are successful with female audience thought to have higher rate of success
and greater staying power at the box office (Lakshmi Srinivas, 2010).
A study by Daniel Biltereyst and Lies Van de Vijver on film exhibition in Flanders, Belgium
states that cinema attendanc . The
penetration of television, introduced in October 1953, was only one reason for the drop in
attendance. Other reasons included change in leisure patterns, increased mobility due to
increased car ownership and better transport systems. The scenario was not different in India and
south India in particular, where the penetration of television and the onset of regional channels
with regular soap operas opened new leisure, which confined the audience to private spaces
within the house. With the developments in technology and communication networks, smart
phones and personal devices are becoming the popular media of leisure. Being a tourist
destination state, Puducherry attracts huge number of tourists every year. Hence, the opportunity
in hospitality industry in Puducherry could be one reason for the conversion of theatres into
hotels. In addition, the location and the area of land that each theatre occupied would have had
an advantage of easy conversion of theatres into other bigger enterprises like hotels. For instance,
Mass hotel, Jayaram hotel, Accord, Athithi hotel and Ananda Inn are on the main road which
makes them easily accessible. Also the land area of the theatres could have been an added
advantage for setting up hotels which require huge area of land. Other theatres that converted
into Godowns, workshops and apartments are the ones which are away from the main roads. All
these three establishments require huge space and they do not require direct connectivity to the
main roads unlike hotels and restaurants. Naveena, Selvam and Ambika are now: Pothys Go
down, a workshop and Ambika apartment respectively. Among the other three closed theatres
one isneither converted nor demolished. Renuka theatre at MG roadis now in the demolished
state. Pothys showroom (shopping complex) that now occupies the space of old Raman theatre
draws a lot of customers every day. Being on Anna Salai main road and the huge spacious area

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of the once existed Raman theatre could have helped to set up a shopping mall with spacious
parking space and shopping area.
Regarding the film scheduling and exhibition, cinema exhibitors in Puducherry state that film
and its content is the judging factor for audience attendance in any cinema theatre. They
ascertain that, if the film is good there will be audience for that cinema. However, they all admit
that the other media also have influence in the cinema going culture. Film selection for releasing
depend upon the theatre and its locality, where a rural cinema theatre will prefer village based
stories. Film scheduling most of the times depends on the star, story, director and cast of the
film. Selection of films are important for creating a good will for the theatre also. If a theatre
continuously selects below average movies, then the whole image of the theatre will get
tarnished(Asok, 2016).
Ticket pricing in Puducherry makes theatre watch affordable as Pondicherry government is the
deciding authority of cinema ticket prices and it is lesser compared to Tamil Nadu. This could be
one of the reasons why cinema going is still active in Pondicherry. Ticket prices in almost all the
theatres within Pondicherry are Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 70, Rs. 90 and Rs 100. Moreover, almost all
the theatres have online reservation and ticket booking systems. Digitalization of cinema theatres
helped the shifting theatres to get films faster and get release films as part of the wide release.
Interview data shows that until the year 2000, cinema theatre operations were tedious process for
projector operator and other staff. Film reel based projectors were in operation, which required
manual labour. At present, all the cinema theatres in Puducherry are digitalized and they got film
projectors replaced with digital projectors. Even though cinema exhibitors in Pondicherry claim
that, they have digitalized their cinema theatres, majority of the cinema theatres are still E -
cinema that is also known as electronic Cinema. E-Cinema is a lower quality version of D -
Cinema i.e. Digital Cinema. E Cinemas have a lesser quality than the film projectors, but since
the digital copy of films does not have wear and tear, each projection will have the same quality
as that of the first projection, which was not the case with film reels. However, with the
developments in the technology updating to D - Cinema would become inevitable.
Like any other single screen cinema theatres in other parts of India, cinema theatres and cinema
going culture in Pondicherry is also facing competition from other entertainment media including
Television.
exhibition and cinema going culture. For instance, if a TV channel screens some award night
show, the theatre
(Asok, 2016). Online availability of films on websites
is another issue, which is a problem for almost all the film industries in India. However, Anbu,
lease owner of Vasantharaja theatre states that online films are not a big threat to cinema theatres
as they are getting release films and almost all the theatres in the state are getting release films.
o show/tell that
they saw film already in the mobile phones. They will get full satisfaction only if they watch it in
theatres not on their mobile phones. Even if the quality of the cell phone is good, the visual effect
/ sound quality that a theatre provides cannot be matched / compared with that of a mobile phone
(Balaguru, 2016) decent ring
of the theatrical film experience, which already has profound consequences for phenomenology
of movie spectatorship. This decent ring follows from the displacement of a medium wherein
every phase of the film process replaced with digital technologies i.e. The experience of cinema
and the experience of film neither found exclusively in movie theatres, nor are films still

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necessarily watched collectively. The theatrical experience has lost its centrality (Rodowick,
2007).
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