Madhapur may be the epicentre of the city’s IT growth, but with nothing more than a single-screen movie theatre in the area, entertainment on the big screen is a far cry.
The sole cinema hall in the vicinity is at Hi-Tec, close to the Ayyappa Society.
Residents of Gachibowli, Kondapur and other surrounding areas — both local people and the migrant IT crowd — will have to travel as far as the multiplex at the busy Inorbit Mall adjacent to the Durgam Cheruvu for a movie. The other option would be to come all the way across the bustling Jubilee Hills check post to reach Cinemax opposite the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute. Or else, they could drive toward Miyapur, Chandanagar or Kukatpally to catch the latest flick.
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Story before the movie
But, surely, not many can travel all the way for the sake of a movie. While booking a ticket is a task in itself, more cumbersome is the drive through stifling stretches of traffic en route to the multiplexes.
“We get time to watch movies only on weekends. To watch a three-hour movie, we need to prepare hours before and drive for around an hour. And then there is every possibility of getting stuck in traffic jams,” says S. Ajay Kumar, an IT employee and resident of Gachibowli.
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Factors like traffic jams, time, pollution and the like make most people in these localities think twice before planning for a movie.
“Actually we end up burning more worth of fuel to reach the multiplexes than the ticket cost. It makes more sense to watch movies on a home-theatre system,” adds Mr. Kumar.
Not-for-all affair
For the middle and low-income groups, watching a cinema in multiplexes is beyond their budgets.
“It costs at least Rs. 1,000 for a family to watch a movie in multiplexes. Not everyone can afford that,” says Nagendra, a private employee.
And given the high land prices in the area, most builders seem to be game for constructing either commercial complexes or residential apartments. Even most single-screen theatres are making way for commercial complexes, construction trends.