India: Watching movies on a track, the new idea for fighting piracy

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Satish Kaushik’s Truck-To-Theatre Initiative Will Let Rural India See Movies at Rs 35!

Regional films and those movies that don’t get a theatrical release will also be screened as Kaushik feels there’s a shortage of cinemas halls showing those films.

The amount of money that the Indian film industry makes is proof enough of our love for the movies. India’s film industry is known to be the largest in the world, with almost 1000 films being produced each year. For most avid moviegoers Fridays are sacrosanct, spent in the company of stars and popcorn.

We hang on to every word they say and believe every endorsement they make.

But while those of us in the cities and bigger towns have easy access to movies, many in villages do not. This inaccessibility could very well be one of the reasons why the industry loses so much money to piracy. A report in The News Minute, suggests that the Indian film industry loses around Rs 18,000 crore ($2.7 billion) and over 60,000 jobs every year because of piracy.

In a bid to make movie watching available for all and also help in curbing the piracy issues, Director Satish Kaushik, fondly remembered for his iconic role as ‘Calender’ in Mr India, is launching Mobile Digital Movie Theatre (MDMT).

Inaugurated by Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the mobile theatres (essentially refurbished trucks with a seating capacity of 150) will go from village to village – playing the latest movies.

These theatres are air-conditioned, fire-proof, and weather-proof. A ticket to watch a movie in this mobile theatre will cost between Rs 35 to Rs 75.

The project is backed by entrepreneur Sushil Chaudhary, who is the founder of Picture Time, a company that runs these mobile theatres. Chaudhary wants to provide a cheaper movie experience to people in the remotest parts of the country, as reported by Times of India.

The publication further reported, “This is a revolutionary concept and can fulfil the aspirations of people in small towns. There is a shortage of movie theatres in the country as compared to USA and China. According to an estimate, there are around 2,200 multiplexes in India for a population of around 1.3 billion people, which is far below the density in developed countries.”

“The target group of this theatre is people who live in places were cinemas fail to reach,” said Kaushik.

Regional films and those movies that don’t get a theatrical release will also be screened as Kaushik feels there’s a shortage of cinemas halls showing those films. “This moving cinema will be a good platform (for all of them),” he says, adding that the moving cinema’s live-streaming facility makes it highly versatile, as reported by Hindustan Times.