[Reader-list] Independent Fellowship Posting-Film Exhibition Spaces in Delhi-Ramesh Kumar

[Ramesh Kumar]

RIGHTS OF ADMISSION RESERVED?

As discovered in the research endeavors for this fellowship program, the
rights of admission to cinema halls in Delhi are strictly reserved for those
who want to enjoy the ambience of these spaces and their facilities without
trying to be inquisitive or seek permissions to spend time there, for any
attempts at understanding these spaces are perceived as threats and requests
for permission to study them denied. Saving my thoughts on the same for
later, let me first share with you a rather interesting narrative of denials
that saw me run around South Delhi in search of my three perfect A, B and C
segment "friendly" cinema halls for more than six weeks.

Segment A: High Brows and Higher Chairs

PVR Cinemas, located in Vasant Vihar, offered itself as an interesting
example for my work. I had been in touch with their PR Manager Saurabh Verma
regarding a paper on film posters around two years back, and he had been
extremely helpful. Confident of being able to get their cooperation again, I
tried calling him up but discovered that the numbers have changed ever
since. What followed was a series of phone calls to various PVR numbers
obtained from directory listings and websites, most of which did not work,
and those which did were usually found to be busy. I finally managed to
speak to three different PVR executives and all of them provided me with a
single phone number for PVR Priya. The number remained busy or unanswered
most of the time, and when I finally got through and explained the purpose
of my call, I was told they could not help me or give me contact details of
the concerned persons. Probably a bad hair day for the person manning the
phone, I thought, and tried twice more, but got similar responses. They
could not even give me the corporate office phone numbers (which are
conspicuously absent from their official website) or provide me with any
other leads. A visit to the site and talks with the executives manning their
ticket booths returned similar results. I need to reach someone higher up, I
thought, but didn't know how to. I decided to move on.
I tried the newly opened Satyam in Nehru Place instead. And rather than call
them over telephone, I landed up at the site, introduced myself to the
security personnel and asked them to let me meet their manager. I was told
to wait, and then asked to visit later since the security in-charge was busy
and he was the one who could help me. I returned in the afternoon and found
the security in-charge to be busy again. I was finally able to meet him an
hour later, and was told to return two days later since the "concerned
persons" were busy. He was visibly disappointed to see me two days later and
told me that a senior-level meeting was underway inside and I could not be
allowed to meet anyone. I was told to try later, and reached the site again
the next day. He finally introduced me to a certain Mr. Mukesh who was
passing by. He heard my plea, claimed that he was the manager, and told me
he could not help me since "such things are not allowed". Convinced that he
was not the manager, I insisted on meeting someone higher-up and was finally
given the name of the Duty Manager Vishal Bhandari who proved to be a very
elusive man. No one knew where and when he would be available, nor did they
have his contact numbers! I tried the ticket booth instead and insisted on
being given his telephone numbers. I was told to wait while the executive
went inside and returned a few minutes later with two numbers scrolled on a
piece of paper. Mr. Bhandari had asked me to call him four days later since
he would be busy till then. He has been busy ever since. And worth
mentioning is the fact that despite more than half a dozen visits to the
site, I am yet to be allowed inside the building.
Update: Two weeks have passed ever since. Vishal Bhandari continues to be
unavailable at both phone numbers since they are never answered. A friend
recently introduced me to a senior executive at PVR who has agreed to help
me and has asked me to call a few days later. I am optimistic.

Segment B: Valuable Lessons in the Importance of Time

I started with Sangam in RK Puram and called them up. I was tossed around
for a few phone calls till I finally landed up on-site and managed to speak
to one of their junior employees. He pointed me to his superiors KP Singh
and Anil Sharma, who remained unavailable for the next few days. I finally
managed to meet Anil Sharma who heard me, decided that I needed to speak to
people higher up and subsequently took me to meet the manager SK Chug. Armed
with reference letters from Sarai and my university and a request letter
addressed to the manager (just in case), I went to meet Mr. Chug only to
find myself facing six people seated around a table. Greatly outnumbered, I
was in no position to ask them to introduce themselves, and still standing
(I wasn't asked to sit!), I started with my requests for permission while
deciding that official sounding letters were best kept out of sight for
then. They heard me patiently, and didn't waste much time in telling me to
go elsewhere. I tried again, and was given a lot of useful information about
other possible halls that I could look at. One individual, who appeared to
be the man-in-charge and occupied the largest chair, insisted that Sangam
was an A segment hall at par with PVR Priya (difficult to believe, but might
be true going by the distributors' classification) and there were no B
segment halls at all in South Delhi. That suited me still better, I
maintained, and asked them if I could spend time in their hall. But why
would you want to work on a 35 year old hall that is soon going to be
converted into a multiplex? It's for academic purposes and an older hall
would suit me better, I tried explaining. Go to Paras which is a B segment
hall (he recalled suddenly!) and work on the new Satyam right next to it.
They would work so well for my kind of research, I was told, and was also
reminded that the only C segment hall left was the Air Force Hall in Palam
which was far from being a typical example. I thanked them for the
information and tried a little more to convince them, but to no avail. My
"so called research" would be of no use to them and why should they waste
time on my research, I was asked politely. What would it give them? As
expected, my attempts at showing them that it would be a valuable
contribution to the general understanding of…went nowhere. I needed to find
another place.
Paras in Nehru Place was the next obvious stop, and remembering the help
extended by Mr. Omkar whom I was in touch with two years ago for the paper
mentioned previously, I called them up and was told to come over. On
reaching the place, I discovered that Mr. Omkar was not there, and nor were
others who could help me. Two more visits later, I managed to meet the
evening Duty Manager Mr. Roop Ghai. The meeting went exceedingly well, and
he assured me his full cooperation while agreeing to let me spend time in
the premises. No letters were needed, he said (for I had them ready), and
requested me to wait for a few days since inspections were on at the hall. I
thanked him and walked out feeling jubilant, but just before I left, he
added that I should also speak to Mr. Jaggi, the other Duty Manager, who is
available in the morning. Mr. Jaggi was finally available for a meeting
three days later, and mentioned it to me that Roop Ghai had told him about
me. He was rather polite and cooperative, and did not mind me asking him and
other employees a few questions then and there. He even called the
projectionist and introduced me to him telling him to answer any questions
that I may have. But he refused to let me spend time at the hall citing
security concerns as the reason. He did not know me, and could not let
anyone inside the hall just like that. My reference letters did not prove to
be good enough for him, and he said he would have to get a police
verification done on me and told me to go elsewhere since he did not have
that kind of time at his disposal. His employees were all busy people, he
said, and did not have time for such studies howsoever noble the intentions
may be. I explained that for the most part I would only be a silent observer
who does not intend to disrupt their functioning in any manner, but he was
not convinced, and I was again told to go elsewhere. He was answerable to
the owner, he maintained. I said I would like to speak to him, to which he
said I could try if I wanted to, but the owner was an old man who only
prayed day and night and seldom visited the place. His contact information,
as expected, was not available. He apologized for the inconvenience caused
to me, but insisted that he could not give me the necessary permissions.
Deciding that a recommendation through the owners was the only possible way
in, I requested my friends to see if they knew someone who knew someone who
knew the owner. While nobody seemed to know the owner of Paras, I was
finally able to locate someone who knew the owner of Grandly. But it seems
the hall is currently undergoing renovation and is temporarily, although the
same is yet to be confirmed. I am still waiting for other leads.

Segment C: All's well but access still denied

Most C Segment cinema halls in the city have been closed down in the recent
past, and the only few left seem to be located primarily (but not all) in
north and north-east Delhi. For practical purposes, and also because
justifying the reasons for choosing a hall far away from where I am located
would be difficult, I decided to stick to South-Delhi. Following a lead from
a friend, I reached the Air Force Cinema Hall in Palam and discovered it to
be very well suited for my purposes. The fact that it was run by Air-Force
meant that permissions might not be given that easily, but then, which other
place would even bother to consider my university and Sarai letters than a
well organized Air-Force set-up? The manager, however, was not available on
my first visit, and I decided to come later. In the meanwhile, the manager
(I can only guess) at Sangam also pointed me to the same hall and also
claimed that Delhi does not have any C Segment halls left any more apart
from the Air-Force Hall (highly unlikely!). I finally met the manager of the
hall Mr. P Biswas on my third visit, and had a long chat with him about the
entire project. He was cheerful and keen to cooperate, and told me get
request letters addressed to the Officer I/C so that he could forward them
and get the necessary clearances. I gave him the letters three days later,
but on seeing me again, he went from being cheerful to being defensive, and
told me that he was skeptical about the permissions coming through. Although
he did not cite any specific reasons, he did not seem to have expected
official letterheads etc. and suddenly seemed to see the project as being
bigger than what he had perceived earlier. My mistake. I tried to see if I
could meet the officer in-charge directly and convince him, but that did not
seem possible, and Mr. Biswas promised to forward the letters the same
evening and give me a reply by the next morning. Phone calls followed
morning and evening for the next ten days during which time the phone went
unanswered or the Officer I/C was yet to reply. Finally, he replied in
negative saying security concerns did not allow them to give any such
permissions and I should try a cinema hall in the civilian areas instead. I
learnt recently that around the same time, a number of Air-Force stations
across the country were put on alert following bomb threats. While not
wanting to infer the obvious, the same might also have contributed to the
request being turned down. I am seeking other C Segment halls now.

Afterthoughts

I must admit that things look rather bleak at the moment. All hall owners
and managers have similar concerns and excuses to turn down my requests. I
could spend months simply visiting them one after the other, and that would
lead to nothing. And I can not approach more than one hall in each segment
simultaneously because if the permissions come through for more than one
hall at the same time, it would be unethical on my part to refuse them after
the long process. The only thing that looks workable as of now is being able
to locate someone who can put in a word for me to the owners of the halls so
that they allow me to work in their hall (which is what I am trying to do).
I can not proceed with my research without consent and formal permissions
from the authorities as I need access to the floor plans and projection room
etc. which would not be possible otherwise. Another possibility is to modify
the entire project and try and enter it from a different direction, for
instance through the distributors. I am still exploring my options with
regard to both. Any suggestions are most welcome.
But why this hostility towards any studies to be conducted on them? Is it a
scare of bad press and publicity, scare of threat from competitors, of being
pulled-up by the authorities for non-compliance with regulations or genuine
security concerns, one can only speculate, but what it does make apparent is
the insecurity which seems to be rather deep rooted in those involved with
the movie exhibition business in the city. The best of my efforts at
convincing them that the research will be used purely for academic purposes
does not seem to cut any corners. I'm would like to have a better
understanding of the entire thing before commenting.



-- 
Ramesh Kumar
Tel: 011 26741229
Cel: +91 9891266246
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