Indian cinema

I would have never imagined how much of my attention could a cinema in a shopping mall attract. But everytime I go there, I'm either really amused, pissed off, or am just not getting the point. Therefore I just have to share my observations:)

1) The first thing you notice is that the whole mall (although it is actually a pretty small one - just 2 floors, ca. 10 shops, food court, gaming corner, washroom, and multi-screen cinema) is secured like a military base. Three to six security guys at the entrance, metal detecting frame, tables to clear backpacks, handbags, bags, jackets etc. Pretty much nothing cannot be taken inside - helmets, food and cameras are probably the most annoying black listed item. Once they confiscated small bag of chips... why?!? They even were not able to explain the potential security threat or financial loss caused by 70g of chips, but confiscated it anyway.
2) Although there are 3 doors available at the entry, only 1 is opened at a time (security check; see the previous point), which generates considerable queue. New experience... I have never stood a line to a shopping mall so far:)
3) One more thing - you cannot exit the mall by entrance doors. You need to use an emergency exit at the back side of the mall. So you rather do not set a meeting point with your friends inside the mall, because once you get in, its pretty tedious to get out. And cinema cash desks are outside. :)
4) A funny one - despite all the fuss at the entrance, there is usually no one guarding the exit door! We often consider to enter by the exit, rather than stand the line at the entrance and having our chips confiscated, and cameras taken into depository.
5) After our cameras were not allowed in for couple of times, some girls started to smuggle cameras in their bras. It works:) However, after one such successful action, we just noticed there is a cheerful Indian family taking pictures with McDonald's clown, less than 10 metres from the entrance security ...never mind.
6) Getting into the cinema is also tough - if the mall is a military base, the cinema is the headquarters. There is a small metal gate at the entrance - the one, that is always wide open in ordinary cinemas. This one is closed all the time. Only when you are entering the cinema, a porter opens it. But just a little bit (not to let the crowd through!) - you need to kind of crawl. And the others queue, again.
7) Not to be forgotten that the porter checks your tickets. And they check them once more before you enter the hall. Sometimes even in the meantime. This is especially welcome when you are late...
8) Also, because you cannot enter the cinema without tickets, you even cannot check the timetable (you need to go 2 floors downstairs and leave the mall via an emergency exit to check it at the cash desks outside the mall), nor buy those typically expensive "cinema drinks". Not very smart, is it?:)
9) They have 3 price classes: silver, gold, and business. "Business tickets"?
10) Getting around the cinema is a little bit complicated by metal fence barriers that sometimes block entrance even to the hall in which your movie is playing. Well, as soon as you remember that we are actually in a military base, it makes much more sense.
11) European cinema: advertisements, movie trailers, cinema intro, movie
12) Indian cinema: cinema intro, movie, intermission, cinema promo, advertisements, movie trailers, 2nd part of the movie
13) Local people ignore final credits, as it was not part of the movie (many people in Europe suffer from this as well, but definitely not that much) - as soon as the first credits line appear, everyone stands up and leaves. This is particularly awkward/entertaining when the movie continues during the credits. They stand in the aisle, not knowing if they should sit back, or leave:)
14) The intermission, which completely disturbs the flow of the movie, and the "credits thing" make me feel that viewers expectations from the movie are to watch changing colorful images only. At least it is not easy to find another consistent explanation.
15) Despite all "security precautions", they let 4-year girls watch movies that have been rated as restricted, or almost NC-17. You should have seen her face (hiding behind the head rest) when they were shooting Terminator's flesh off...
16) And a positive thing:) - you can "book your popcorn online"!

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to assess what is smart and what is not. This is just how it works.

I don't have any cinema related pictures (see the camera-confiscation points above), so let me include picture from one of bye-bye dinners.

Czech corner
Prestoze jsem puvodne zamyslel chodit do kina alespon jendou tydne na bollywoodske trhaky, prvni 4 tydny jsem se tam nedostal ani jednou, pak jsem jakz takz nasadil tempo 1x tydne do kina (celkem 3x), nicmene pouze anglicke snimky. Posledni tyden nebyl cas (viz minuly post). Tento vikend, pravdepodobne v patek, by to konecne melo klapnout - v planu je New York (Youtube trailer). Mel by to byt trochu netradicni snimek (bez tradicnich bollywoodskych tancu a happyendu, tak jsem zvedav.