Movie destination

ENTERTAINMENT

A tony cinema screen on the Indore-Bhopal bypass is the latest leisure offering on a highway.

Entrepreneurs are discovering that highways can be put to more use than just commuting between cities.

In the last few years, R&R points, restaurants, resorts and the like have become mandatory along most routes, with everyone from Haldiram's and McDonald's to Thunder Point and so on offering everything from dosas and burgers to beer and a swim, should you be so inclined.

But Akhilesh Rai seems to have done one better than the others. Rai, a liquor retailer, has turned real-estate developer and launched probably the first cinema hall on a highway, on the Indore-Bhopal bypass. What's more, it's located in small-town (or large village "" take your choice) Sehore, with a population of 90,000.

Rai's hoping that a drifting population will change things in Sehore. Located 39 km (and a 40-minute drive) from Bhopal, Lisa Talkies is everything a plush city cinema hall is these days, complete with a swanky, glass façade and the latest films (Rang De Basanti, if you must know).

But what chances does a modish, air-conditioned cinema hall sporting a 50-feet Christie's projector and platter, with Dolby Digital Surround, EX sound system, Inox-style reclining seats with carpets imported from South Africa, have in a semi-urban belt in Madhya Pradesh? "Very good," says Lisa Talkie's promoter Akhilesh Rai. "People are coming to experience the talkies and not the movie."

Rai made use of the land he had in Sehore for the new cinema hall adjacent to an existing and run-down one (also owned by him), and invested Rs 1 crore for Lisa Talkies, gaining all the distribution rights for the area for all good films in the bargain.

But at a rather moderate price of Rs 37 for a Gold Class ticket "" other cinema halls in the small town charge even less "" how will Lisa Talkies sustain itself? "People here eat gutka for Rs 20-25 daily, so a Rs 37 Gold Class ticket is not an issue," reasons Rai. But then, he's also banking on feeds from Bhopal over weekends.

Lisa Talkies could just be one more reason for residents of Bhopal or Indore to hit the bypass, others being the Crescent Club which has all the facilities (including huts) to help turn Sehore into a weekend getaway or a leisurely stopover.

Therefore commuters/leisure seekers have the option to combine a movie with lunch/dinner as well as an overnight stay, should they so choose. And for those in the vicinity for whom visits to the ITC Chaupal Sagar are part of their mandate, the cinema-club combo makes another irresistible offering.

Rai might be responsible for Sehore's makeover from a sleepy settlement to a happening highway destination, but wouldn't something similar in Bhopal have been more fruitful?

"A similar venture in Bhopal would never rake in the margins enjoyed by us here. In Sehore we can break even with 60 per cent tickets sold, unlike Bhopal where heavy competition rules that only a housefull hall can make money."

Given the expensive land prices in the metro areas, Sehore made sense for Rai.

Also, as per a survey conducted by him, a population of 40,000 is sufficient for a cinema hall to succeed. Sehore's 90,000 population, therefore, is enough to sustain Lisa regardless of the highway traffic from the two cities the bypass links. The commuters are just the icing on the cake.