Now: 4D sfx

CINEMA: After the experience of 3D cinema, fasten seatbelts for the 4D special-effects experience.

Remember 3D cinema? "In-your-face" was a mild description of all those identified and unidentified objects flying out at you. Projection realism has started taking itself even more seriously in the 21st century. So brace yourself now for 4D movies. These, it is hoped, will move ahead the cinema experience at time-warping speed.

Unless you choke easily on popcorn, you could happily emerge from the cinema hall having waded through floods, had yourself jolted into action or surrended yourself to the fragrance of a pristine valley trek in the hills. This is cinema as a multi-sensory experience.

It's all about such special effects as timed water squirts, sudden air sprays and seats that go bump in the dark.

The Indian cinema goer won't get anything on the scale of what will soon be available at Hong Kong Airport, but M Corp Global, headed by B K Modi, has launched a 50-seater 4D arcade at Spice World, Noida. Apart from the regular 3D images, the arcade has a provision for multi-sensory thrills "" the "fourth dimension", as Modi puts it.

For Modi, it's a realisation of a promise that he made to himself six months back: "My daughter introduced 4D movies to me in Hong Kong. It was a spectacular treat for the senses, and I decided to get the technology to India."

Modi brushes aside any possible content shortage. "Any 3D movie can be converted into 4D using software converters," he claims, "and we would be doing that to add variety to our movie library." M Corp Global also plans to develop its own Indian content.

Spice World chief Aditya Sikri, no less excited about the venture, thinks the Indian market is ready for 4D arcades in as many as 20 locations.

"The concept of 4D cinemas has grown rapidly and technologies like computer generated imagery has only made the 3D to 4D transition much smoother," says Sikri.

It is, of course, expensive. Apart from land, a 4D-enabled hall could take an investment of about Rs 3 crore. What's more, it's not clear if 4D cinema would offer the filmgoer anything more than novelty value. A half-hour film for Rs 75 a seat may attract the thrill-seeker. But shuddering seats do not make up for emotional force "" the mainstay of cinema in India.