Ticketless fun

ENTERTAINMENT: Movie tickets will get the ability to reside in your phone as early as next week.

At the cinema hall:
Yesterday Flash ticket. Gain entry.
Today Flash phone. Get ticket. Gain entry.
Tomorrow Flash Phone. Gain entry.

Here is something that will be welcomed by movie buffs. PVR Cinemas will soon be delivering your movie ticket to your mobile phone in the form of a barcode.

With the help of any mobile, "the customer can book tickets online or through IVR (interactive voice response system), provide credit card details and opt for barcode tickets which will be delivered straight to his mobile phone's inbox," says Jitendra Verma, head (IT), PVR.

Present the barcode at the ticket counter to get a physical printed ticket and in you go to watch your favourite movie. The next step in the ticket evolution will be even more exciting "" "Eventually, we will do away with physical tickets completely and customers can present the barcode to the usher at the theatre directly," adds Verma.

If your handset does not support picture messages (as the barcode tickets come as a picture message), do not worry. There is an option to send a linear barcode too (like the ones found in supermarkets) and that can be received by any handset.

Beginning with PVR Bangalore next week, the barcode mobile tickets would soon be introduced in Delhi and Mumbai PVRs too. According to Verma: "PVR intends to bring in this unique ticketing facility across all PVR theatres by August this year."

The target is to have 20 per cent of the PVR patrons buying mobile barcode tickets. According to Amitabh Vardhan, VP (operations), PVR, the service will be customised eventually to offer patrons discounts and other freebies.

PVR claims that it is not looking at a cut in its operational costs due to mobile barcode tickets, but it does hope that a larger crowd will appreciate its efforts at cutting down queues.

Now if only they could cut the queues at the popcorn counter, and at the washrooms, they may be able to draw more of those who shy away from the hurly-burly of a visit to the cinema hall.