'Watching movies is a staple diet for people'

Q&A: AJAY BIJLI, Chairman and MD, PVR Cinemas

After raising Rs 120 crore from JP Morgan Chase and ICICI Ventures in lieu of a 40 per cent stake in PVR Pictures, a subsidiary of PVR Cinemas, the company is set to expand its film exhibition, production and distribution business. But growing inflation may dampen the spirit of PVR and other movie exhibitors over the next few months as consumers may choose not to spend their money on movie-watching. Ajay Bijli, chairman and MD, PVR Cinemas, spoke to ASHISH SINHA on the outlook of the movie exhibition business and his concerns.

PVR Cinemas is also set to release its second co-production venture Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na this week after Taare Zameen Par (also with Aamir Khan Productions). Excerpts:

Inflation is at an all-time high and so are the prices of essential commodities. In this perspective, are you expecting a low turnout of consumers at the multiplexes in coming times?

I am sure people will spend their money wisely and only on the essentials. But watching movies is a 'staple diet' for the people. So I believe consumers will continue to spend on watching movies.

People make their purchase decision on luxury products in these times but they will always watch movies. So far, we have had no impact on the business because of inflation. But only the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in May-June affected the business to some extent, I must add.

Then why are the multiplexes not operating to their capacity on weekends and also on the weekdays "" something which was not seen in 2007?

I agree that theatres are running low on their occupancy and I blame it on the movie flow so far. Not to indulge in Bollywood-bashing but lately there hasn't been good cinema that has managed to draw the consumers to the multiplexes, unlike in 2007 when we had some great cinema.

But there are some good movies lined up in the coming weeks and months "" both from Bollywood and Hollywood "" and I am confident that they will attract consumers to come to the theatres.

Do you feel that reducing the price of movie tickets can bring back consumers to the multiplexes?

It's always a good movie that attracts consumers to the theatres and we know that very well as we operate both high-end properties (PVR Premier) and low-cost model (PVR Talkies).

But I feel that the price of movie tickets may not go up this fiscal unlike last year, when the average price of movie tickets did go up by 12-15 per cent across the country. This may not happen this year. Instead, a lot more exhibition properties will come up this year across several towns giving the consumers a wider option for watching movies.

The Delhi government recently reduced the entertainment tax on cinema from 30 per cent to 20 per cent. Will you pass on the benefits to your consumers?

Some of it may get passed on to the consumers but the very fact that we are not increasing our ticket prices should be comforting for the consumers. On the other side, our input costs like rentals, wages, among others, have gone up this fiscal but we will look to balance that with more multiplexes and quality multiplex environment.

What new initiatives can we expect from PVR in this fiscal?

We will launch our overseas distribution business in the UK and US markets. We are also going to add 40-50 screens this fiscal, and our big multiplex in Phoenix Mills in Mumbai will open by next month.

We will launch our operations in the Chandigarh market too. On the films production side, there will be six to eight films that may come out.