WHEN it comes to entertainment, there are very few countries around the world that can rustle up the kind of hoopla that India churns up. Every year, over a thousand films in 25 different languages, are made in India.

Bollywood, the uncrowned ‘Badshah’ of global entertainment, pulls off 200 films every year, many of them box-office hits that attract audiences from Los Angeles to London and Lahore to Ludhiana.

But for years, the millions of movie buffs in India had to make-do with indifferent cinema theatres, equipped with primitive sound equipment, and lacking sophistication. In fact, even today thousands of viewers in small-town India, have to sit in filthy conditions in tin-sheds that pass off as theatres, and in the company of cats and dogs, and worse, rats and cockroaches, which keep jumping around in the hall. And if a movie is boring, the viewers realise they are being bitten by mosquitoes and bugs, and decide to leave.

The advent of multiplex complexes over the last decade has brought about a quiet revolution in film viewing in India. Importantly, it has also given birth to a new breed of Bollywood movies – what editor-turned-filmmaker Pritish Nandy describes as ‘the multiplex genre.’ The eponymous Pritish Nandy Corporation specialises in producing movies geared to the multiplex audience, and increasingly other movie-makers are also tailoring their creations to the needs of this affluent film-going public.

‘Crossover’ films, which are popular in multiplexes in Gurgaon, Pune, or some New York suburb – but might not attract that kind of reaction in a tier-III city in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar – are increasingly being produced to cater to the needs of multiplex cinemas.

Initially, when multiplexes began cropping up in posh south Delhi suburbs and up-market Mumbai localities, many believed that these complexes would attract only the affluent, English-speaking moviegoer. But today, multiplexes are sprouting up across the sub-continent.

Look at Jaipur, for instance. The top five multiplex companies of India – Inox, PVR, Reliance Adlabs, Fun Republic and Cinemax – have made a beeline to the Rajasthan capital. The five major operators are contributing 28 screens to Jaipur, raising the total number of multiplex screens in the city to 45. By next year, another 30 screens will be added.

These multiplexes are as fancy as they come, and match the best in Mumbai or Delhi. There are luxurious sections with plush sofas, and waiters and waitresses serving the customers. Digital sound systems, sprawling food courts, tele-booking of tickets…the works. The citizens of Pink City have also responded well to the multiplex culture; on weekends, most of the screens are packed, while on weekdays, they average around 40 per cent attendance.

THOUGH Indians are enthralled by the entertainment that their multi-lingual film industry creates every year, the country is under-served in terms of cinema theatres. According to a study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and KPMG, India had a mere 12,500 screens for its billion-plus population. China, which is an equally large country in terms of population, had over 65,000 screens.

So there is room for a view and entrepreneurs are busy injecting funds into the sector. Even international entertainment biggies have been lured by the potential. Companies like Time Warner from the US, Hoyts from Australia and Megabox of South Korea are considering a foray into the Indian multiplex business.

Some of these international majors are in talks with Indian counterparts, hoping to establish their chain of multiplex complexes. Domestic Indian multiplex giants are also going in for an aggressive expansion of their properties.

According to industry analysts, multiplexes today account for less than five per cent of the total cinema screens in India, but their box-office collections add up to a whopping 40 per cent of the total returns. This is expected to grow by at least 20 per cent this year.

International audit and consulting firm Price water house Coopers estimates there are about 325 multiplexes in India today, but the number is expected to triple in less than five years.

The major players – including Adlabs Films, Inox Leisure, Shringar Cinema (Fame brand) and PVR – plan to double their screen capacities by adding nearly 600 additional screens in nearly 50 cities in India over the next three years.

According to Shravan Shroff, managing director, Shringar Cinemas, 70 per cent of the revenue for multiplexes is from ticket sales, and the rest from food and beverage and ad sales. Multiplex operators aim to reduce their dependence on ticket sales, and increase their other incomes.

Multiplexes are money guzzlers. Shringar Cinema, for instance, spends an average of about Rs10 crore per property, though it ranges from a low of Rs5 crore (in a small city), to Rs15 crore in an up-market area in a metro.

With the exhibition business gradually heading towards digitisation – because of fears of piracy – multiplex firms have to invest large sums in new technology including digital projectors. Increasingly, many film producers want exhibitors to go digital to avoid their films being pirated from day one.

Digital technology is also bringing about significant changes. E-cinema, which ensures that films can be released simultaneously across the country, is spreading rapidly, and there are nearly 1,500 digital screens in India today. This is also helping the industry counter the threat posed by piracy.

It is difficult for traditional theatres to adopt this technology, so multiplex companies have the advantage of attracting more visitors if they take to digital technology.

According to Frames 2007, the recent report produced by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the cinema exhibition industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 per cent over the next five years. Overall, the entertainment industry is growing at a much higher rate of 18 per cent, and is expected to touch the trillion-rupee mark in just five years.

INDIA, says another recent report by British consultancy Dodona Research, “is in the midst of (an entertainment) revolution.” Indians spend about $2 billion on movie tickets each year, and this is expected to increase by nearly a third in just five years. It notes that the multiplex boom being witnessed by India is unparalleled anywhere in the world; even the peak of the multiplex boom in the US and Europe did not match the scale of investment being witnessed in India, it adds.

Though the attendance at many multiplex theatres has declined to 30 to 40 per cent, the average ticket price (ATP) in metros hovers around Rs100. The nationwide average of Rs20 to Rs30 will also grow, as the multiplex culture expands into tier II and III cities. In cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, multiplex operators are offering exclusive facilities – the Red Lounge in Mumbai’s Cinemax, for instance – where patrons can relax in reclining seats, equipped with massage chairs and karaoke facilities.

All this for a price of course – ranging from Rs350 to Rs500. But with growing affluence in the cities, consumers are willing to pay to be pampered during the two to three hours that they spend time watching a film – in all probability, made exclusively for such an audience.

Multiplex operators would obviously agree with the title song of the Beatles’ album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: “It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill/you’re such a lovely audience, we’d like to take you home with us, we’d love to take you home.”