Express News Service
Cinema, for the longest time, had been thought of as a social experience, fit for the big screen. Though the arrival of television changed this somewhat, the last couple of years have driven daggers into the theatre experience. Even if theatres briefly showed a period of minor resurgence, audiences still seemed to remain hesitant, on account of the pandemic.
What, then, of fans who thrived on the social experience and revelled in the screen presence of their star? How are they handling the loss of the theatre experience? How are they dealing with the absence of whistles, confetti, flex banners… Vicky Ram, a self-confessed ‘Rajinikanth-crazy fan’ and a fan club member, begins by noting that ‘mass scenes’ need a ‘mass experience’ and that this can only be offered by theatres. “I can never watch OTT content with the same excitement,” he says.