When Martin Scorsese requests a request, you simply force. He wanted to ”Killer of the Flower“Being experienced in an unmatched, unbroken distance for its 206-minute driving time. But even the Autheuren’s vision in Indian theaters did not go according to the script. Midway through the tightened voltage, the screen suddenly faded to black, and the lamps flicked on.
Although the word “pause” is not explicitly flashing on the screen during shows of Hollywood films in India, Indians are not dazzled by this time-height tradition with forced intervals. While Scorsese hoped that his audience would go into a trip into the Dark of US past uninterrupted, in India, it was simply time for a popcorn break.
So when the Oscar winner The “brutalist” released with a structured interruptionIndians barely noticed the news. Each Hollywood movie released in Indian theaters – regardless of whether Christopher Nolans ”Oppenheimer“Or James Camerons” Avatar: The Way of Water ” – has a interruption in the middle. Even during a short 84-minute film As “flow”, the audience is shaken back to reality from its post-apocalyptic world. For Western audiences, this sudden break may act as a momentum killer or even holy. For Indian audiences, it is part of their film experience.
But why own intervals during Hollywood movies in India, especially when the director thought for his viewers to watch it without a break?
Because Indians have appetite for it – literally. “Food and beverage sales account for almost 30-40 percent of the cinema’s revenue. In India, a lack of interruption can cause a loss for business,” Akkshay Rathie, film exhibitors and head of Ashirwad theaters, who have screens over western and central India, told IndieWire.
Go into any Indian cinema during a break, and you will witness serpentine queues at food counters and families that juggle a bathtub of caramel popcorn. It is all part of the biographical ecosystem that has become non-negotiable. For theater owners, these are similar to a few minutes on Prime-Time advertising: appealing, lucrative and short.
“In India, movie-watching is centered around snacking, and only interruptions make it easier. The audience demands it, and the exhibitors depend on it,” added Rathie.
But the motives are not just financial; They are also cultural. Indian films are built around interruptions.
“There are a certain syntax of stories that Indian films follow, and Indian audience expects it. Each Indian screenwriter writes films with interruptions in mind. In fact, only when the efforts could not be higher, the screen will bleach to black at the center.
Take the interruption scene in “RRR”, where Bheem (NT Rama Rao Jr.) releases a bunch of animals on a party worth of Briter. Just as the tension tops the screen to black and leaves the audience on this important rocky male. This is a classic example of how director SS Rajamouli intentionally designed the shock for the interval point, which ensures that the audience actively engages in the middle of the movie conversations about what will come. In an entertaining twist, During a March 25, 2022 viewing of “RRR” on Cinemark North HollywoodOnly the first half of the movie was shown. The theater staff, unaware of the concept of Indian interruption, assumed that the film had ended.
“Due to cultural conditioning, Indian target groups cannot understand an interval-free show, which is why Hollywood films always have a break too, in Indian cinema halls, whether the director likes it or not. The large market that has worked with the distribution of the popular counter -allocation, “said Girish Jhar, a conditioning and a strong film that has worked through the distribution of the Holy market and distribution of the Indian film that has worked with the distribution of the Indian film that has worked with the distribution market and marketing of holly Sony, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate.
Ironically, Hollywood is not a stranger for interruption. “Away with the wind”, “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “Ben How”, famous with scheduled interruptions due to their long running times and limitations of forecasts for single -wheel film. But due to progress in projection technology and the ability to squeeze more views per day (which is equal to more ticket sales), US cinemas eliminated completely interruptions. India, however, took another path – chose to take advantage of the thriving “popcorn economy.”
So how does the interval business work? Rathie said: “It is the studios that decide. When the studio processes the films to be released in India, they will be pre -interval before it is shown across the country. In this way, no matter what cinema you enter anywhere in the country, the range comes, however abruptly, will happen on the exact same point.” Johar noted that this may not be the case for all Hollywood films and adds, “for independently acquired films from markets such as Singapore, France or Hong Kong, the exhibitors determine the exact interval period.”
Devang Sampat, CEO of Cinepolis India, who runs 449 screens across the country, points out the balance measure that comes with determining intervals as exhibitors. “While some films present a challenge because of their structure, we strive to find a natural break that is consistent with the film’s rhythm.” But the audience may not always be in line, because sampled reminded that for films such as “Dunkirk” and “Joker: Foil à deux,” theaters received complaints and the request to move the interval period.
Christopher Nolan has long advocated that his films should be experienced without any interruptions, and “Oppenheimer”, despite his three -hour length, was supposed to enjoy in a single meeting. But in India, even Nolan’s films were spared.
However, Johar said that exceptions can be made, but they are very rare. “If a movie has a clear directive from a major, Oscar-winning Hollywood director or studio, can sometimes the exhibitor Vika. Only a director with a great effort could make such requirements. Even then, exhibitors may not be to follow as it is seen as impractical to keep the audience caught without a break. Will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will know who will.
After all, the decision is not personal – it is purely commercial (and to some extent culturally).
Sampat echoed a similar feeling; “There have been cases where studios or directors have expressed a preference for an uninterrupted screening. In such cases, we evaluate alternatives that best balance the studio’s vision with the audience’s preferences.” But given the average Indian audience’s expectations, a break is inevitable.
With the latest films such as “Dune: Part two”, “Gladiator II”, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Wicked” which extends beyond the two-and-half-hour brand, industrial people feel that Indian audiences, conditioned (for several decades) of Indian blockbuster that often exceed three hours. The interruption is now a welcome part of the viewing experience, regardless of the film’s origin.
Rathie added that many Hollywood studios have accepted this as part of the location process and the country’s unique theater experience. “Accepting interruptions is another way of locating, similar to adding subtitles or dubbing films in several regional languages. Nolan will never limit the release of its film in India on the pretext that it has a forced interval,” said Rathie.
But does Nolan and Scorsese know that their films are interrupted? “Of course, they do.
In India, even the world’s most visionary filmmakers cannot exceed the inevitable interruption. Extensive monologues are sliced in half, plot twisting pauses in the middle of the gasp, and a car chase sequence screams to stop. The candles are lit and the magic formula is broken. Because in Indian theaters, the break remains undefeated.
