A mutiplex of problems
Just about 3 years ago, Bangalore didn’t have a single multiplex theater. Innovative Multiplex was the very first and it was more than welcomed by Bangaloreans. Though located on the outer ring road near Marathahalli, which at that time was sparsely populated, it had people coming in from the center of the city and actually waiting for 3 hours to watch a movie as there was nothing better to do around the place in case you didn’t get tickets for the intended show.
Infrastructure wise the glossiness of the multiplex was only external and inside it was the pits to start with itself. They didn’t have noise/echo cancellers and during the silent parts of a movie you could actually hear the going-ons on the next screen. They never provided decent parking. They have never had any offers that I see advertised (though once I did manage to get weekday 3.30PM show tickets at 50% off). They were the only big business on that service road then and they didn’t do anything to improve the situation of the road leading up to the entrance(something like what Synopsys is doing on Old Madras Road near Benegenahalli).
One always expects such things to improve over time, but it was not to be. The approach road remains pathetic. The entry or exit on a four wheeler is nothing short of a nightmare during weekends. The parking facilities remain bad and to think that they have actually given up some of the land that was previously used for parking to an upcoming Benetton showroom! With respect to audio, they have some kind of noise cancellers installed now, but it is still far from satisfactory when you consider that you pay almost the same/more than what you would pay at the Forum Mall or Inox Multiplex. They still have no offers running. They have no electronic or for that matter white board display of the status of the movie ticket sales and you have to resign to wait-and-watch-and-pray. The ticket salesman/woman also are far from courteous, comparatively. The bucket of woes is never ending when you consider that there is so little “value for money” at this place.
The theatre continues to do good business though. My guess is that the people living in and around the place want to save on fuel or the traffic pains of going to the center of the city and live up with such costly mediocrity. I had long stopped going to this theatre and I unfortunately ended up there today and all the bad memories just came alive! Desperately waiting for the IDEB Venture (includes a multiplex) coming up on the Marathahalli-KR Puram outer ring road stretch. :-(
right said Ajay – it is the worst multiplex. What I hate most about them is parking situation. They are making use of a public road (Outer Ring Road) as parking place. they shouldn’t be allowed to do that unless they paid for that section of ORR. If the business wasn’t planned with enough parking in mind – it should just be shut.
It is just that the Marathahalli/Brookfields/Whitefield area needs like 4-5 malls and multiplexes. Till then, irresponsible businesses like Innovative can get away.
Well, everything has its USPs. For Innovative, most of what you said is true, but we still go there cause :
* they actually pick up their phone to answer queries, and hold tickets if you block them – pay when u pick them up!
* Marathahalli nearby is a great bargains place
* Innovative is one place where you can still go on a whim and get tickets – PVR/Inox have become too high stress
* Like you said, helps avoid traffic.
* Close to home – so if the kids start hollering, its a quick drive back. Also, we pick up tix in advance and leave just 15 mins before showtime!
Silkboard: Is there any other mall/multiplex other than the IDEB one on this section of the outer ring road? Maybe in whitefiel?
Sameer: Quite right. For people living in the vicinity the time factor is a plus, but for the money being charged isn’t that the only plus?
I guess I agree on some points mentioned above regarding IM. Esp the ticket booking over phone part. But the parking scene is pathetic!
PVR/INOX have become too high budget to engage in the pleasure of watching a movie at a theatre.
It has been about a year since I visited a theatre to watch a movie. Consequently, it has been a year since I watched any new movie at all.
Rubic_Cube: Yup… the ticket prices have been skyrocketing and the multiplexes still run housefull. Even Shankar Nag Chitramandira(Symphony) and Rex have reached/crossed the Rs.100 barrier. Unlike Chennai, where the couple of multiplexes have tickets that fit the masses and classes, Bangalore Multiplexes are exclusively for the classes and hence price barriers get breached very fast!
I am batting got the innovative multiplex.
I do not care if the approach is screwed up, all of Bangalore has screwed up road. I like Innvotive inspite of the distance from my place because it is easy to get tickets. I usually go Saturday afternoon and get tickets for the evening show. All my friends agree there are no hassles getting tickets if you are there at least 3 hours before.
I agree the multiplex could use a make-over. But, Ajay, next time you go to another multiplex and get shunned cause they are out of tickets, I suggest you make your way to Innovative. :)
Jeevan: I hope more multiplexes come up. :-)
Innovative Multiplex
Pros:
– You can get a ticket most of time!!
– Good projection and sound systems compared to single-screen theatres
– Phone booking works!!
Cons:
– Badly maintained; it stinks!!
– Toilets are unusable
– Parking can be horrible experience; especially during rains
– Priced same as PVR/Inox eventhough; but overall experience is not even 25% of what PVR/Inox offers.
– Very un-profesional service
– No online booking
– Does not adhere to movie timings
They are quite a few issues that bangalore has to sort out.
You should vist a new site which has just starterd some interesting facts on issues Bangalore needs to resolve ASAP
http://wakeupblr.blogspot.com
With the cost of a weekend movie outing in Banaglore, i can go all the way to Gudivada in Andhra(16-18 hrs from BLR by bus or train) watch three movies and come back to bangalore. I actually do this once in couple of months to catch up on the movies.
How come bangalore has so few Mxs, even our city INDORE, which is slightly less populated (only 35L) have 5 Mxs and several malls. Surprisingly many more are coming up. Many big shots who had big unused land in the city area are building up all sort of malls out there.
I still feel sad, with one incident that happened with me some days back in the AECS layout area (near Brookefields), I was waiting for one of my friend to pick me up, he had got engaged somewhere and told me to wait for 20 min, I was feeling hungry so looked around and saw a small shop of chat, went there and asked for a ‘masala chat with litte more green peas’, he told Rs. 6, I agreed and again said him loud showing to put more green peas, he was not knowing hindi well I guess, and he strated preparing the plate, he crushed the puri’s and put just 5-10 drops of peas, I asked him to put more, he said Rs. 10 extra, I said, in the beginning only I said I will have it with little more green peas, he started shouting in local language I didn’t understand, and told him again, if you put green peas, I will have it or I am going, he cam out of his counter and slapped me, 4 smatches, I didn’t know what was my crime, he kept saing paisa, paisa something, I did’t want to create a scene there, as I was firstly alone, secondly I never want to take tension, so I handed him, Rs. 10 note, and he kept all of it, even though we had agreed upon Rs.6, I thought not to even eat at such a stupid person’s place, I thought he is not a person with sense, and it seemed to me like, he has recently come out of jail, and someone has forcefully put him to work on the shop.