Cinepax reviving dozing cinema industry
Uzma Zafar
 

City Notes

There was a time when people used to love to go to the movies. DVDs were nowhere to be seen and the trend of VCRs was not very common. Out to the few sources of entertainment, theatre and cinema used to give a breather to the people, out of their monotonous life. Films also used to be family oriented and there were no embarrassing scenes which one couldn't see with siblings or elders. Lives used to be simple and entertainment used to come cheap. However, as all good things finally come to an end, over the years, due to advancement in the media and competitiveness in the market and with the common use of VCRs, the cinema culture bore a major blow and in the end, evaporated from our society.
Certain cinema operators too, tried to play nasty and used to play vulgar films in the midst of ordinary flicks, in order to increase their sale and as illiterate people also took keen interest in such flicks but caused a major embarrassment for the families watching films together, such cinemas first became devil's havens and then, in the end, simply lost their viewers as the devil cannot entice the individual forever too. Whatever one could do in cinemas, the closed cabins of internet cafés contained it and we all know that after checks and balances, such filthy practices were stopped as well. As for those cinemas which existed in the Capital, rowdy mobs burnt them down. The first one to go were the two NAFDEC cinemas followed by Melody one which was burnt down by fundamentalists after Syed Noor's film Hum Sab Ek Hein which was against sectarian violence and the Sitara Market one had not much viewers any way, leaving the Capital's cinema lovers in lurch!
After actors like Babar Ali, Humayun Saeed, Salim Sheikh and Badar Khalil, to name few, have stepped into the Lollywood industry, suddenly the interest of the viewers has again developed in the cinemas and people want to watch our flicks with as much interest as they rent out a DVD from the market to watch the latest Hollywood or Bollywood release. Gauging the need of the time, Cinepax, a private company, opened it's first multiplex cinema at Rawalpindi, some nine months back. As what goes around, comes around late in this part of town, so it is just now that the busy Capitaliites have lifted their heads off their routine activities and snooping around for healthy entertainment, have begun to flock around the Cinepax theatre, invading it from left, right and centre not to talk of the Pindiites to whom, it has comes as a sigh of relief from the everyday embarrassment in the cinemas, along the families.
When we think of a cinema, the only thing which comes to our mind is tattered, cheap film posters all around, paint breaking off at various spots off the wall, vagabonds throwing cheap comments, humiliating the womenfolk, laughing off like a pack of dirty hounds and filthy stench all around, especially in the washrooms. But this all is a thing of the past now as the latest Cinepax has nothing of this sort. The Cinepax cinema, designed by Mesbur & Smith Architects. Mesbur & Smith Architects which have designed over three hundred multiplex complexes and their portfolio includes developments in ten countries not to talk of being the winners of numerous international design awards, is anything but clean. There is every sort of foodstuff available at the place while the tickets are nominal as well, with regard to the entertainment quality and services provided at the place.
Made on a total area of 39982, having 5 screens and 1400 seats, VIP rooms and a bowling alley too, this multiplex is definitely a neat step beyond the ordinary cinema. Cinepax has an execution team with a blend of local and international experience that is unmatched in the Pakistan exhibition industry, following the goal to provide the cinemagoers with a world class experience. The entire cinema, including the washrooms, are anything but neat as there are ladies who sweep tidy the ladies toilets and men doing the job at the men washrooms, after every other minute. There are also individuals, and all in uniform by the way, who stand out of the various halls, carrying a large garbage bag, for cinemagoers, to throw the wrappers of their foodstuff in it, in order to make the place devoid of dirt, speck or stain. And in between intervals of films too, the halls are cleaned thoroughly. The cooling is amazing, even when the light is gone and the person feels chilled, even in Summers.
Cinepax is no doubt a step beyond the ordinary cinema. Such a place would not only encourage people to visit the cinemas, without any fear of getting embarrassed when going with the family, but it would also teach the cinemagoers to keep their country clean as the place is so clean and tiny that no one would want to dirty it and after a 2-3 hour chilled film experience, let that be of Lollywood, Hollywood or Bollywood, when the person would stay put, without throwing litter here and there, it is most likely that he would continue the practice as he goes out and there would be a positive change in the society. There is the need for more of such projects, especially in our Capital as well, which is the only Capital of the world that has no cinema, by the way. Let's hope the standard of the Cinepax cinema be maintained as it has so far and if it remains so, it would be a step forward in reviving the cinema industry at large!