Entries Tagged 'Madras Talkies' ↓

The Times of India finally started their Chennai Edition today.

It was interesting to see the competition and it’s effect overnight.

But what many wouldn’t know about is that the war started a long time when TOI announced they’re going to come to Chennai. Journalists were ‘poached’, design spruced up and better content for readers.

The Aftermath

The Hindu slashed it’s rates to Rs 2.50 from Rs 3.25 (Rs 3 from Rs 4.50 on Sundays) from today.

The Indian Express got itself designed and dressed up well.

The Deccan Chronicle did what it does best - news like “Mens go for breast reduction” was in the front pages.

So finally the much needed competition and choice for people.

Subscribing to The Hindu and The Times of India

I still like The Hindu. I like to read news and not who dates whom or who got divorced. The paper quality is good. Nevertheless I’ll subscribe to The Times of India as well (an additional 60 bucks to ogle at chicks).

Some gyan for you guys after reading The Times of India (and The Hindu) for over 2 hrs :- M S Dhoni would like Rajnikant in Super Kings team as he considers him god. Victoria Secret has a manufacturing unit in Chennai (never knew this before)!

Feels great to back in India!

I don’t know what I think, but I love to observe things. First it was It happens only in Chennai…, then Things that I noticed in Dubai and now how things that’ve changed in the 12-13 months of my absense.

Many people asked me this question - parents, friends or office colleagues out of curiosity as how a non resident might notice the changes.

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Today a reader of this blog, Ganesh commented in this post: Why CAS may still be good for Chennai.

I think it’s his original writing and so decided to post here. for others to see….

Here it goes:

CAS came into force in Chennai in 1993. And it took nearly 4 Years for other metros to follow suit. TRAI took the best of efforts to see that CAS is implemented and with the best support from the Judiciary, things were in place. 2007 dawned for three metros, viz., Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta, changing the way the people watched television.

There were people, applied a theory of wait and watch, people immediately swallowed the DTH, people applied for STBs with various MSOs. And the most benefited person was the consumer. The guidelines were clear, the prices reasonable, and the schemes attractive. Consumers in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta were lured by DTH service providers, MSOs and THE CUSTOMER WAS THE KING!!

TRAI arranged reviews, spoke to operators and consumers and the result were good and the appreciation was flowing from all corners. Then concessions were announced for bouquets of channels and the price cap of Rs.5/- came down as low as Rs.3/- as schemed out by some MSOs. Then there was rush for STBs and the MSOs were running out of ideas to meet the demand, slowly but surely, the Indian television viewer was experiencing the best of Cable Television.

DTH providers jumped into the ring, and announced various schemes, giving the customers in CAS areas special packages and schemes, now it was the customer, who was put under pressure to select from options available. The market watchers were calculating the effect of CAS in advertisement revenues, and things like that.

But in the southern metro of Chennai, which claims to be the father of CAS in India, was waking up to 2007 with lot of hope on Cable front. The system which was in place was ridiculous to say the least. The Cost of the STB was around 4000 rupees and the monthly outgo was somewhere around 350-400 per month, if you are an unfortunate fan of sports and also an unfortunate non-Tamil person settled in Chennai. The sports channels were off the air so does the entertainment channels of languages other than Tamil.

There is monopoly in Cable TV and the customer was not provided with any choice but to suffer in silence. The majority of Cable viewers were not having any complaint as the family soaps, films and other genre channels in Tamil was FTA, and with ample space of time as sports were not there in the FTA Scheme of things. The only solace for the sports lovers came when the MSO provided signals of pay channels for major tournaments like the World Cup etc. The efforts by the TRAI were seen by the people as a great reliever for the people of Chennai.

The customer, especially the sports buffs and the non-tamil people in Chennai, was feeling light at the end of the tunnel, as the Dec.31st 2006 dead line approached, frantic calls were made to the Local Cable Operators as well as the MSOs for the schemes and new price lists of Channels.

But Chennai is very different from other metros. The consumers were treated as slaves; at least as far as cable TV is concerned. There are only two MSOs in Chennai, viz., Hathway, which has only negligible connections, and the Fort is held by SCV. Hathway gave a lot of information about new schemes and channel prices, but were unable to penetrate their STBs to all locations in Chennai, you know the reason!! Now the poor customers were forced to wait, wait and wait as per the instructions by the LCOs, as they are also not in a position to get any detail from the MSO, who does not have even a dedicated website.

Repeated calls to the other MSO and LCOs were falling in deaf ears. The MSO people were even hearing about TRAI for the first time, it felt. When tried to contact the MSO and asked about the details, there was point blank reply, DO NOT CONTACT US, CONTACT YOUR CABLE OPERATOR!!

At last on 1st of Jan 2007, there was some clarity about the channel prices and new schemes were announced by the MSO. But only the existing customers with STB were the relieved ones. There was no information on new rental schemes of STB, two schemes which were mandatory for any MSO in CAS Area. The rental schemes were not at all there, as per the MSO. When mentioned about the TRAI guidelines, the reply was precise. WAIT FOR SOME TIME!! Up to what time, no one really knew. Subsequently, after Pongal Festival, the application for STB on rental scheme were available with the LCO. I applied for the scheme on 18th Jan, 2007, but till date, ie., 15th February, 2007 there is no reply from the MSO. The LCO says that the application itself was not accepted by the MSO and they want us to wait for some more time!!!

Fed up with the treatment meted out to the customers, there was calls made to the DTH operators, but the worst thing was in store for the people of Chennai! The schemes announced by the DTH operators were applicable only for other metros, and not for Chennai. We, the people of Chennai, are really hurt being treated as the CHILDREN OF LESSER GOD!! When CAS was forced on the people of Chennai, there was only a whisper of protest, while the political parties in other metros, stood up and opposed CAS. The result, the costly CAS was forcefully implemented in Chennai.

As years passed, and TRAI guidelines and court orders put CAS in other metros as well. But the Chennai Cable TV viewers are still to get the benefit of new guidelines and rules. Who cares, repeated requests were falling in deaf ears, getting repeated and irritating answers from the LCO. Still things are moving on in Chennai!! Soaps continue to take the prime time of family members, the maamis and akkas glued to television sets, not knowing anything about the exploitation they are being subjected to. TRAI or HC, we are different, away from the sight of the Centre, the judiciary, the TRAI and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting!! The so-called consumer activists, when contacted, say they do not take up the case of Cable TV consumers! In Chennai, the people running around for STB are the so correctly said IDIOT box lovers!!

Till this day, the 5th of February, 2007, no STB were given on rental schemes, and the bitter fact is consumers are asked to go for the outright purchases of STB at a whopping Rupees 3800/-, which includes the security deposit for SMART CARD, which was not permitted by the TRAI.

The news channels, which are showing even celebrities honeymoon packages as news item, this serious violation of consumer rights and guidelines by a statutory authority are not being given proper attention. It seems the news channels are FTA in nature; they do not care for people running behind pay channels and STBs.

Now, this situation raises some basic questions. Does the TRAI guidelines are not applicable for Chennai? Is the Chennai people are managed by some separate laws as far as Cable TV is concerned? Does the consumer organizations really bothered about the people in this part of the country? Does the monopolistic attitude of the MSO is being protected by some central power? The answer is Yes and No!!

Cable TV subscription bill for just Rs 77 a month. Pay Channels for Rs 5 a month. Stereo Radio stations other than the ones which ply in your metro. Digital quality sound and video. All this is going to a reality by December 31, 2006. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has come out with some recommendations for introduction of CAS (Conditional Access System) in the four metros of India after the Supreme Court ruling by Dec 31, 2006.

We Chennaiites always miss out watching good things on TV. Be it Sports action like Grand Slam Tennis, Formula One grand prix, Cricket Action, etc.. or Hindi entertainment channels or English entertainment channels. Now, what I care is Sports action. I have a DVD collection that English movie channels would envy, and I don’t watch much Hindi stuffs but for the movies.

We were made scapegoats and wait for SCV (a leading MSO here) to negotiate with the channels to bring out sports action or retort to Live Streaming, etc…

Let’s take the TRAI ruling now and what really was going on in Chennai for over three years.

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It’s no big secret that I love Satyam Cinemas. One good reason is it’s just 10-15 minutes walk and a 5 minutes drive from my place! I had already written about this here: Satyam Cinemas rocks! but I thought I would go on and write something that has come up fresh at Satyam Cinemas.

The people over at Satyam have done a magnificent job to transform the whole place. The road where the theater is situated used to be “dull” street - that is without much traffic, but now it’s bustling with activities. It has now become the hangout zone of Chennai. Here’s a picture as how Satyam used to look some 6-7 years ago: (Click on the thumbnail to view a larger photo)

Why do we all like Satyam Cinemas?
I like satyam for their pakka maintainence and providing a great environment to watch the movie! A cool theatre with lots of peppy guys and girls….all the time bright and colorful.

The sound effects and cleaniness…….And also “No Smoking Area” zones throughout the cineplex. Sathyam’s awesome, economical (unlike the other multiplexes in Mumbai n Delhi). Ticket prices start from Rs. 50 (used to be 40 only some months ago) to Rs. 110. And not to forget those 10 bucks tickets where you get “up close with the stars”!

Let’s see what Kirran Reddy and his team been upto for the past few months or so to make Satyam Cinemas very cool n happening place in Chennai…

thecinema.in
The official website of the Satyam Cinemas,Chennai is thecinema.in

How to book tickets: All you have to do is log on and select the movie,show timings, number of seats, (seat selection is also available), and snacks. Enter your Credit Card number and note down the order number.
At the date you’re catching up with the movie, go to the counter and give your Credit Card and the order number … thats it.. u get the tickets immediately after they swipe ur card…no rush, no standing in queues, no headaches…

The only problem is that it uses a flash interface and takes some time to load (even with my 256k line). Maybe they should try to have a AJAX site. The website also offers booking of snacks and drinks as well during the show. The ticket status is refreshed frequently. So we can use the site for acquiring information on ticket rates, availability of the seats, which movie in which screen, etc.. thecinema.in - The Queue is dead!

Six Degrees
Six Degrees is the 6th Screen and the latest addition at Satyam Cinemas. The tickets cost Rs 110 (They charged Rs. 130 for Rang De Basanti) - a never heard before ticket rates in Chennai.

6 Degrees is small with only 9 rows. The seat’s upholstery is good. A comparatively big screen for a comparatively small theater. I also heard that it got LCD displays (but not sure of this).

The seating arrangement is simply amazing, ample space for both the body and legs. The arm rest thing!! … at any time a person can have both their arms on the arm rest rather than waiting for opportunity rather than thinking “Dude when do I get my turn at the arm rest“!! And even if a Basket ball player sits in the front row, you can still have a unobstructed view to the screen.

Seats are very comfortable and even the hand rests are also cushioned.Taking all this in account to “luxuries”, Rs. 110 is a bargain… compare this to other metros where you are charged 200+ and even rs. 350 for those “airplane” seats.

Blind Date
The first Cinemas in Chennai to bring the innovative idea of making us using our sixth sense for guessing the movie. All they say is the rating for the movie. The show is on Studio 5 every Thursday, 7′o Clock show. It’s good to catch up with Premiers even before they make it the FDFS. It would be thrilling to sit in the hall and guessing for the movie.. it itself would be a thriller!

Pure Cinema
Again a very nice concept and an innovative idea. As the title says, movies which has more creative side, good wholesome movie are screened which otherwise might not run at par with “masala” movies.

At first, they started showing Pure Cinema movies every Friday (or everyday? I’m not sure, I forgot) 10 PM show, but now they show more than a movie also at some random timings.

Four Frames
It’s a great forum for avid cinema lovers to interact with technicians & get to know the nuances of film making. Recently it has Om Puri in the show. They showed his Movie - The Hangman which he directed and then tête - à - tête with him.

110 Years of World Cinema
This is a new concept where we get to see some really old but true classics that you might never ever see in DVDs or TV channels. At the time I’m writing this post, they are showing Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes and Akira Kurosawa’s Rashômon with expert commentary by K. Hariharan and Sunny Joseph followed by audience discussion. It’ll be good thing where we can discuss about the movies just as we do in discussion boards.

The 10 bucks Ticket!
10 bucks for a movie in a theater that has good ambiance, clean, and provide good environment in a Metro Cinema. 10 Rs. ticket so that I can watch almost every movie without evaporating my moolah.

The seats are in front (first 3 rows) and has no cushion. You need to stand in that friggin queue for some time (Many have stood in line at 12, wanting to go for 1′o clock show, ended up goin at 4, for some other random film) but for ten rupees, its worth!!!

We can spend on steam corn, butter popcorn and others. When we’re going with our friends we need not impress them..its a date which will be different!! Save the money for girlfriends/boyfriends. 10 bucks tickets - the true budget Cinema experience!

R|D|X Experience
Sathyam. Ground Floor. Middle of the theatre. Middle of the row. R|D|X. That’s some movie experience. Experienced this three times. I saw Harry Potter 4 ,Superman Returns and Pirates of Caribbean 2 in the middle of the theater and boy what a feeling! I really can’t express all those in words. You got to check them for yourself. We have Satyam and Sree which got this R|D|X thing.

Interval Stuffs and Snacks
Butter Pop corn, Iced Tea ,Cold Coffee, hot and juicy corns (I first saw this and eat at Brigade Street in Bangalore for 25 bucks). So much for your stomach to digest in the break time! The only problem is that it’s costly compared what it’s priced outside in the city (still cheaper than what we see in Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore).

Magic Hat
I don’t know much about Magic Hat, all I know is it’s a place where we get to leave the kids n toddlers to play n fool around while we are at peace enjoying the movie. Magic Hat - Transit play lounge for kids.

What more is planned?
A total entertainment arena for audiences, where they don’t just go to the movie hall, buy tickets, watch the movie,catch up with some bird watching(!) and go back. Moviegoers can now look forward to combining dinner with a late-night show or a game of bowling before an evening show, all inside the same movie complex.

In addition, there are rumors about the possible 7th screen (at the place where there used to be a big waiting hall in front of Satyam cinemas), or maybe that could be the much talked INOX screen.

In addition, they’ve planned 20 more screens in Chennai including 2 new cineplex in Vadapalani and Amjikarai. Things never looked so rosy and fabulous of Chennai moviegoers and filmlovers.

Some closing comments…
Sathyam has the best R|D|X sound effects, Santham’s Balcony seats are the best, Subham has a nicely lit area in a corner with that haunted feeling. Sree’s Rendezvous seats are special. Studio 5 which is nice n compact with chandeliers, Six Degrees with those LCD displays, seats and arm rest!

Pirates Of Carribean - Dead Man’s Chest isn’t releasing in the same day as they release in other Indian Cities at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai. I dunno about other theatres but sathyam guys said it was distribution problems. Screw their “distribution” problems.

It always happens in Chennai. So much movies are released late here. Brokeback Mountain, Munich and V For Vendetta (yet to be released!). They cook some story or the other. The movies hit here late with reference to other cities in India.

I’m little disappointed. I was looking for the release of the movie. I liked the first installment in this trilogy. As newspaper report, Keira Knightley is a beauty with a backbone. Keira looks stunning and absolutely gorgeous. Any man would fall for her. Johnny Depp is also cool and portray a man with an attitude.

This drives piracy. Already it’s hitting 2 weeks after it released world wide and now we dunno how long it’ll take to release. I might not watch the movies in cinemas if it had any other actor than Keira. After all if they take me for a ride, I’ll also do the same. Who is the loser here? Not me!

Check the Variety and Choices available at the moment in the “Internet”

Check the various releases of this movie which we can snatch for free:

Pirates.of.the.Carribean.The.Dead.Mans.Chest.CAM.XViD-dsF
Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.TS.XViD-XanaX
Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.TELECINE.XviD-DaNK
Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.CAM.XViD-BatPoO
Pirates.of.the.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.TELESYNC.XViD.INTERNAL.READNFO-PUKKA
Pirates Of The Caribbean The Dead Mans Chest French Ts Repack 1cd Xvid Cobra
Pirates Of The Caribbean Deadman S Chest 2006 Maven Telesync Kvcd By Hockney
Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Man S Chest With Chinaese Subs
Pirates Of The Carribean The Dead Mans Chest Tc Prevail
Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Man S Chest By Fragg (DVD-R)
Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Mans Chest Telecine Xvid Dank Brandnew Webseed

As you can see, we have choice and variety. We have copies with chinese subs, French source, KVCD, SVCD, Telesync (TS), Camera (CAM), Telecine (TC), XViD versions, DVD-R and more! We have the choice to select from 700 MB (single CD) or 1.36 GB (double CD) some copies with 6.1 AC3 surround sound.

Soon, we’ll have the DVD-R and DVD Rips floating around. No one will be truly interested in watching the movie in the cinemas, after we get the DVD versions for free and that too faster than it hit the cinemas! Brokeback Mountain also met with the same fate. The movie was released recently and it hardly ran for a week. V For Vendetta is also slated for release soon. Even I guess it won’t run as they might expect. After all most of the English movie watching juntas might know how-to-get-movies-for-free.

Still if they take another fortnight, it’s DVD-R or DVD Rip for me. Even if I want to watch in the cinemas, they make me a “pirate”.

Well, everything has its yin and yang side;
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I wonder if the above holds true for the coverage of the ongoing Reservation-Quota story in the electronic media and print media. We see only one side of the story. They cover 80% of anti-reservation and only 20% of pro-reservation.

If it’s “The Rage over Quotas”, “Ghost of Mandal Returns”, “The Fire Spreads”, “Losing Patience”, “Deserve vs. Reserve”, “Doctors Defiant”, “Death of Merit” caption for their Quota-Reservation issue coverage; it’s almost the same in the case of the Print media. It’s “OBCBM- OBC Ballistic Missile” , “Mandal - II” , “100% reserved for family (indicating the PM post)”,etc. These days, I don’t watch much of Television (/me blames CAS) but I’ll tell how biased the newspapers are.

We subscribe to two Newspapers, The Hindu and Deccan Chronicle. There is a ocean of difference when it comes to quota coverage and related articles. While The Hindu presents a neutral stand, Deccan Chronicle on the other hand is entirely Anti-reservation.

Immature Coverage
To be honest, We buy Deccan Chronicle as an additional read to The Hindu and it costs only a rupee rs. 1.50. I read it for the rumours, I get to see a lot of chicks, read film news and many more “masti and masala” reads. Even so, I get irritated while I read the newspaper. It’s full of anti-reservation.

If the News channels can recycle some visuals endlessly, Deccan Chronicle does it in a different way. The have a cartoon section (”Here and Now - Sudhir Tailang”) which have anti-reservation cartoons for almost 5-6 times a week. It almost seems that they are desperate to reach out that they are also anti-reservation.

Another article which amused me was the :”GenY join hands against quota issue” in their ‘Teens’ section of Chennai Chronicle (May 22, page 25). While there might be no error or anything wrong with it but the whole thing showed Deccan Chronicle in a poor light. Don’t we all know that students are protesting? Do we need to be reminded that they are “GenY” or do we need a photo of pretty girls protesting? Don’t they know that there are also a pro-reservation protests and rallies in the opposite camp and are they not “GenY”?

An ocean of difference - The Hindu and Deccan Chronicle
Let’s see how The Hindu is covering the whole issue. Their Editorial (as far as my knowledge goes they printed only twice; one at the time of the proposal and the other one was how to strike a balance between merit and social inequality) was good and was presently neatly without takes sides. The Hindu also published a two part series on an Alternate proposal to strike a balance between merit and social inequality and a survey created by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) jointly written by Professor Yogendra Yadav.

Right from the Editorials, Cartoons, guest columns, pictures, letters to the editors and even the reader columns (Open page - Sunday Edition; The Hindu) there was a vast difference in the way that both the newspapers covered the whole issue. One was biased to the core (Deccan Chronicle) and the other showed both sides of the story (The Hindu).

While one newspaper (The Hindu) goes beyond the raging debate and ponders into the alternate proposal and goes beyond the rhetoric of reservations, the other one (Deccan Chronicle) still covers the protests, rallies & childish cartoons and that too is biased. It’s any body’s guess which paper most of the people would like to read.

“We are with you and support your cause”
As I have said earlier, Deccan Chronicle got news which is basically targeted towards younger section of the readers. The got chicks and pretty girls on their end pages, rumours, film news, got to look good, “glamour and class” rules their contents. So it’s not surprising that there coverage is also biased and one sided.

When a Newspaper has a class constituency (or a section of readers they target), the labels tell the constituency that the Newspaper is with it on this issue.

The job of the media is to cover and show the events in an unbiased manner. They need to strike a balance between the two sides of the coin. Maybe only in the Editorials, Columns they can be bias which is again purely the author’s personal opinion. Their job is to only dish out the stuff, it’s upto to the readers to taste it and see if they like it.

More Reads: Taking Sides (About the same issue but with the electronic media)