Gone are the days when we had to wait in long Q’s to get hold of tickets for long awaited movies! Thanks to the multiplex trend that boomed amazingly in our city in the last one year. Earlier, we had to wait for hours under the hot sun to watch a Mamooty or Mohanlal release, and most of the time, the results are sad too. (:D)

Now, all we have to do is call up Q cinemas or Cinemax and book for the tickets. Most of the time, you end up getting tickets. The fact that the service of Cinemax sucks has to be admitted here! But people, who think that the rates of Multiplexes are too high, often end up in our regular theatre. And there too tickets are available at ease.

But this has also led to the speculation that so much of money is wasted at times (on certain shows, especially the morning ones). Moreover, some shows runs with startlingly less crowd even during weekends! So the question would be, has the ‘excess’ of theatres led to a ‘less crowd’ (as Kochiites have so many options open), or is Kochi seeing a diminished rate in ‘movie-lovers’? What is your take on this, fellow Kochiites?

Kochi has been witnessing an rise in multiplexes since the past couple of years. And that is undoubtedly for the good! We have spent hundreds for watching a movie in a multiplex and we know how it feels like when compared to our normal theatres. People were a bit dubious at the start whether multiplexes would be acknowledged due to the high ticket rates. But time has proved that Kochiites do not mind spending that ‘little bit’ for better safety and relaxing as it should be. Renuka Balachandran, a resident of Kochi thinks that Multiplexes are not meant for the common masses, but it’s a nice place to be for a change. “I agree that the comfy factor and safety does exist, but how many people can afford to go and watch movie with family spending hundreds per ticket??” Well, Renuka you got that right. But at the same time you can’t expect a five star treatment for 50 bucks. And for ladies, the rate of bizarre comments and remarks from the fellow movie watchers are at a much reduced rate here. You have neat and tidy washrooms, a better movie hall (when compared to the spew out and dirtied halls in our other theatres), and also a much decent crowd who comes in to watch the movie. Cinemax and Q Cinemas are just a beginning. With Lulu and other malls coming up, let’s hope we see more of them coming in. When watching it, let’s watch it royally!

Kochivibe presents to you the low down on “The Great India Place”. A mall that is sprouting up at Kochi. Built by India’s second largest real estate company Unitech, the Great Indian Place is located at Maradu. World renowned architectural firm and winner of #1 Retail Design for 7 years and,  Callison Inc has designed the mall.

The Great India Place is spread across 10,00,000 sq ft with close to 5,00,000 sq ft is saleable. The Great India Place will also sport a seven screen multiplex (Kochivibe believes its going to be Big Cinemas that will operate the multiplex),  150 shops and ample car park. Kochi is truly become a destination for malls. Below is the location of the mall.

Movie lovers have good news. Its not even a month since Cinemax opened Kerala’s multiplex in Oberon mall, Kochi, and PVR has already announced its expansion plans in Kochi. PVR, a major retail entertainment company announced yesterday that they are launching a multiplex in Kochi along with Surat and Pune in the coming one year.

From the information Kochivibe has received, PVR Cinemas will be launching in Lulu Mall. Kochivibe has also information that Essel group owned Fun Cinemas has procured space in Gold Souk. Soon Kochi will have a presence of 3 out of the 4 major multiplex chains in India. The only other company not to have made a move (or not made the move public yet) is Reliance owned Big Cinemas (formerly known as Adlabs).

Remember the times when you waited for long stretches of time (Shenoys ) in caged queues suffering from the next persons B.O? Remember the time you got into the theater and complained about the air conditioning not working? Remember those grouchy employees at the theater who made you feel they are doing YOU a favor? Well.. Say good bye to all of them. And say hello to some good service. We hope Cinemax and PVR and Fun Cinemas will give the the theaters in Kochi a run for their money. Kochi deserves it!