Going to the cinema is a bit like going to church. The cool darkish auditorium, the towering display screen, the hushed silence, all make for an immersive, nearly religious course of. This additionally implies that in need of one thing egregious, you’re unlikely to query the character of the expertise, other than grumbling concerning the value of popcorn.
“I typically discover {that a} film I’ve seen within the corridor seems to be significantly better on OTT — the colors, the sunshine and shadow, the small print,” says acclaimed movie critic Baradwaj Rangan. “People discuss concerning the huge display screen expertise however why will you go for the massive display screen when the standard is so poor? I can get a significantly better image at house!”
The grim state of the movie-watching expertise includes many parts, starting from excessive ticket costs and more and more smaller screens, to sound leakage from the subsequent auditorium, however for this text, the main focus is on projection. There are roughly 9,000 screens throughout the nation and, inevitably, there’s a variety within the high quality one encounters. The venues that ship the very best requirements of projection are few and much between. For a rustic obsessive about cinema, it is a obvious downside.
Fading lamp projectors
The beating coronary heart of the cinema theatre is the projector, an enormous, shiny, light-emitting machine that throws the picture onto the display screen. The present crop of digital projectors can broadly be divided into two sorts, the older ones that use lamps as a lightweight supply, and the newer ones that use laser beams to undertaking the picture. The overwhelming majority of theatres in India nonetheless use lamp projectors.
The brightness of a cinema display screen is normally measured in foot lamberts (fL). Since the times of movie projection, the brightness stage that theatres are anticipated to hit is 14 fL. But typically what we get right here in India is properly in need of this.
“Lasers are 20%-25% dearer and much more moderen in comparison with lamp projectors,” says Senthil Kumar, co-founder of Qube Cinema, a number one supplier of digital cinema options (together with projectors) in India. “So, laser projectors can be a really small share in India, perhaps 10%-15%”.
These projectors are complicated machines with a number of delicately balanced elements. This complexity implies that a projector must be finely calibrated, and operated and maintained with care, to make sure that the viewers will get the absolute best expertise.
A promotional nonetheless from Bramayugam (2024)
I bear in mind watching the Mammooty-starrer Bramayugam (2024) at a close-by multiplex in Chennai. The black-and-white movie, a people horror-thriller set in seventeenth century Malabar, is a visible masterpiece in monochrome, with the blacks and whites and the distinction between them essential to the expertise. But when the movie began to play, all the pieces simply seemed boring and gray. I used to be questioning if this was a deliberate alternative from the filmmakers, so as soon as I acquired house I checked the trailer of the film on my telephone. I used to be shocked to understand it seemed fully completely different. I felt cheated.
Shehnad Jalal, the cinematographer of Bramayugam, agrees.
“It’s a nightmare for many cinematographers to see their movie within the theatres. The brightness is low, the distinction is just not there, typically the body itself is cropped. It’s primarily at movie festivals that we get to see it the best way we supposed.”Shehnad JalalCinematographer (‘Bramayugam’, 2024)
There are just a few causes for this sort of sub-par projection. At the core of that is the sunshine supply in most of those projectors, the lamp. These lamps steadily lose brightness as they age, and have a lifespan of some months. Replacing the lamp can value as much as ₹50,000 relying on the mannequin, and the theatre should do that for every display screen, each few months. “Towards the top of its life, the lamp will begin to deteriorate, and it received’t be capable of present full brightness any extra. Just a little earlier than that time, one should substitute it. But theatres could wait until the lamp completely fades away,” says Kumar of Qube.
Sebastian C.V., projectionist at Surabhi Cinemas in Thrissur, Kerala, agrees. He says, “In some locations, the projectionists could run the lamp for a pair hundred hours greater than they’re rated for. It’s an costly part in any case.” Needless to say, the projected picture from a lamp on the verge of dying can be abysmal.
Compromising on brightness
Some exhibitors have been recognized to chop prices in different methods, too. One of them is to run the projector at a decrease brightness, to lengthen the lifetime of the lamp. “Often, on the day of a film’s launch, they may run the lamp with good brightness,” says Sathesh Thulasi, affiliate vice chairman at Qube. “Then step by step they may lower it.”
Recently, Kushan Patel, a movie fanatic and communications skilled in Vadodara, went for a present of the blockbuster Sinners (2025), headlined by Michael B. Jordan, at his native multiplex, and seen the projection was too dim. He rounded up some fellow viewers and complained to the supervisor. “After some denial and protests, they agreed and restarted the movie with higher brightness,” says Patel.
Theatre homeowners are most likely banking on the truth that viewers received’t discover the distinction. In the course of researching this text, I discovered that was certainly the case. Rather than dwell on the image high quality — or the shortage thereof — the typical viewer doesn’t appear tothink there’s a lot of an issue in theatres. That mentioned, some movie technicians are optimistic concerning the scenario slowlychanging. “Even a ₹10,000 Android telephone has a superb, shiny display screen. So the general public has a greater thought now, of how an image must look,” says Manesh Madhavan, the cinematographer behind the atmospheric Malayalam movie Ela Veezha Poonchira (2022).
Manesh Madhavan, cinematographer of Malayalam movie Ela Veezha Poonchira (2022).
Standardisation wanted
Technicians have at all times railed towards the poor high quality of projection in theatres in India. In the times of movie, the understanding was that theatres in ‘A centres’ — the massive cities — would run their projectors shiny, whereas B and C centres (smaller cities and villages) have been recognized to run their projectors dimmer to chop prices. “So once they made prints for the A centres, they’d make it accurately, for B centres they’d make it one cease brighter, and for C centres they’d do two stops brighter, to attempt to compensate for the projection loss,” says Jalal.
With the arrival of digital projection, these outdated equations are out of the window. You can encounter unhealthy, dim projection in each cities and villages now. “When Ang Lee watched his movie Life of Pi [2012] at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai, he remarked that it was most likely the very best projection he’d seen,” says Devanshu Arya, a Chennai-based filmmaker, concerning the cinema theatre which was subsequently acquired by multiplex chain PVR-INOX. “But now the standard at Sathyam has deteriorated a lot,” he provides.
PVR was on the forefront of the multiplex revolution in India, establishing the primary multiplex in 1997 in New Delhi. As of December 2024, the merged entity of PVR-INOX operates 1,749 screens throughout 355 properties in 111 cities throughout India and Sri Lanka. When we reached out to them with queries concerning the variety of laser projectors of their venues or the standard of projection, PVR-INOX declined to remark. Cinepolis, probably the second largest exhibitor in India, operates 449 screens. We reached out to them too with comparable queries, however didn’t hear again on the time of going to press.
Fans at a primary day-first present viewing of Rajinikanth’s ‘Coolie’ in a Mumbai cinema corridor in August. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
And but, whereas the image high quality stays inconsistent, exhibitors are glad to spend on ostentatious interiors, recliner seats, gourmand meals, and different bells and whistles. “Many theatres now have completely different priorities, they wish to present luxurious facilities, however they don’t care concerning the core features of the expertise,” says cinematographer Madhavan.
“Standardisation is what is required,” provides S. Radhakrishnan, award-winning audiographer and sound engineer on the Kerala State Films Development Corporation, which runs 17 screens within the State. “Cinematographers and exhibitors’ associations all want to come back collectively to place a system in place that may make it possible for these movies, that are made with a lot effort and care, are offered to the viewers within the right method.”
Bramayugam’s Jalal agrees. “Just like they verify for functioning fireplace exits and bogs and parking, they need to additionally verify the projection and sound high quality of every theatre, periodically.”
Hope and expertise
It’s not all doom and gloom, although. There are just a few exhibitors who care sufficient to hold out common upkeep of their projectors. And, there are technological advances that promise a greater future.
While lamp projectors are nonetheless the huge current majority, new installations and upgrades usually tend to be laser. Laser projectors aren’t routinely higher, however there’s a essential distinction within the economics of working them.
While a lamp lasts for mere months, the lifetime of a laser will be over 20,000 hours, translating to years of service earlier than any substitute is required. This means there’s merely no have to run the projector at a decrease brightness. “The value of the laser projector [₹60 lakh-₹1 crore] is excessive, however there is no such thing as a recurring value. You can maintain operating it and even after seven years, you will get the identical high quality as the primary present,” says Thulasi of Qube.
If you watch a film in a theatre with a laser display screen, likelihood is you’ll get a brighter image in comparison with different venues. It’s the usual brightness however, in contrast to the opposite venues, really delivered. The bar is so low that this can doubtless really feel like an improve.
If you wish to take issues up a notch, there are “premium massive format” screens like IMAX Laser and Qube’s homegrown EPIQ, each of which have a handful of installations throughout the nation.
These codecs use state-of-the-art laser projectors and might goal a better brightness, which when mixed with the scale of those screens can ship a extra spectacular and immersive image.
Broadway Cinemas in Coimbatore | Photo Credit: M. Periasamy
Sanju Surendran, a filmmaker who lives within the city of Palakkad on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, says he typically travels to Coimbatore to look at movies at Broadway Cinemas, a multiplex that has each massive format and common screens, IMAX Laser and Qube Epiq screens. “For motion pictures like Oppenheimer and F1, I wished to see them on a superb display screen, so it was value it to drive all the way down to Coimbatore. The projection and sound at Broadway are prime class. Watching F1 at their laser IMAX, I actually felt like I used to be sitting within the race automobile,” he says.
Tejal Satish, COO of Broadway Cinemas, explains how they preserve the projection commonplace: “Every display screen is often calibrated for brightness, distinction, and color accuracy. Our engineers observe strict preventive upkeep schedules, checking lenses, porthole glass, servers, and sound alignment earlier than each main launch.”
Setting new benchmarks
And lastly, on the innovative are just a few next-generation applied sciences which have made their tentative forays into India, promising a cinematic expertise with unprecedented ranges of high quality. These embrace Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco, that are each projection-based programs, and Samsung’s Onyx and Qube’s EPIQ Luxon, which use large LED screens as an alternative of projectors.
While all of them value many instances what a daily laser projection setup does, and their numbers are small in the mean time, maybe extra screens can be put in quickly with these applied sciences?
They promise to set a brand new benchmark for cinema viewing within the coming years.
Samsung’s Onyx was first off the mark in India in 2018 with their LED screens, however their bold plans appear to have been stymied by the COVID-19 pandemic. Qube’s EPIQ Luxon has an analogous LED-based system, which is at present put in in a single venue in Hyderabad — AAA Cinemas in Ameerpet. For now, these screens are comparatively smaller in dimension however there’s promise of bigger installations sooner or later. That mentioned, LED consumes significantly extra energy and generates extra warmth (requiring extra highly effective air con), so it’s unclear if widespread adoption is probably going.
Audience at Pune City Pride’s Dolby Cinema display screen.
Dolby Cinema made its India debut on the City Pride Multiplex in Pune this July. Apart from the better brightness, it additionally boasts class-leading ranges of distinction, and expertly tuned Dolby Atmos sound. “It is an elevated expertise, each when it comes to image and sound,” says Girish Mallya, the Mumbai-based editor of a expertise journal. He watched the Brad Pitt-starrer F1 at City Pride. “What actually stood out for me concerning the projection was the color gamut and the way deep the blacks have been,” Mallya provides.
The display screen is already drawing a superb response from viewers. “One couple flew down from Bengaluru to look at F1 at our Dolby Cinema display screen,” says Sudhan Thipse, Operations Manager at City Pride.
The latest participant on this area globally is HDR by Barco. The Belgian projector producer makes use of a patented expertise that they name “mild steering” to ship a particularly shiny picture from a projection setup, with a excessive dynamic vary.
Projection-based system HDR by Barco made its India debut at Sri Melody theatre in Visakhapatnam.
HDR by Barco made its India debut at Sri Melody theatre in Visakhapatnam in May, and I went to look at the Telugu movie Kingdom there. Even on a weekday morning, the theatre was packed. I sat by means of the entire present regardless of not understanding a phrase, as a result of it was really essentially the most dynamic and dazzling image I had seen in any cinema theatre. The brightest components of the image have been dazzling, and even the darkest of shadows retained a substantial amount of element and texture.
Dasari Gowri Shankar, supervisor of Sri Melody, tells me, “Now, when any film releases within the metropolis, our display screen fills up first as a result of folks know that there’s something particular concerning the expertise.”
And this proper right here is motive for hope. When increasingly more folks begin selecting theatres with higher projecion, even travelling to a special state for it, maybe that may function a wake-up name for the incumbents to enhance their choices, or threat shedding their clients.
The author and photographer is predicated in Chennai.
