THEVENUE SCREENINGS BY THE SEA
Upgrade from those last-row cinema recliner seats. Sure, they have enough arm-space to hold your pizza box, but do they come served with a side of sand, stars and chilled beer? A few metres from Juhu’s open sea is Razzberry Rhinoceres, a lounge-bar that will play host to an open-air Movies and Chill Festival. The three-day event lets you watch cult films, including Kill Bill, The Usual Suspects and Pretty Woman, under the stars.
“We’re used to watching movies in confined, small spaces, and that takes away from the relaxation of it sometimes,” says Sanchit Gupta, co-founder of Sunset Cinema Club, the group organising the festival. “The idea is to create a picnic-like vibe instead, where you’re watching a movie stretched out on a mattress, beach breeze blowing in, sipping on a cocktail.”
The Sunset Cinema Club started hosting outdoor screenings in November, and claims to have received great feedback since. An edition of the Movies and Chill Festival in Delhi last week, complete with food trucks, live music and themed décor, saw 2,000 people attend over the three days. The festival travels to Pune next.
The Mumbai venue can accommodate 500 people on each day, and most of the seating will be on mattresses at Razzberry Rhinoceres’s garden. A quarter of the venue will have chairs too, but all seating is first-come first-served.
The movie choices were put to a Facebook poll earlier this month — more than 200 people voted to choose the three films experience’, with themed décor, a photobooth and live acoustic music by singersongwriters. Patrons can order food and drinks off Razzberry Rhinoceres’s regular menu, and Sunset Cinema Club plans to set up a counter with popcorn and other film-friendly snacks as well.
“It was the perfect weekend plan,” says Aeyman Pasha, a 23-year-old student who bought the ‘festival pass’ to watch all three films at the Delhi edition. “It’s such a great idea to be in the fresh air, watching a classic film. And the best part — there was beer! The Mumbai edition is likely to be so much cooler because it’s by the beach.”