Drive-in cinemas are a long ride in India

Imagine a big screen, but in an open space; a reclining seat but in your car; popcorn run to your vehicle; and a personal sound system. As oldschool drive-in theatres are being revived across the world — Germany, Spain, Lithuania, South Korea and parts of the US for instance — amid the lockdown, experts feel the concept may not be feasible in India.

Producer Bhushan Kumar believes, “Drive-in theatre concept is farfetched in this kind of a situation where a normal theatre’s survival is uncertain as of now.”

While drive-in isn’t an unexplored concept in the country – Ahmedabad, Chennai and Gurugram have one each – it isn’t one that has flourished. “Whether there would be renewed traction in drivein properties because of Covid-19 or an uptake in numbers, that is something one will have to see when this whole situation is a little more settled,” says PVR Pictures CEO Kamal Gianchandani, who finds drive-in theatre an “interesting proposition” and reveals they’re developing one in the country’s film capital, Mumbai.

While drive-ins may be a “unique experience” for the millennial and Gen-Z audience, Alok Tandon, CEO, INOX Leisure Ltd, says “managing to secure a large expanse of space at a comfortable distance”, can be an uphill task. Real estate costs, especially, don’t make drive-ins a commercially viable exhibition business proposal, observes Mohan Umrotkar, CEO, Carnival Cinemas.

As trade analyst Komal Nahta says, “Drive-in theatres will take a long time to get constructed. Till then, one hopes the Covid-19 vaccine will come out.”