Did the multiplex culture peak in 2019?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5K1X3KN127bWZCqIvDWVRb

Podcast summary…

red-1556341_1280I read an article which claimed that 1994’s all-time blockbuster Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! had about 74 million footfalls while 2016’s Dangal had 37 million footfalls. That’s almost half. In 1994 India’s population was 945 million as against 134 million in 2016. Globally Dangal made ₹2000 crore while Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! crossed ₹125 crores.

While the global box office has really boosted figures, the domestic ones have been supersized by the multiplex. In the 1980s the newspaper cost around ₹1 and today it is ₹5-7. A ₹10 magazine is ₹100+ today. A bar of chocolate was ₹2-3 and today you can get one for ₹20-30. I remember going for a balcony show in a cinema hall for ₹4, but today it could be anywhere from ₹300 to ₹1000 plus. While many items have seen a 10-20 fold increase, the cinema ticket has increased at least a 100 fold.

That’s thanks to the multiplex and also extra rates for 3D. But time was when multiplexes were great when they were new and were a novelty. The seats, the digital screens and sounds, the five star look and feel. But I think that charm has gone and we have taken it for granted.

Pre-pandemic there were many problems which were festering. For one, as I mentioned, they are too expensive. And it’s not just the ticket price, but the food too. In the 2000s, I read that it was only the popcorn business that saved the industry. It does appear like that. Multiplexes seem to make most of their margins from food and adding that going to the multiplex actually costs many thousands for a family. The food is overpriced and oftentimes bad quality food. Once I saw a huge samosa and wondered how I was going to finish it and I was told I had to take a minimum too. The food is supersized and they will try to empty your pockets as much as possible. Ten years back, I bought a ₹160 tea and found it was a badly mixed milk powder with a tea bag. I asked for a fresh cup or a refund and the seller refused. I threw it in the dustbin in front of him and he merely shrugged his shoulders. This is the kind of arrogance that makes people not want to visit and not lament the decline of the multiplex.

Once the security didn’t even allow a milk bottle for a toddler, they are that ruthless.

Maybe their first line of business is not films and food but giving diabetes. Fizzy drinks are served in 400/500 ml cups and sometimes only half-litre cups are available. What are the ethics of giving half a litre of a carbonated drink to a small child when your machine could easily dish out a 100ml cup?

I think this rich arrogant multiplex habit got broken during the pandemic. Commuting is another problem where people don’t want to get out that often. WFH stands for Watch From Home.

Enough has been said about the Streaming space and how it has taken over the global mindspace. Even if Netflix collapses, there are hundreds of streaming services in the world which will take its place.

In any case Bollywood had become out of touch with the populace with its far Left ideology and blindly aping American progressivism. Hollywood itself has gone woke and is struggling. Nationalism and pride for one’s religion and culture is the new thing. A lot of people became disillusioned after the Sushant Singh Rajput death and the nepotism debate that followed. In fact I read an article where the Marathi film Sairat could have made ₹100s of crores but multiplexes refused to increase the number of shows even though they would have all gone housefull.

People point to Pathaan, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer. There was a Pathaan blitzkrieg, a record number of screens were booked and were given a long run, high publicity and hype. You cannot do that for every movie. The overall trend is downward.

To me a visit to the multiplex is unappealing. The prices. The commute. The security checks to get in. The overpriced bad food. First Day First Show used to be a thing once upon a time. Nowadays most of us can wait for the Streaming release, which usually doesn’t take much time.

Plus I have many bad experiences too. One IMAX hall is so badly designed that you can see multiple heads on the screen. That’s for a ₹1000+ rupee ticket. Once they shut the movie before the multiple MCU mid and end credit scenes.

I remember once I saw Tron Legacy. There was a technical glitch and they did not show us scenes before the climax. After much fighting and shouting, they showed those scenes and then just stopped before the climax, saying you already saw the climax. After that the multiplex staff started pushing the viewers. I have never seen such arrogance in any cinema hall in my life.

I visited that mall after 5-6 years. The mall had shut down and resembled a haunted house. The multiplex chain went out of business and the owner went bankrupt. A sign of things to come? A symbol of the future? Karma? Will that be the fate of most of the malls and multiplexes in the post-Covid world? Or will they make a miraculous comeback? Who knows!

4 languages have won 18/21 FIFA World Cups

europe-32847_1280Only 2 continents have ever won: Europe and South America.
None from North America, Africa, Asia or even Russia and Australia.

In fact, only 6 languages have ever won the World Cup…

Spanish (Uruguay, Argentina, Spain)
German (West Germany, Germany)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Italian (Italy)
French (France)
English (England)

The top 4 have won 18/21.

Interestingly all these languages emanated from one zone in North-West Europe and they are all neighbours clustered together.

Finalists who never won…

Netherlands (Thrice)
Czechoslovakia (twice)
Hungary (Twice)
Sweden
Croatia

Semi-finalists/Top 4 teams who never reached the final…

USA
Austria
Chile
Portugal
Russia
Poland
Belgium
Bulgaria
South Korea
Turkey

Most improved cricketing teams in recent times

cricket-150559_1280Most improved white ball team since 2010…

England.

1975-2009: Zero Big Tournament wins (Comprising 5 or more teams).

2010-22: 3 World Cups.

Most improved red ball team since 2015…

India.

9 straight Test series wins from 2015-17.

First 3-0 Test series win (and whitewash) on foreign soil, Sri Lanka, 2017.

Home whitewashes:

3-0, New Zealand, 2016.

3-0, South Africa, 2019.

First ever Test series win in Australia, 2019, repeated in 2021.

Topped the rankings for inaugural Test championship in 2021.

Undefeated at home since 2012.

But most missed opportunities without winning…

2014: T20 World Cup Final.

2016: T20 World Cup semis.

2015: ODI World Cup Semis.

2017: ICC Champions Trophy Final.

2019: ODI World Cup semis.

2021: Test Championships Final.

2022: T20 World Cup Semis.

India has been choking for quite some time now

virat-kohli-5835741_1280In the 2014 T20 World Cup India played spectacularly winning 5 matches in a row including the semis where they comfortably chased a target of 173 against South Africa.

Then in the final they crashed to an abysmal 130 in 20 overs to lose.

In the 2015 ODI World Cup, we bettered this league performance winning a whopping 7 matches in a row including a 300+ score versus Bangladesh in the quarters.

In the semis, we crashed to 233 all down chasing 329.

In the 2016 T20 World Cup in the semis, we couldn’t even defend a score of 192, as West Indies won by a good 7 wickets and 2 balls to spare.

In the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, we were humiliated by Pakistan, crashing to 158 all down chasing 339.

In the 2019 ODI World Cup semis, we couldn’t even chase a target of 240, getting 221 all down.

In the inaugural Test World Championship, we topped the global rankings but crashed to 170 all down in the second innings when even a 220 might have been enough to draw the match thanks to all the rain delays.

And in the recent T20 World Cup we got thrashed by 10 wickets in the semis.

If we had bad teams and lost to a better team it would have been different. But we have been doing consistently well in the leagues and then crashing at the last moment.

The only silver linings have been the Asia Cups we won in 2016 and 2018.

We really are missing MS Dhoni (he was in severe decline in the above-mentioned period) and his Golden Era when from 2007-13, we won the T20 World Cup (2007), the ODI World Cup (2011) and the ICC Champions Trophy. Apart from the 2016 Asia Cup, Dhoni also won us the 2010 edition and our first ever tri-series win on Australian soil in 2008.

Our previous golden period was 1984-86, when we won the ODI World Cup in 1983, the Asia Cup in 1984 and the Benson & Hedges World Series in 1986 apart from other smaller tournament wins.

Let’s see when the next golden period begins.

Why Indian cricketers aren’t poor travellers and ace foreign tours

plane-841441_960_720England is yet to win a major multi-nation ODI tournament outside England. South Africa and New Zealand have not won any World Cup anywhere. Forget a Test series—Sri Lanka has never even won a single Test in India. Pakistan won their first Test series in West Indies quite late in 2017 as against India way back in 1971.

The truth is that when you combine all three formats of the game, then only Australia and India are the best travellers. Only these two teams have won maximum multi-nation tournaments in maximum countries. It’s a myth that Indians are poor travellers in international cricket overall.

We have won in…

united-kingdom-1043062_1280England.
1 ODI World Cup—1983.
1 ICC Champions Trophy—2013.
3 Test series—1971, 1986, 2007.
1 ODI Tri-series—2002.
4 ODI series—1986, 1990, 2014, 2022.
2 T20 series—2018, 2022.
Total = 12.

sydney-3680862_960_720Australia.
1 Mini World Cup—Benson & Hedges World Series 1985.
2 Test series—2019, 2021.
1 ODI Tri-series—2008.
1 ODI series—2019.
2 T20 series—2016 (Australia’s only whitewash in any format on home soil ever since 1877), 2020.
Total = 7.
(India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Aus by tying the Test series in 2004)

South Africa.
1 T20 World Cup—2007.
1 ODI series—2018.
1 T20 series—2018.
Total = 3.

Lanka-2099225_1280Sri Lanka.
1 ICC Champions Trophy—2002.
1 Asia Cup—2010.
3 Test series—1993, 2015, 2017.
3 ODI Tri-series—1998, 2009, 2018.
5 ODI series—2008, 2009, 2012, 2017, 2021.
Total = 13.

West Indies.
5 Test series—1971, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2019.
1 ODI Tri-series—2013.
6 ODI series—2002, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2022.
2 T20 series—2019, 2022.
Total = 14.

pakistan-641446_960_720Pakistan.
1 Test series—2004.
2 ODI series—2004, 2006.
Total = 3.

New Zealand.
2 Test series—1968, 2009.
2 ODI series—2009, 2019.
1 T20 series—2020.
Total = 5.

dubai-1113262_960_720UAE.
7 multi-nation tournaments—1984, 1985, 1988, 1995, 1998, 1998, 2018.

Bangladesh.
2 Asia Cups—1988, 2016.
4 Test series—2000, 2004, 2007, 2010.
1 ODI Tri-series—1998.
3 ODI series—2004, 2007, 2014.
Total = 10.

Canada.
2 ODI series—1997 (Pak), 1999 (WI).

clover-445255_960_720Ireland.
1 ODI series—2007 (SA).
2 T20 series—2018, 2022 (Ire).
Total = 3.

Zimbabwe.
1 Test series—2005
4 ODI series—1998, 2013, 2015, 2016.
2 T20 series—2010, 2016.
Total = 6.

Grand Total = 85, that includes 5 World Cups/mini WCs, second only to Australia’s 6 away such wins.

India has won at least one 5-nation plus tournament in Australia, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, UAE, Bangladesh and India.

(This blog was first published on October 1, 2018. This is an updated version of the same)

India’s Greatest Test Overseas Era ends

cricket-players-2027502_640With Virat Kohli stepping down as captain, India’s Greatest Test Overseas Era (2015-21) has ended…

In Australia: From 1947-2014 we have had Zero Test series wins on Australian soil. Now we have won two back to back 2018 & 2020.

In Sri Lanka: We won the 2015 series 2-1 and followed it up with a 3-0 in 2017, our first 3-0 outside India in history and the first time we won 3 Tests in a series overseas after New Zealand 3-1.

In England: We lead 2-1 in the 2021-22 series where the last Test is yet to be played.

In West Indies: We won 2 series 2-0 quite comfortably.

In South Africa: In both series we went down 1-2 and at stages had chances to win the series.

mahendra-singh-dhoni-5835730_12802007-13 was our Greatest Shorter Formats Era under MS Dhoni…

We won the ODI World Cup (2011), the T20 World Cup (2007) and the ICC Champions Trophy (2013) for the ICC tournaments hat-trick. We launched the IPL (2008) and won the Asia Cup (2010). We won our first ODI Tri-series in Australia (2008) and first series with South Africa outside India (Ireland, 2007).