During my visit to a recent film festival, I bumped into a lot of famous and critically acclaimed film makers. One of them was Girish Kasaravalli, he is one India's finest film makers and also a respected person in the film community. We started talking and I raised him a the question which you saw in the title of this post. He told "Yes" very confidently and he also gave examples like the invention of TV in the 60s also scared the hell out of a lot of film makers thinking that people would stop going to movies. But, they all were wrong. He also said, after the advent of TV there was a more demand for movies and theaters.
But, what about now? With out smartphones and access to movies within seconds. Will theaters still exist? Let's look into it. Many people have started to watch films and series in the smart phone and many even claim that when they watch it in the cell phone the experience is really personal like as if they are reading a book. And they could pause and go back to watch that dialog again. But, are the 5 inch mobile phone screen able to give the same experience as the silver screen we see in theaters? Maybe...
We have to understand that movies are the tools that we use to express or visualize the stories. A story can be expressed in the form of a book, a painting, a play, a dance, or verbally and movies is nothing but one of the tools we use to express stories. I wouldn't prefer a film that doesn't have a story. I'm not saying you can make a film without a story, but usually these films are artistic and which are usually made for a small community of art film lovers. And the fact that we as humans love to stories, its makes the movie more enjoyable. I think that's is the reason why many of the young crowd like their films on their cell phones. Its because they all are drawn towards the stories and the charters.
Movie streaming companies like Netflix, also is helping change the complete mindset of the people who used to flock to the theaters. Even the recent survey shows there is a downfall in the number of people going to the theater. What we are experiencing is really interesting.
I think theaters will become a luxury product. And I think it will only be acting for a certain type of crowd like die hard fans of the film or movie buffs. Whats your thoughts on it?
