Bangalore diaries - Open Air Theatre

I had heard about the concept of open air theatre but never experienced it. I always wanted to experience it and finally got the chance this Saturday. I was planning to watch Desi Boyz and my friend here suggested we go and watch it in the open air theatre. For both of us it would be the first time; so I booked the tickets for Saturday evening.

Ever since I have been in Bangalore it hasn’t been raining here, which was quite unusual as per the locals. And the rain gods decided to pay a visit this weekend. The moment I booked the tickets it started drizzling and continued throughout the weekend. We were wondering if the movie would be screened despite the rain. We decided to go anyways as the weather was quite pleasant in spite of the drizzle. The venue was some 15-20 kms from our place and we didn’t know the way. We started early.

The traffic wasn’t helping and nor was the drizzle as we moved in a slow pace. But since we had given ourselves a big margin we didn’t worry too much. It took us more than 2 hours to reach the venue. There was some marriage going on nearby which had added to the traffic. We asked the parking guard about the exact place of the movie. He said the movie is cancelled because of the rain. We wondered if we had come all the way just to collect the refund. We located the ticket counter and found that the movie was on. We parked our car and went in.

The scene looked wonderful. There was a big screen which was playing some old movie for the time being. In front of the screen at some distance there were some 10-15 rows of mattresses. There were people covering them and putting a couple of pillows on each mattress. After the rows of mattresses ended the rows of sofas started. The sofas looked good and could seat 2 to 3 people comfortably. In the middle of the sofas was the projector tent which was used to show the movie on the screen. On the far side there were 2 food outlets – one for popcorn & soft drinks and the second for cakes, pastries, samosas, sandwiches, etc. Overall the setup looked pretty good and we had already started enjoying.

Just as the movie was about to start, it started raining. Luckily there was a covered area at the back. The organizers had put chairs there as a backup plan. And soon everyone was in the cover. The movie started. As the rain stopped people started moving to the mattresses and sofas. We too went to the sofa, got a blanket to cover the wet seat and started enjoying the movie. It started raining again. I was in a mood to keep sitting there in the rain and watch the movie. But my friend had other ideas. So we moved back to the covered area. But most of the people had settled down well and didn’t come to the covered area. We had some snacks as well – samosas, cake, kebab, roll and coffee. The coffee didn’t taste like coffee, but it was hot and good in the weather. It was getting cold and my friend had put on jacket and covered up in blanket to keep warm. I was however enjoying the weather (for a change).

Overall it was a wonderful experience, something I would like to do again.