PVR INOX innovation - Flexi Watch Plan - Watch a movie only for as long as you want!

PVR  Inox  kicked  off  a  great  innovation  in  New Delhi. Christened the Flexi Show, it allows the viewers to pay for the time that they watch the movie.

Great innovation. Often students think that whatever must be innovated has already been innovated and that they are simply robots pushing buttons. They think of themselves as obeying orders and not as disruptors who will kickstart the next innovation.

It is not the machine but the man behind the machine that matters. In 1971, during the war, the Indian Air Force pilots were manning Knat planes, and the Pakistani Air Force had better and more sophisticated fighter planes, the F-86 Sabre. But it was Indian pilots who won the air wars, including the famous Longawal War.

Movie watching has stagnated, and many like me have even stopped going to the theatre completely. The entire process proves daunting and time-consuming. Go to the theatre, buy the inflated tickets, and then sit through the boring movie cursing our fate and burning a hole in the pocket buying obscenely highly priced popcorn and cold drinks. The result, in 90% of the cases, is total dissatisfaction and disgust and the hollow feeling that you have wasted money!. I have not watched a movie in a theatre in the last three years.

Blue Diamond and Emerald theatres in Chennai introduced an innovation that was a rage in the 70s and 80s. Blue Diamond and Emerald showed mostly English movies (English movies are of short duration and last mostly for 2 hours). Viewers were charged a 50% premium on ticket price. The huge attraction? Viewers could enter the theatre at any time and watch the movie as long as they desired. I remember watching a Jackie Chan movie twice, and the feeling was as if I had won an Oscar, pure elation.

PVR INOX is on the right path. This deal could mean that people like me could come back to the theatre feeling assured that we could walk away after some time and that our money and time would not be wasted. This would also mean that some people who only come to watch some parts of the movie would benefit.

Going further, I would think that some movies would be played continuously for 24 hours, and we would be charged for the time that we spend in a theatre. Also, the negativity that builds up in watching a boring movie in its totality can be avoided. Watching a boring movie fully might lead to dissatisfaction and even disgust.

Damn good idea. I don’t mind watching Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo in a loop. I can spend away time in an air-conditioned movie hall instead of waiting in a boring airport lounge. I would say that airports should start this innovation themselves.