(by Kavithalaya Krishnan)
Cinema and the way it was celebrated will never be the same again… the fear has been planted. It will take another generation to get over this. Cinema is not a social necessity. Only an indulgence. Human society will survive without cinema. As it did before cinema was born. It’s an addiction that this generation is not that much junkied on as the previous one. Its usefulness as an escapist therapy is over. There are other diversions. When cinema stopped being the cheapest form of entertainment it lost its importance as a social leveller. The prohibitive cost of ticket explains why the tasmac shops are rocking. Box office has shifted its address. Cinema now caters to the elitist, adrenaline-driven upper class whose choices are varied not obsessive as cinema is to the poorer sections. Cinema was out of reach to the least common denominator, who drove cinema from the day it was born. The fascination has waned. Corona virus has only hastened its end. It is only sane pragmatic logical people who can treat it as a business medium and not as some elated art form — which it is not — who can keep cinema at least breathing.
I’m quite disgusted with these debates on how and when cinema can be saved. As if it deserves to be, in its current escapist suspended-reality avatar? Aren’t there other priorities that the country has to pursue? Yes we sympathise with those daily workers, but times have changed. When the automobiles came cart makers lost jobs…When electrical gadgets came lots of stone workers lost profession.. Change occurs. Some disciplines die in that metamorphosis. Caterpillars die to become butterflies Evolution is all about the fall and rise of the process of living.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Eswar
May 22, 2020
I suppose there is only one Kavithalaya Krishnan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavithalaya_Krishnan
🙏
Thank you 😊
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brangan
May 23, 2020
Yes, Eswar, there is only one 🙂
He sent me a couple of whatsapp messages and I asked if I could put it up.
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vijay
May 23, 2020
how is automobile replacing cart( a tech evolution) an analogy for coronavirus suspending cinema business?
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Emma
May 26, 2020
I think this write-up is grossly underestimating the popularity of cinema. Even for the youngest generation, movies are still apart of their lives, and the celebrities that come out of movies still make up most of the social media content we scroll through. I just don’t think cinema could die that quickly, especially because movies have kind of increased in popularity throughout the pandemic as a way of providing us relief. Movies may have not existed since the beginning of time, but storytelling has, and filmmaking is arguably the most immersive way to tell a story.
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