I would never forget this Diwali. No, not for good memories but for the most terrible experience in my all these years of movie going.
It all started with me seeing the paper Ad by Devi cinemas stating the theatre complex have been renovated with online ticket booking facility. I, since got used to Satyam Cinemas' online ticket booking system, was jumping in joy to know Devi has caught up to the trend. I was remembering all the, not many but few, movies I saw in Devi and the past days experiences.
I decided to go watch movie in the 'renovated' Devi. So, I booked for Blue @ Devi Paradise, 10:00 PM show on Diwali day. The movie was icing on the cake for my day's experience. I'll write about it in another post - got so much about that movie actually.
So, I was there at the gates of 'Devi Cineplex' at 9:30 PM only to join an already lengthy queue of vehicles that occupied half of Mount Road. Reason - Gates were closed coz the previous show was still running and there was no parking space for vehicles! After 15-20 minutes of wait, the gates were opened and we were allowed inside. As you guessed right, there was a chaos situation as all the vehicles wanted to get in instantly [including me!]. I had to watch out for people & two-wheelers that were criss-crossing. After 5 minutes of waiting in the queue for parking, which is normal, one good security personnel was kind enough to ask me whether I booked the parking online, which I did [Thank God, I did!!!]. So, I was asked to park @ slot no 101 but the slot allotted for me was 119 - I regretted a lot for this post movie.
Done with parking, proceeded to ticket counters. There were 3 active counters, out of which one was for ladies. The fun[?!] part began when securities in the remaining 2 counters started routing us to each other - All we wanted to know was "Where to collect the tickets booked via internet?". Finally, both finalized on this and asked us to go to 3rd counter where already ~30-35 people stood. I waited in the queue, collected the tickets, got to the screen, found my seat & looked at my watch which showed 10:30 on it. Alas, 30 minutes of the movie gone already!
At 11:00 PM, 30 minutes after I got in, it was Intermission time. I got out to get Popcorn/Pepsi - my next mistake! I had to pay at one counter and get the eatables at another. First part was easy, but the later... There were only 3 of them behind the counters to attend to what seemed like an easy 50 people crowd [may be coz of night show?]. By this time I got a hang of this 'waiting mania' and what else, just waited. After I successfully managed to get my popcorn/pepsi and went back to my seat, it was, hmm... 11:25 PM and ending credits started rolling in next 35 minutes
I literally watched just one hour of the movie while the actual running time was ~2hrs.
After all this, I reached the parking to get the car and there it was, a Wagon-R parked just in front of my car blocking the way, well not completely though [again, Thank God]. What a parking system!!! With the help of two other guys, who could take their car out only after I do, and my friend Muthu [who stood by me through all these crazy things] I got out of the parking area and out of the 'Cineplex' in another 10 minutes, phew...
I assume it was the first day after renovation and the inauguration of online booking. But still, my humble request to concerned people is to PLEASE fix all these stuff and then call yourself the 'MULTI-LEVEL STATE OF ART CINEMAS'.
Come on people I can't help comparing. Satyam Cinemas, I missed you a lot baby. I need to go there as soon as possible to get over my experience with Devi.
-Jeeva
It all started with me seeing the paper Ad by Devi cinemas stating the theatre complex have been renovated with online ticket booking facility. I, since got used to Satyam Cinemas' online ticket booking system, was jumping in joy to know Devi has caught up to the trend. I was remembering all the, not many but few, movies I saw in Devi and the past days experiences.
I decided to go watch movie in the 'renovated' Devi. So, I booked for Blue @ Devi Paradise, 10:00 PM show on Diwali day. The movie was icing on the cake for my day's experience. I'll write about it in another post - got so much about that movie actually.
So, I was there at the gates of 'Devi Cineplex' at 9:30 PM only to join an already lengthy queue of vehicles that occupied half of Mount Road. Reason - Gates were closed coz the previous show was still running and there was no parking space for vehicles! After 15-20 minutes of wait, the gates were opened and we were allowed inside. As you guessed right, there was a chaos situation as all the vehicles wanted to get in instantly [including me!]. I had to watch out for people & two-wheelers that were criss-crossing. After 5 minutes of waiting in the queue for parking, which is normal, one good security personnel was kind enough to ask me whether I booked the parking online, which I did [Thank God, I did!!!]. So, I was asked to park @ slot no 101 but the slot allotted for me was 119 - I regretted a lot for this post movie.
Done with parking, proceeded to ticket counters. There were 3 active counters, out of which one was for ladies. The fun[?!] part began when securities in the remaining 2 counters started routing us to each other - All we wanted to know was "Where to collect the tickets booked via internet?". Finally, both finalized on this and asked us to go to 3rd counter where already ~30-35 people stood. I waited in the queue, collected the tickets, got to the screen, found my seat & looked at my watch which showed 10:30 on it. Alas, 30 minutes of the movie gone already!
At 11:00 PM, 30 minutes after I got in, it was Intermission time. I got out to get Popcorn/Pepsi - my next mistake! I had to pay at one counter and get the eatables at another. First part was easy, but the later... There were only 3 of them behind the counters to attend to what seemed like an easy 50 people crowd [may be coz of night show?]. By this time I got a hang of this 'waiting mania' and what else, just waited. After I successfully managed to get my popcorn/pepsi and went back to my seat, it was, hmm... 11:25 PM and ending credits started rolling in next 35 minutes
I literally watched just one hour of the movie while the actual running time was ~2hrs.
After all this, I reached the parking to get the car and there it was, a Wagon-R parked just in front of my car blocking the way, well not completely though [again, Thank God]. What a parking system!!! With the help of two other guys, who could take their car out only after I do, and my friend Muthu [who stood by me through all these crazy things] I got out of the parking area and out of the 'Cineplex' in another 10 minutes, phew...
I assume it was the first day after renovation and the inauguration of online booking. But still, my humble request to concerned people is to PLEASE fix all these stuff and then call yourself the 'MULTI-LEVEL STATE OF ART CINEMAS'.
Come on people I can't help comparing. Satyam Cinemas, I missed you a lot baby. I need to go there as soon as possible to get over my experience with Devi.
-Jeeva
