|
Feel the raindrops falling on your head, have your hair ruffled by a gust of wind, catch the whiff of a jungle trail or be caught in a snowfall — all from your plex seat.
The “country’s first 7D entertainment zone” has come to Calcutta for movie-goers to see, smell, feel and even touch the animated action on screen of short films specially made for the seven-in-one experience.
Planet 7D, from the city-based Aditya Entertainment Ventures Ltd, is a hit at City Centre II in Rajarhat this festive month. “All shows, even on weekdays, have been running to packed houses,” said Dilip Raghani, CEO of Aditya Entertainment Ventures.
Each combo show is around 15 minutes comprising two animation shorts of seven to eight minutes. The Planet 7D experience (see box) includes motion — where the seats tilt and vibrate — and a host of effects like rain, bubbles, snow and scent, all dictated by the content of the film being screened.
“This was an amazing experience. There was water, lightning, wind, smoke, bubbles and snow!” exclaimed Mihika Shah, when Metro met the Class IX student at Shri Shikshayatan after a Sunday evening show of Night at Toy Store and Roller Coaster. Tomb of the Pharaoh Queen and Rescue are the other 7D films being screened.
In the 7D zone, the viewer is in the thick of things — ducking under a low-flying helicopter to escaping a dinosaur’s gaping mouth, feeling flies buzzing around to spiders crawling up the leg (courtesy a tickler under the chair). And then there’s the roller-coaster ride with the plex seat swinging and the heartbeat racing.
“I had fun on the roller coaster but got scared when the spider came,” said six-year-old Kanav Desai, who was screaming throughout the show.
Kids and teens apart, even their parents are hooked. “The children had great fun and so did I. We plan to come back for more,” said 33-year-old homemaker Hindol Shah.
The 25-seater mini-plex, on the first level of the Rajarhat mall, has been built with an investment of “Rs 1 crore-plus”, with the Raghanis expecting to break even in “two years”. Ticket prices range from Rs 120 for an eight-minute single film to Rs 200 for a combo of two films on weekdays. Weekend prices rise to Rs 150 and Rs 250.
|
