Jamshedpur: Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theatre, an Academy Award-winning director had once said. The steel city's new six-screen multiplex - the first in the state - can reverse the saying and stun its audience into forgetting they are just watching a movie.
PJP Cinépolis, a joint venture between Prakash Jha Productions and Mexican plex chain Cinépolis, is all set for a ritzy launch on the second floor of the P&M Hi-tech City Centre Mall in Bistupur with a special screening on Thursday and will be thrown open to public the day after.
A wall of fame, featuring iconic directors like Steven Spielberg, Jean-Luc Godard, Satyajit Ray, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Alfred Hitchcock, will greet cine buffs on Friday to the six screens, together boasting a capacity of 1,042 seats. Two out of the six plexes have 3D screens with state-of-the-art projection and sound qualities.
Jha, who addressed reporters on Wednesday with his business partner and industrialist R.K. Agarwal and CEO of P&M Hi-tech Infrastructures Ltd Sunil Agarwal, said the launch would see screening of four new releases - Raazi, Avengers: Infinity War, 102 Not Out and Deadpool 2.Tickets are available offline at counters and online via BookMyShow, Paytm and Cinépolis's own mobile app.
"PJP Cinepolis, which is debuting from Jamshedpur, will also screen regional cinema. Bengali film Haami will be the first," Jha said. Asked if they would screen Santhali films, Jha said if there was a market for the same, Cinépolis would go ahead with it. "Film festivals are also on the cards."
The interior of the multiplex is unique. Apart from the wall of fame, posters of cinema classics such as The Sound of Music and Mughal-e-Azam dot the plush corridors. A wall is dedicated to Prakash Jha's movies. The wonder doesn't end there. Stars welcome you to the restrooms too!
"Many people don't know what goes into making good cinema. So, we wanted to make this more than just a multiplex. It is like a first-hand experience of making of a cinema," Jha said, adding that it was his long-cherished dream to introduce Bihar-Jharkhand to the upmarket plex culture. "The one in Patna (Bihar) started in 2010 and now we are in Jamshedpur. We wish to have a PJP plex in every district of Jharkhand."
The mall already draws heavy footfall on weekends, said Sunil Agarwal, and hoped that the multiplex along with top brands such as Westside and Landmark, which are set to open soon, would make it the best shopping and entertainment experience in town.
Last, but never the least, cine buffs will have a host of much options - from pizza, pasta, sandwiches and hot dogs to an array of desserts and, of course, popcorn!
