Multiplex: Origin in India

A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building.  The multiplex is instantly recognizable as a sub-genre of a type of building known as a cinema, a form which has existed for almost exactly a century and about which all of the things said thus far could also be said. The multiplex, however, is generally recognized as being a new incarnation of the cinema with particular distinctive features. The multiplex therefore provides some useful indications of the forms of public, discourse and environment we currently consider to be of value, and of the latest techniques for exploiting those desires commercially. It is highly significant then, that from the 1980s on wards the rise of the multiplex has been an integral part of the worldwide spread of mall culture.
Multiplex Origin in India
In India, the mushrooming of multiplexes since the mid-80s has changed the dynamics of Indian cinema. India's first multiplex was Maris Theatre Complex with 5 screens in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu which was inaugurated one 30 June 1978. Indian cinema chains such as INOX, PVR, SPI Cinemas, Cinepolis and Big Cinemas have been able to make in roads into tier II and III cities in the world's largest film viewing industry. The largest multiplex in India is the 16-screen megaplex Mayajaal in Chennai. The multiplex revolution in Hindi cinema started in the mid 2000's and has grown tremendously since then but what was then a multiplex film is not anymore though in the industry the same sort of film is called a multiplex film. Still films like Katti Batti and Shaandaar are called multiplex films when in fact they are unlikely to work in over 60% of the multiplexes in India. Most of the other 425 multiplexes have a different taste to what is generally thought to be a multiplex film.
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