Our love for Bollywood is pretty evident with the amount of money every other film makes these days. Going out for movies may have been a characteristic of the urban areas, but there is no denying that villagers too are equally enthused about watching films. But needless to say, there are a lot of places which lack the infrastructure and if at all, they do have it, the rates may not be affordable. Now director Satish Kaushik along with Picture Time company has come up with a brilliant initiative for making movies easily accessible in the rural areas. He has started Mobile Digital Movie Theatre (MDMT) service, which will see a mobile theatre set up in refurbished trucks that can move around from village to village. This truck-to-theatre initiative will make newly released movie accessible to the villagers at a cost of just Rs. 35 to start with.

These theatres which have a seating capacity of 150 people are air-conditioned, fire-proof and weather-proof. The project was inaugurated by Delhi's CM Arvind Kejriwal. It has a good backing by entrepreneur Sushil Chaudhary, who is the founder of Picture Time, which is running these mobile theatres. According to a report in a leading daily, about 35 of such theatres are ready and there is a plan to make around 150 of them. This way a lot of the rural section will be exposed to the world of digital cinema, and the quality provided by these theatres is no less than a multiplex.

Talking about this initiative Satish Kaushik told Hindustan Times, "In India, multiplex ticket prices are high; therefore people are a bit hesitant. The ticket price for a newcomer’s film is the same as a Shah Rukh Khan or a Salman Khan film. Why would people pay, say Rs 400, for a newcomer’s film when they can watch a Shah Rukh Khan film at the same price? This moving cinema will solve that issue, too.” The commercial Bollywood films serve as a great source of entertainment for the rural masses. Plus, this initiative will also prove to a platform for the regional films which do not get any theatrical release due to lack of cinema halls. The plan is also to use these portable theatres for screening of educational and governmental purposes for spreading awareness. It is indeed a good start to serve entertainment as well as education for the rural audiences.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 14, 2018 05:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).