In Pics: India's first open-air rooftop, Jio drive-in theatre to open in Mumbai today

Mumbai, Nov 05: Drive-in movie theaters are commonplace in abroad countries but a rare sight in India. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has said it will open the country's first rooftop, open-air, drive-in theatre at Jio World Drive (JWD), the premium shopping mall unveiled by the company, in Mumbai today.

Missing the cinema? Catch a movie from your car

Situated in Jio World Drive, the recently launched retail precinct spread across 17.5 acres in Mumbai's commercial hub Bandra Kurla Complex, Jio Drive-in has the capacity for 290 cars.

But what's a drive-in movie theater?

As its name suggests, you simply drive into the theater, which is usually a large parking lot, and park your car. The parking lot will have a large screen in front of it. At the designated time, a movie will start playing on that screen and you can watch it from the comfort of your car.

What are the prices of the ticket?

Akshay Kumar's Sooryavanshi will be the first movie to be screened. The drive-in theatre, operated and managed by PVR Ltd, will be launched on November 5 and is billed as a "relatively safer open space" for audiences waiting to relive the big-screen experience after spending more than a year confined to their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic, Darshan Mehta, CEO, Jio World Drive, told PTI. The tickets are priced at Rs 1,400 onwards for each car with up to 4 people per car.

Why drive-in theater?

Ajay Bijli, chairperson and managing director for PVR Ltd, added that people can watch movies anywhere and cinemas have to become "more and more experiential". "Normally, when you go abroad, you have suburban drive-ins, where there are large patches of land and people just open their bonnets, turn their cars around, and put out their lounge chairs.

"But a drive-in in the centre of the city hasn't been done before. This is a unique opportunity, we are excited to be part of such a prestigious mall. The city will be taken by storm," Bijli told PTI, adding that the Jio Drive-in will be just another addition to the city of movies from PVR.

According to Mehta, large urban areas are devoid of open spaces and malls have become urban hangout places, urbanscapes.

People crave relatively safer open spaces. The movies are there, of course, but the environment of nice weather, open sky and food become a very critical component. It's all here," Mehta said.

Drive-in movie theatres of India

The project, Mehta disclosed, has been in the works for over a decade. The site was once home to one of the three drive-ins of the country at that time. The other two were in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.

"The one in Bombay closed down in 1977. The Maker family, which was one of the top real estate developers of the city, acquired the plot of land to develop and then over the years, Reliance acquired the property in partnership with the Makers. Gradually, it became a majority company," Mehta said.

Long-awaited dream

A long-awaited dream is coming to fruition with this drive-in cinema hall. The Jio Drive-in, which boasts of "one of the biggest cinema screens in the country" with 24m x 10m as dimensions, will be a whole package that adds to the experience -- the right quality of sound and projection system, convenient car parking base, and an ace F&B facility.

No heavy-duty speakers

Jio Drive-In Theatre is powered by Christie RGB Laser Projection. It will bring sound enhancement by broadcasting the soundtrack over FM signal through the car's sound system. The audio will be on a low transmission frequency. So, you tune in to your car's FM system and you will be listening to the audio through the speaker system of your car.

Who are allowed to enter mall complex?

Only those who are fully vaccinated and have exhausted a period of 14 days from their second shot will be allowed to enter the mall complex.

Will the employees be vaccinated?

"Every employee -- from the mall and the drive-in -- and the patrons will all be fully vaccinated. This will give an added sense of safety to everyone.