Celebrity column: Where is 70mm? Writes Sajid Khan

Remember when movie posters had the word 70mm written as big as the title of the film? The whole idea was to get you away from the small screen of the TV in your living room, and experience a spectacle on silver screen as huge as a medium-sized building. Hence, the term larger-than-life is something that one doesn’t associate with TV, internet and, honestly, multiplexes too. But it’s true, bigger the screen, the further the distance of the projector. And when you have five to 10 cinemas cramped on one or two floors of a shopping mall, how can you have a larger than life screen? So, to compensate, they have a fake big screen called IMAX.

The truth is, only a handful of single-screen cinemas have 70mm screens, but, and this is the main but, movies HAVE to be shot on 70mm or blown up from the conventional 35mm widescreen, AND you need a 70mm projector (which is rare). The Chinese Mann Theatre in LA, Empire in London, Maratha Mandir and New Excelsior in Mumbai, Maheswari in Hyderabad, are all true 70mm cinemas. With THE biggest screens ever (bigger than 90 per cent of IMAX screens). All movies (non 70mm) are blown up to fill those screens and the result is truly larger-than-life.Whereas IMAX screens are bigger than the ones in multiplexes, but they can’t match the size of the 70mm screens.

Recently, I saw Spiderman: Homecoming in an IMAX cinema, and quite honestly, I had to move down to the third row from the screen to get a big-screen experience! Whereas, when I saw Baahubali in New Excelsior from a back-row seat, my neck was aching from enjoying the huge screen! IMAX isn’t cinema, it’s a gimmick... like 4D, where you exit looking like you’ve exited Churchgate station ka train at rush hour. Can you go for a big rock show on the third floor of a shopping mall? Or will you enjoy it more in an open ground?

True, IMAX can rival 70mm, but for that the screen and cinema, the size has to be that of an entire building. Just like these few heritage 70mm single screens. Comfort and luxury are very important to watch movies, but not at the cost of a true viewing experience. Today 65 and 75-inch TV sets aren’t very expensive, but you can’t call them a big-screen experience... unless you are a midget!

Since 70mm isn’t around today, IMAX is the new 70mm (at 65mm as that is the maximum there), my humble request to the IMAX cinema owners... GET REAL BIG SCREENS!!!