KOCHI: The screening of the movie, ‘The least of these: The Graham Staines Story’, was cancelled at Q Cinemas on Sunday after around 120 people who booked for the show turned up at the theatre. The screens were managed by the Food and Beverages manager of the food court, Sunil Bhaskaran, during the show time. According to him, they did not get the licence to screen the movie on Sunday.
“The other theatres got the content a couple of days back but we got it later and we had some issues with the licence. I will be questioned tomorrow if I screen the movie now and this can lead to some negative consequences. It is difficult to get things done because it is a Sunday and I am helpless in this case,” he said.
Interestingly, although the people were disappointed about the cancellation, all of them exited the theatre without creating any ruckus.
“If they did not get the licence to screen it then why did they open slots for booking? The situation could have taken a different tangent if people got agitated. But, I think it was their lucky day,” said Joel Sunil, a student of Rajagiri Engineering College, who had come for the movie along with his church youth group.
Theatre manager Libin Shaji had a different tale to tell. “The problem was not that we did not get the licence but it was a technical issue related to the KDM (Key Delivery Message) which is used to play an encrypted movie. We usually play the movie only during the show time only and not before it. Some theatres play a small part for checking the movie but ideally it is not supposed to be played before the first show,” he said.
“It is not fair they cancelled the show after everybody got seated inside the hall. They could have informed us about the cancellation at the entrance. This shows the theatre here is poorly managed and they do not have any respect for our money and time,” said Sunil George, of Vyttila.According to one of the employees at the ticket counter, around 90 people booked tickets online.
The situation went haywire at the ticket counter when it got converted to a refund counter. People started making a fuss at the counter as most of them who booked online lost their internet handling charges. “I booked online tickets for 10 of us and paid around `177 as internet handling charges. Though they gave us a round figure as refund, I still lost money and time. This is very wrong and I do not approve of the way the situation was managed.
They could have screened another movie or given us an alternative to use the ticket for the next show. I don’t think I would come back to this theatre again,” said Abraham George, of Kadavanthra, who had come with his family for the movie.
“In the name of the refund, I had to bear the difference. We did not have proper change and I had directed the staffers at the counter to give the customers a rounded off figure,” said Libin.The employees at the counter too lost their cool after sometime and started getting agitated at the long queue of customers.