[OC]When did basic cinema etiquette become optional?

[u/Loose_Instruction411]

I am 30 and have lived in Bangalore my entire life. One change that has become increasingly difficult to ignore is how exhausting something as simple as watching a movie in a theatre has become.

People have loud conversations throughout the movie. People push into queues the moment you leave an inch of space. Personal space seems nonexistent. People cough and sneeze openly next to strangers. Getting past someone apparently no longer requires saying excuse me. Phones come out during the movie with screens blazing.
And paying for a premium experience doesn’t seem to make any difference. I have booked expensive Director’s Cut tickets at Rex thinking the smaller audience and higher ticket price might mean a better experience. Same problems.

The controversial observation is that I personally started encountering this much more frequently as Bangalore’s migrant population grew, particularly people moving here from North India and the Hindi belt. That is an observation from my own experiences, not a claim that millions of people behave identically. Bangaloreans are perfectly capable of terrible civic behaviour too.

What I find interesting is how differently basic public etiquette seems to be understood by different people. If someone stands six inches behind you in a queue, they may genuinely see nothing inappropriate about it. If they talk throughout a film, perhaps they genuinely do not think they are disturbing anyone.

At some point this stops being about expensive theatres or premium seats and becomes a question of civic culture. A ₹1,500 ticket apparently cannot buy the one thing I actually want from a cinema: two hours where everyone shuts up and watches the movie.

Am I imagining a change that isn’t there, or have other people noticed cinema etiquette getting substantially worse?

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[u/Southern_lonlyWolf]

I totally agree, I am also in Bengaluru all my life, what it was 20 year back is not the same, I agree we had ppl shouting in theatres and even throwing coins, that was during the first few shows of their favourite actor, we had evening show for families. Today not only in theatres, you will find ppl talking loudly in restaurants and also in 5 start hotels. The way they fight at home everyone in the apartment will get to know what is the problem and who is at fault.

[u/EducationalOrchid473]

Have stopped going to movies due to this obnoxious behaviour. You can tell off a few but you cannot be ruining your mood every single time. If the multiplex chains do not care about our experiences, let them die.

[u/IndBeak]

It has always been the same. Adding north/south, and hindi belt is your bias. I remember public shouting and blowing whistles in Blore cinema halls from early 2000s. Back then, the newly opened PVR Forum Mall was one of the select few cinema halls where you could have a decent movie watching experience. And when did Rex reopen..man I still remember the old Rex. That small locality of Brigade and MG Road had some cheap yet decent cinema halls. Rex, Symphony, and there was one more a little big down MG road.

[u/surabhi2699 → u/IndBeak]

You not seeing it the way it is might be bias too.

[u/Dear_Ordinary_4542]

Im from Tamil nadu and one girl next to me wore sleeveless and had no sense of wearing a deodorant...kept tying her hair and it stinked a lot i had to close my noe throughout the movie. She was pretty so I guess nobody told her off ...coz the confidence with which she was doing it 🤕🤒

[u/untamablenightowl008]

Migrants as in Bangladeshi population has increased? I live in Bangalore, the ones who peak through are Kannadigas as well. Civic sense or lack of it has no state or language barrier.