| | March 20218TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRYBy Kailash B Gupta, Chief Financial Officer and VP, Inox Leisure LimitedEntertainment industry in India Initially cinemas were exhibited in tents and Jamshedji Framjee Madan was the first to establish India's first cinema hall in 1907 called `Elphin-stone Picture Palace' in Kolkata. The first cinema halls known as `film thea-tres' or `picture palaces', were con-structed in places with dominance of British population. This phase was marked by silent movies and contin-ued till 1931 when the first Indian sound film `Alam Ara' was made.Most theatres had two or more shows a day and sometimes 12 shows a day during festivals. The increased audience involved the introduction of the tickets which were priced at frac-tion of a rupee. Slowly theatre became a profitable business and more people ventured into this exhibition busi-ness. This marked the beginning of an emerging Indian film industry which was to become a medium by itself. By way of this, the industry has evolved from a single screen to double screen to multiple screens in a single com-plex leading to multiplexes and digital experiences. At present, the industry generates employment for 5-6 million people, including both direct and indi-rect employment. India produces the maximum number of hours of content globally, across 2,000 films, 800+ tel-evision channels, 250+ radio stations, 100,000+ newspaper and magazine editions and thousands of live events.Technology trends transforming the multiplex industryThe Industry has to constantly change and adapt themselves to the new technologies in line with the change in taste and preferences of the con-sumer. Every time, some uniqueness IN MY OPINION
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