Iโve been thinking a lot about intervals lately. You know, that dreaded โINTERVALโ card flashing across the screen just when the film is building up steam. For many, itโs the break to rush to the loo, grab that overpriced popcorn, or light up their phones without the guilt of disturbing someone in the dark.ย For me, though? Not really. I time myself before the show, I donโt always have the budget for popcorn, and Iโd rather keep my phone away.
Yet, hereโs the thing – I grew up on Bollywood (yes, yes, I know โIndian Film Industryโ is the umbrella term, but allow me the shorthand). Bollywood films are designed with the โinterval blockโ in mind. A cliffhanger, a dramatic twist, a punch of music – it almost justifies leaving the hall for ten minutes, because the film has been structured to allow that pause.
But what happens when the film youโre watching was never designed to pause? Thatโs where things get messy.
Why Intervals Exist:
In India, intervals arenโt just a quirky tradition – theyโre practically an institution. A large chunk of our films runs well over 150โ180 minutes (yes, thatโs three hours of your life). Think of epics like โMera Naam Jokerโ (1970, 244 minutes) or โSangamโ (1964, 238 minutes). No audience could realistically sit through those without a break, and over time, filmmakers started writing with it in mind. The โinterval bangโ – that perfectly placed cliffhanger, that revelation or burst of action right before the lights go up became part of the craft.
But thereโs also a fascinating technical reason, as my dad once mentioned. Back in the days of film reels, a single print was often shared across multiple theatres. A 17โ18 reel movie might be divided into 3โ4 spools, rushed between halls on cycle carriers. If a reel arrived late, the projectionist had no choice but to halt the film. Sometimes that meant more than one interval; not because the director wanted it, but because the reel literally wasnโt there yet.
The Business of Breaking:
Of course, it isnโt all about artistic pacing. Intervals are a gold mine for theatres. Exhibitors have admitted for years that food and drink sales often bring in more profit than ticket salesยฒ. With multiplex ticket prices climbing by nearly 10โ15% every yearยณ, the economics have shifted – today, the Popcorn, the Samosa, and the Coke are what keep the lights on.
The footfall data tells an interesting story, too. In 2023, India saw around 94.3 crore visits to cinemas, with 15.7 crore unique moviegoersโด. On average, thatโs six films a year per person. Hindi audiences skew lower, at just three films annually, while Tamil and Telugu audiences clock 8โ9 films a yearโต. Compare that to the 1990s: โHum Aapke Hain Kounโ (1994) drew 7.39 crore viewers in itself, but even a juggernaut like โBaahubali 2โ (2017), despite record-breaking revenue, drew 5.25 croreโถ.
The math is simple: fewer people are going to theatres, but theyโre paying more, and concessions fill the revenue gap. In other words, that samosa is subsidizing your cinema.
Regal vs Multiplex – Two Experiences:
Last month, Bombayโs Regal Cinema did something rare: they ran a Hitchcock Month. โPsycho,โ โVertigo,โ โRear Window,โ โNorth by Northwestโ – all screened without interruptionโท. A friend of mine from film school went, and he came back raving about how immersive it felt, like finally seeing Hitchcock the way Hitchcock intended. I wasnโt there, but listening to him describe the sheer grip of โPsychoโ or the tension of โRear Windowโ without a pause, I could almost imagine the experience.
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And then I thought of my own reality: sitting in a multiplex the very same month, watching โSupermanโ and later โFantastic Four: First Steps,โ only to have both cut in half by the dreaded โINTERVAL.โ In โSuperman,โ I was completely absorbed until the abrupt pause yanked me out and forced me to process it as a โfirst halfโ and โsecond halfโ instead of one cohesive film. By the time โFantastic Fourโ rolled around, it was dรฉjร vu – of that very same โSupermanโ disruption. The films themselves werenโt at fault; they simply werenโt written for a pause.
Laws, Screens, and Social Media:
Hereโs the twist: there isnโt even a national law saying you must have an interval. A few states mandate breaks for films over two hours, but more often itโs just habitโธ. And commerce. Indian films are built for it, so theatres extend the practice to foreign films too.
Infrastructure adds another layer. India still has fewer screens per capita than China or the U.S. In fact, a 2021 study found that the number of screens in a country explains box-office revenue better than either GDP or populationโน. With limited capacity, every extra rupee matters, and the halftime snack is built into the math.
Then thereโs audience behaviour. OTT platforms have trained viewers to expect seamless pacing, to binge entire seasons without pause. Younger audiences especially report frustration with forced breaks, finding them disruptive to immersionยนโฐ. Meanwhile, social media has ironically reinforced the interval in Indian films. The โinterval bangโ isnโt just a storytelling device anymore; itโs also a marketing beat. A perfectly timed shot before the lights come on, and Twitter (or X) explodes with โinterval massโ postsยนยน.
To Break or Not to Break:
So where does that leave us? On one hand, intervals are part tradition, part survival, part commerce. On the other hand, theyโre increasingly at odds with global cinema practices and the OTT-trained habits of younger audiences.
Do I hate intervals? Not exactly. Do I wish Hollywood films could run uninterrupted in India? Absolutely. Hearing my friend describe Hitchcock without a break made me realise how powerful that kind of immersive experience can be, even if Iโve only imagined it. But until the economics change – ticket pricing, screen density, revenue models – the glowing โINTERVALโ card isnโt going anywhere.
For now, it remains as Indian as the popcorn bucket and the samosa you balance in your lap. And as long as I keep timing my bladder, skipping the snacks, and rolling my eyes when the lights come up, Iโll keep negotiating with this uniquely Indian ritual – half cinematic tradition, half business model, and entirely unavoidable.
We have grown up with intervals, rather in school days we used to go to cinema with our elders and used to wait for intervals and the sole reason was Fanta and unbranded chips, it used to taste better than caramel popcorn and Nachos and much cheaper.