Adapting to new media: A case study on exhibition and publicity practices of a rural single screen theatre in the digital era

ABSTRACT Cinema exhibition houses provide the necessary settings for Indian audience to engage with cinema. Theatre and its overall practices ranging from film publicity to screening cinema helps the cinemagoers to construct the physical and spatial sense of film viewing. In India, post-release film publicity is done by exhibitors in their respective areas. The exhibitor use film posters/notices/advertisements to attract audiences to their cinema theatre. Apart from the conventional publicity mediums, at present exhibitors are using digital platforms like mobile phones and social media to reach the cinemagoers. This study explores one such attempt by a rural single screen theatre in Kannur district of Kerala to reach its audience. At a point of time when majority of nearby single screen theatres closed down due to declining audience attendance ‘Rani Talkies Vengad’ survived by adapting new ways of reaching the audience. While retaining the conventional publicity spaces and methods, this C class theatre is active on social media sites with its regular updates about the film change and show timings. This paper looks at cinema as a holistic experience and attempts to write the local film history of Vengad Rani by looking into the thick terrain of cinema that lies outside the cinematic text.