PVR bets on drive-in cinemas as first screen opens on Nov 5

The country's largest cinema chain PVR is launching the world's first rooftop drive-in experience in the heart of Mumbai city. Reliance Retail on Monday said the country's first open-air roof-top theatre, where people can drive in with their car to watch cinema, will open from November 5 at its premium shopping mall Jio World Drive in Mumbai. The Jio drive-in theatre, operated by PVR, will have a capacity to accommodate 290 cars and it claims to have the biggest screen in town.

Situated in Jio World Drive, the recently launched retail precinct spread across 17.5 acres in Mumbai's commercial hub Bandra Kurla Complex, Jio Drive-in has the capacity for 290 cars. Ajay Bijli, the chairperson and managing director for PVR Ltd added that people can watch movies anywhere and cinemas have to become ‘more and more experiential’.

“Normally, when you go abroad, you have suburban drive-ins, where there are large patches of land and people just open their bonnets, turn their cars around, and put out their lounge chairs. "But a drive-in in the centre of the city hasn't been done before. This is a unique opportunity, we are excited to be part of such a prestigious mall. The city will be taken by storm,” Bijli said, adding that the Jio Drive-in will be just another addition to the city of movies from PVR.

"We wanted to coincide it with a big movie which the whole country has been waiting for and right after Diwali is a big day," Bijli elaborated. 

Will this model work in India? That's the question on everyone's mind.

"Why not? It is a concept that is waiting to happen all over the world. Drive-in, normal cinemas, they all coexist. But we will see how this one goes and then why not we will commit ourselves to more,” Bijli said.