Endangered Species
I am sure most of you must have heard these magic words “Dus ka Bees…Dus ka Bees” once in your lifetime. These are those magic words that helped you when you reached the theatre late just to see the “Housefull” board but you did not want to go back home without watching that just released movie of Amitabh.
These are the words that helped you impress your girl friend with your ability to procure the first day matinee show tickets of Rajesh Khanna’s latest movie.
From “Paanch Ka Dus” to “Pachaas ka Sau”, and sometimes even “Pachaas ka Panch Sau”, these black marketeers have become a part of our life. But the days of our good ol’ black wallah are numbered. With multiplexes taking over and thousands of prints flooding the market, there seems to be absolutely no shortage of seats anymore. At least in the metros.
Many years ago, we used to compare and calculate our favorite hero’s box office standing at the price his movie tickets were sold in black. “Our Amitabh’s ticket were sold at 1000 rupees on first day! Your Shatrugan Sinha’s was a mere 100!!”
Many politicians and gangsters started their career by first becoming a black marketeer so don’t underestimate this profession.
I was a movie buff and I had to watch every movie that released, whether Hindi or Telugu. The release of a Chiranjeevi movie was like a Sankranti festival for his fans. Most of the major theatres in Hyderabad were in RTC X roads and every Friday, this area wore a festive look with devotees thronging to the theatres to watch their hero in action. So even if you had influence, sometimes getting tickets was almost next to impossible. Most of the Telugu productions were based in Chennai at that time so there was no preview show route for me, except for my holidays when I used to visit my parents in Chennai.
I was almost like a known face to all the theatre staff in every theatre due to my regular visits there. Well, I was also a known face to black marketeers! It was very rare that I go without advance booking but for one movie, I went to the theatre hoping to meet the manager and somehow get in. But sadly, they wouldn’t even let me meet the manager that day. So I was standing outside wondering what to do when this man who had polio and used to sell black tickets smiled at me and asked me if I wanted any tickets. I said I wanted two and asked him how much they are for. He again smiled and said that since he keeps seeing me there regularly, he will give them to me for the normal ticket price! I could not believe what he was saying! From that day, a bond was born between that black marketeer and me.
For this particular theatre, I never bothered about advance booking anymore. Whenever I needed tickets, he was always there, with his walking stick and a great smile. Imagine what this did to my popularity amongst my friends? ? It soared, obviously!
A black marketeer usually does not operate alone. The theatre staff is often involved with this racket. Most of the time, even the police are in cahoots with the whole operation. So if you think that these guys made a killing every Friday, not exactly.
In Mumbai, except Gaiety Galaxy and 24 Karats, I haven’t noticed black marketeers anywhere. Maybe in the distant suburbs and single screen theatres. If you are at the Gaiety Galaxy, watch out for the Anil Kapoor look alike. He is the master mind behind the black tickets and the whole of management is involved in this racket. ;)
At 24 Karats, you will find these guys selling black tickets right in front of the counter. Last time I remember buying a ticket in black was for Ramgopal Varma’s Company at 500 rupees a ticket in some theatre in town.
But slowly, I am sure most of the black ticket sales will slowly vanish, closing a glorious chapter in Indian cinema.
So next time you see someone selling tickets in black, savor and enjoy the moment. Those guys are endangered species. Politicians and thugs need to find another springboard to kick start their career!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
funny (and really eerie) you wrote this.. had just been thinking about this last week.. about how the multiplexes will affect these guys’ business.. you should interview your friend and give us some insider tidbits.
(i remember the anil kapoor lookalike at gaiety too)
this is a great subject to study in management schools.. an interview with black marketeer.. someone should go and get the trade story.. like the mumbai dabbawalas.. this will be a hit..
Why I bought a film for 300 rupees at fame adlabs recently..but ya black markeeers are slowly vanishing….what will those guys do now , am worried, they were like professionals,at convincing people, perhaps they can stand outside the theatre and convince every passerby to watch a particular movie, as they are expert at marketing.. perhaps people will start entering the theatres perhaps a movie will become a grosser because of them..
Today the multiplex owners have become the black marketeers. Any big release and you find the ticket prices gets inflated.
infact i also miss those days of buying tickets in black.
around 7 years back i last time bought a tic in black
i live in delhi,these people have vanished from delhi n whole ncr.
last year i met a blackee(as called here),he said to me he is working in multiplex as a ticket counter boy.
hey this is a big city phenomenon (at least for now)…I remember seeing 4-5 black walas when I went to watch Omkara.
But yeah multiplexes are coming to small cities :((
@Srinivas N
love the ‘Black’ guys.. my life-savers for long, my Friday-Mates (sounds like ‘Dear Thursday’ lol)
coupla queries though –
. RGV’s ‘Company’ was way back, like about 5 years ago.. have you stopped watching First-Day-Shows since, or choose to buy ONLY ‘white’?
. am presuming you have come to know the ‘Anil Kapoor’ look-alike at Gaiety in the last year or two. why is it that you REFUSEd to buy a ticket in ‘Black’, for the fun/nostalgia of it..
. man, how can you NOT remember, in a post that REMINISCES an ‘Endangered Species’, the hall where you watched the last film in ‘Black’? How can you Endanger your Memory to the extent that A particular cinema-hall becomes “some theatre in town”?
They’re Endangered but glad they’re Not Yet Extinct. still see a lot of them around, in Bangalore.
welcome again Srinivas N. looking forward to more posts from you.
@Striker: Sadly I don’t think that guy is still there and its been ages I’ve been there. But next time I visit Hyderabad, I will definitely try to look for him.
@Azad: You hit the bulls eye! Today’s black marketeers are the Multiplex owners themselves! Instead of having a uniform policy on pricing, they are charging obnoxious rates and fleecing the audience. Why doesn’t the government do something instead of giving tax rebates to multiplexes?
@thani: I know the Anil Kapoor look alike much before that. I know I should have remembered the name of the hall, it was either New Empire or New Excelsior. We first went to sterling but for some reason, we decided to check out the other hall…
Well, its a tough choice. Do we want the black marketeers or not…When we actually have to buy tickets from them, we crib…but the thought of them not being around makes you feel sad….