Cinema ads and ‘Sattarbhai’

I remember when movie ads were in black-and-white, cartoon-sized and there was a full page of them hidden inside the morning dailies. Not like today. When a new Bollywood release comes as a full-page glossy color jacket on Friday hiding the hitherto sacrosanct front page of the paper. There used to be multiple releases on a Friday. And cinema aficionados were spoiled for choice. The theatres in which these movies ran were all single-screen. They had three shows only. This meant movies often ran for up to 25 weeks without change before everybody saw them. ‘Housefull’ boards and black marketeers running thriving businesses outside were a common sight. Today, we have multiplexes with six screens and shows starting as early as 6 am and as late as midnight. Most movies run out of audiences and find it hard to survive beyond the opening week as a result.

There used to be a dark, shady character known as ‘Sattarbhai’ who was the equivalent of today’s BookMyShow. Nobody knew or ever met ‘Sattarbhai’. He was just a telephone number. You called the number. Your call was cut. And ‘Sattarbhai’ called back in 5 minutes. A gruff, no-nonsense voice. You told him what movie you wanted to see, which show, and where. He would deliver the ticket to your house. Or ask you to collect it from outside the theatre where his man would be waiting. For the first day, the first show tickets, ‘Sattarbhai’ charged a premium of 100 rupees a ticket. It was a hush-hush operation that ran smoothly. With the introduction of multiplexes and booking online, ‘Sattarbhai’ disappeared. Just like the full newspaper page of black-and-white cinema ads of yesteryear…

About Mark Manuel

The above thoughts/content has been proudly copied from the wall of Sir Mark Manuel. Being interviewing almost every role model of this country and going stronger each day. Mark Manuel is a respected Mumbai editor, writer, and columnist.

With over three decades of journalism in leading publications. This includes the Free Press Journal, Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Mid-Day, and Afternoon. He is famous for his brilliant pen interviews. He himself is a TEDx speaker.

Further

His interviews have been featured in several leading media houses. They include the Hindustan Times, Huffington Post, BBC, and Network 18. Almost every famous person has been interviewed by him in the country from Mother Teresa to Muhammad Ali. His first book is just out. It’s titled Moryaa Re! It is a crime thriller that is perhaps the country’s first police procedural. He began his career covering crime. And in a tribute to his experience and knowledge of this beat.

Several distinguished officers of the Mumbai Police and its Crime Branch collaborated with him to make this book possible. Amitabh Bachchan wrote the forward in a statement of friendship for Mark Manuel and admiration for his work.

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