The sign at the entrance is very prominent : "We care about your safety". Thereafter follows a long list of things you cannot carry into the premises. No bags, no bottles, no knives, no (hang on - did I read that right?) foodstuffs. Before you are moved to tears over these pious expressions of solicitude for your safety and welfare, reflect a little on the real motives behind this embargo. And the way the security personnel at the entrance feel you over and pinch your pockets and ask you solicitously : Any chocolates, peppermints? should immediately dispel any doubts about the real intentions behind this pat down - they are making bloody sure you do not carry in any kind of foodstuff into the theatre.
You have already paid a bomb for the tickets. Now be prepared to blow up another bomb inside the multiplex premises if you feel the need to snack - all eatables and drinks are priced 4 to 5 times their original price; well, after all there is the 'international' ambience you have to pay for. It's either that or nothing. You don't really have a choice. You are inside their premises and they have you by the short hairs. Whenever I do go into one of these multiplexes (which is VERY VERY RARE) I simply look incredulously at the rate list and tell myself I am better off holding my taste buds in check until after I have left the premises.
It is not that I find them unaffordable on my purse - it is just the sheer effrontery of the heist that makes me clamp down on my purse and deny the management the satisfaction of having got tyhe better of my good sense and judgment.
But one thing does bother me no end. Not bringing outside eatables into the premises is understandable in restaurants where the main business is the purveyance of food. Under what law do multiplex managements make it applicable in establishments where the main business is the screening of films and snacking is only an incidental pastime? Or is it just a question of money power pushing legal limitations into the dustbin so that they can serve their own ends? And who then can blame the ordinary citizen for showing the finger to these sharks and taking recourse to DVDs for his own private entertainment
