On Monday evening, Rajnikanth's warm and unparalleled gesture of bringing Robot to Mumbai personally for a special screening for his Bollywood friends culminated in a horrendous mess with the sound being completely disrupted in the 7th reel, leading to a long, embarrassing and unscheduled break just before the crucial climax of the film.

The screening was leading man Rajnkanth and director Shankar's belated but a critical attempt to familiarize Bollywood's who's-who with Robot, which had already swept the nation. Its disruption, during the screening, has hurt the film's crew in both emotional and practical ways.

And now the heads will roll. The team behind Robot plans to sue the chain of threatres and also approach the government to specify quality-control methods to check sound systems in the mutiplexes of Mumbai

Speaking about the evening's nightmarish fiasco, Robot's bitterly disappointed enraged and now redressal-seeking sound designer Resul Pookutty says, "From the time the screening started, I knew there was something seriously wrong. After that I came to know that three sets of speakers were not working. I was so upset that I immediately wanted to stop the screening. But Aamir Khan pacified me, explaining that it would look very improper in front of all these stalwarts to stop the show."

Then Resul's worst fears came true. "After seven reels, with 40 minutes of playing-time to go, the sound collapsed completely. It was a nightmare . Finally when the screening was restored, the sound was worse than before. It was one of the most humiliating evening of my life. I could not sleep the entire night. And now I won't sleep until I receive justice on behalf of all the technicians of Indian cinema, not to mention the average patron who is not aware of the deplorable standards of sound and projection provided by almost all the multiplex chains in Mumbai."

The disappointment and sense of betrayal is so enormous that Resul chokes with emotion while talking. "We(the Robot core crew) had planned the show after seeing the impact it made in the South. Down there, I have fought a relentless battle to change the sound quality in theatres. And now the patrons in the South are so conscious of their rights to get optimum-quality sound and visual value that in Kerala audiences broke seats and disrupted screenings at theatres with sub-standard technical value."

Resul wants to create the same value-awareness among the audiences in Mumbai and a critical step in his fight against sub-standard projection and sound in Mumbai's multiplexes will be to file a RTI before the government.

Says Resul, "After last evening's experience, I have already approached the IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association) on behalf of the sound associations of the Indian film industry. Next I'm filing an RTI (Right To Information) with the government to know what are the yardsticks to follow before multiplexes can be granted licences for operation. Are sound and projection quality a part of the licensing checks?"

Resul won't sit easy until the matter is resolved. "After Slumdog Millionaire and the national and international awards, I, at least have voice about sound in our movie theatres. While in South India the sound-quality in theatres has been drastically upgraded, in the North I am sorry to say that theatres continue to use an inferior technical infrastructure. Sometime smuggled machines are employed. I've often bribed projectionists to do get better job done. During the release of Black, Sanjay Bhansali and I went personally from theatre to theatre to check the sound quality. What we discovered was utterly shocking. Does an average patron who pays Rs150 for a ticket know how he's being cheated? That is why I'm filing an RTI with the government."

Legal action against the multiplex chain, which was behind the Robot team's shame on Monday evening, is also being taken.

Says Resul, "We were already fighting an intense battle against the quality of visuals and sound provided by the multiplexes. After being humiliated and shamed in front of the the film industry on Monday evening it's an all-out battle for our rights and the rights of the cinema-going audience. .Actually what happened on Monday evening was a shame not just for the Robot team but the entire Indian movie industry."

-- Sampurn Wire