In a recent interview, actor Siddhu Jonnalagadda opined that the intermission 'panchayati' is why the second half sees a slump in Indian cinema. He suggested that almost all Indian movies have a relatively weaker second half because the interval is an artificial bifurcation of a single film. "A major writer recently told me that nothing can be done about it," Siddhu said.
Netizens have largely agreed with him. "Hollywood movies don't have this artificial separation. Which is why those films don't suffer from the second half syndrome," a movie buff wrote.
Is this a fact of cinematic life and there is no solution? Santosh Eppalapally comes up with a suggestion. "Give more theatrical share to theatres and make them sign deals to not have an intermission. It's possible if you have intent. That percentage cut can be easily offset if you can make great content with your no-intermission script," he says.
But that would truly require a set of visionaries sticking to their conviction for an extended period of time. Decades of movie habits don't end in a few years. Also, we can't think of a song-less mainstream commercial movie. Most of our movies don't have a proper story; we need fights and songs and an interval bang to separate two artificial halves.
