A still from the VR short film The Golden Ray, shot in Jaisalmer, from Enlighten’s The Unnamed Guide series

Last Monday evening, we waited in line at Bombay Art Society's curious-looking building at Bandra Reclamation to be among the first to watch three virtual reality (VR) short films. In total, the films are nine minutes long; we are asked to wait for 45 minutes for our turn on the VR kit. As we chat with others in the queue, a young Symbiosis media graduate, in his early twenties, confidently claims that it’s just going to be a matter of months before VR becomes the next big thing with the city’s filmmaking and film-going folk. As we observe the line (not bad for a public holiday on Ganesh Utsav), we wonder if he is right. It is not just the young film enthusiasts who are around; bouncy children, the elderly and silk-clad couples who have returned from the day’s puja activity are part of the motley crowd.