We are all prisoners here
Recently, this diarist was at one of the newly revamped single-screen cinemas watching an old Marx Brothers’ classic, The Ducks Soup. It was a night show and there were hardly any other people in the audience. What struck the diarist as odd and even a tad scary was not catching a movie at a near-empty theatre, but the fact that the theatre had pulled down all its shutters while the screening was underway. The gates didn’t even open during the intervals. It was only once the movie was over did the guard appear and unlock the gates. Apart from making the patrons feel like prisoners, we think this practice is potentially dangerous. Although, the officials do not allow people to smoke inside the premises (they don’t even allow people to go out to light a cigarette during the interval...talk about being strict disciplinarians), what if a fire erupts or some other kind of emergency situation occurs? The patrons here are at the mercy of the gatekeeper.

A 1977 picture of Australian batsman David Hookes PIC/Getty Images