These Finnkino films always have an intermission – with one group of viewers in the background

According to Finnkino, there is such a large Indian audience in Finland that it is profitable to show Indian films.

Vugranampalli and Biddala were excited about the almost three-hour film.

– This is a Tollywood film, so it’s in our language,” Vugranampalli said.

Telugu is spoken by 74 million people in India. It has its own Tollywood film industry in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Now both Tollywood films and also other Indian films can be watched more and more often in Finnish cinemas.

– This is a typical phenomenon anyway, that immigrants want to see works from their own culture.

A movie theater with red benches and a colorful musical scene playing on the screen. — Indian cinema is often melodrama: spectacular scenes, dancing, singing and big emotions.

The source says that in addition to the Indian population living in Finland, the fact that importers of Indian films have been found in Finland has had an effect on the matter.

According to Lähteisen, Indian films have been shown in Finnish Finnkino theaters more regularly since 2019. The pandemic silenced the market, but starting in 2021, they have been shown from Helsinki to Oulu.

– Helsinki has the largest audiences, but we have tried smaller theaters as well. Distribution to several locations costs us almost nothing.

Indian films always have an interlude

Indian movies are very different from Hollywood movies. According to the source, they are basically always melodrama, i.e. big emotions, music, dance and spectacular scenes.

They are longer than Hollywood productions, about three hours long, and there is always an intermission.

– A break of about ten minutes has already been cut into them. It’s kind of a story stop.

During the interval, the spectators come out of the hall to have fun, go to the bathroom and buy treats.

However, the winds of change may be in the air, because the more than three-hour Hollywood production, *The Brutalist*, which will premiere this spring, has a pre-made intermission everywhere.

The source says that, in general, Finnkino does not want to start cutting films on their own so that viewers can get to the intermission.

– We want to respect the filmmakers’ view of whether the film can be stopped at some point or whether even a long film is meant to be watched in one sitting. This is why we don’t have intermissions in non-Indian films.

Indians are happy to see Finns in the audience

According to the source, the difference compared to other films is also that Indian films are shown for a shorter time.

– While the number of viewers of Hollywood films drops by 30 percent after the first week to the following week, the number of viewers of Indian films drops by 70 percent in a week.

So if you want to see an Indian film, you have to go see it in Finland right away. Indians met at Kinopalatsi say that they watch all Indian films shown in Finland – or at least those made in their own language. There are so many different languages \u200b\u200bin India.

In the dim light of the small movie theater, there are a few people sitting on red chairs. — Indian films often premiere in Finland and India at the same time.

They also say that going to the movies is a way for young people in India to spend time on weekends. They have wanted to continue that in Finland as well.

– Here at the movies, you get the same experience as in India, because we always meet a lot of other Indians. We are also really happy if we see Finns in movies with us, says Nikhitha Vugranampalli.