The three new M's of urban cool

One way of redefining the current notion of urban cool would be to consider the three M's -- shopping malls, multiplexes and multi-cuisine. In fact the galloping spread of suburbia dictates that all the three forms of entertainment go together.

Ajay Biji who started with one multiplex in collaboration with an Australian conglomerate called the Village Roadshow seven or eight years ago, now has 23 screens in Delhi, including a seven-screen multiplex in Gurgaon.

The multiplex invasion he unleashed is now a nationwide phenomenon -- DT, Inox and the Zee-owned Fun Republic are multiplying in far-flung corners of the country and in the unlikeliest places (for instance, the clapped out old Nataraj cinema in Jhandewalan in west Delhi).

Multiplexes are best located in malls, so consider the Gurgaon's five malls will soon grow to about 30 and about a hundred more are due to open in the capital. Something like 50 restaurants have opened in the last six months in Gurgaon's shopping malls.

Like Ajay Bijli, Rohit Khattar is a well-known figure in Delh's entertainment industry. He won his spurs by turning around a business his grandfather originally established in Srinagar. It was a restaurant called Chor Bizarre on Asif Ali Road, an old-fashioned part of town, and it got off the ground because it was funky, bohemian and served good Kashmiri food.

Today Chor Bizarre has multiple avatars, (one in Mayfair, London) has opened two branches in Noida and Gurgaon in the last six months. Khattar was doubtful that his type of restaurant could flourish in a shopping mall but is astounded. "It's doing the best of all the others in town," he says.

Who patronises the 3 M's and, more important, is this rampant growth sustainable? It's not just the young, hip, work-hard-and-play-hard brigade, seduced by the media spotlight on nightlife, that are driving out to suburban malls.

It's actually whole families who want to make a day trip out of the experience rather than a night out. On weekends, sections of the main city empty out to hit the 3 M's -- you can tell from the traffic jams and the fearful parking hassles.

But during weekdays the malls tend to wear a deserted look. There simply isn't enough local customers to sustain the weekend's baccharialia of eating out, film watching and shopping sprees. Delhi's two fastest-growing suburbs -- Gurgaon and Noida -- still aren't big enough, with populations of about 600,000 and 300,000 respectively.

A shakeout is bound to occur, akin to the steady decline in the number of private airlines. Many of the restaurants, bars and nightclubs will close down. Some are already up for grabs. Multiplexes may be the current craze but if, as in Gurgaon, they sprout all over the main street, many of the screens will run empty.

In fact, the multiplex rush in malls has had an interesting fallout in Delhi: large single-seater cinemas that had fallen on hard times are staging a comeback because of being in the right location. The old Plaza in Connaught Place, lovingly restored to its elegant colonial style with acres of Italian marble and red velvet, will soon throw its doors open.

And the owner of Delite cinema in old Delhi has undertaken a massive refurbishing that, together with a new cafe with reserved family tables, has made going out in the raffish Turkman Gate area viable.

Too many malls in the same place could be much of a muchness. Like most parts of the changing urban landscape, they are also badly and thoughtlessly planned. The traffic in Gurgaon's malls is appalling and parking a nightmare.

Squeezing optimum profits out of floor space sales, builders of palace-like malls seem to have forgotten about essentials like parking lots.

Instead of lavishing investment on garish neon and glitzy chrome-and-glass, if the builders collectively created a couple of gigantic car parks or fought for better, wider roads, created parks and open boulevards, their showpieces would be more profitable for being a better public amenity.

The simple concept of making money by offering better value to the customer hasn't yet become part of the new culture of multiplexes and shopping malls. The gold rush for the 3 M's will need serious planning before it takes root.

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