Talking on phone, scrolling Instagram, taking selfies, and dancing: We’ve all been subjected to unruly behaviour in cinema halls – some of us might even be guilty of doing these ourselves. Stand-up comic Neeti Palta channels the quintessential obnoxious cinegoer

Cinemas are experiencing their best summer ever, with ticket sales reaching a record high. However, along with the audience, poor etiquette has also returned to halls – from dancing and singing to making reels and even setting off crackers!

Cinema managers and ushers say that it now seems like an unreasonable expectation that people will not take calls during the show. “We already display an appeal before the film to not use phones during the show. Do we now need to put up signs that say ‘Don’t Sing and Dance’ too? Isn’t it basic cinemagoing etiquette,” asks a baffled Delhi cinema hall manager.

It’s not just us desis, the problem is there in the west too, as was evident when a senior American journalist tweeted, “People getting on their phones during long movies in the movie theater seems to be happening much more frequently and I personally think there’s a serious internet addiction problem that we as a culture have yet to articulate let alone address.”

Many celebs are even encouraging people to share photos and videos from cinema halls, and social media fees are full of photos and reels from theatres.

Anubhav Saxena, 32, a data analyst, says, “When I went to watch Gadar 2, in front of me was a group and it seemed like the girlfriend was meeting her boyfriend’s mother for the first time. They were taking videos and photos with flash and talking loudly throughout the film. Aren’t there better places to meet parents? During a Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani show, two men kept talking about how they identify with Ranveer Singh’s character. Despite multiple shushes, they continued to chatter and laugh.”

Kiran Bakshi, 36, an artist, shares, “People can just ruin your entire movie experience. I watched Pathaan in Bengaluru and people were making videos and dancing. I missed going to the movies during the pandemic, but I had also forgotten how rowdy people could get and it seems to be much worse post-pandemic. If you can’t focus for a three-hour movie, then stay at home and watch movies on TV.”

Jyoti Madaan, 27, who works in a pharma company, says, “There was a scene from Oppenhiemer which was widely shared on social media. When we were watching the film, as soon as that scene came, so many hands holding phones went up to capture it. I’ve also seen people blocking the screen to make videos with flying kisses and heart poses. It was bad before the pandemic too, but now it’s worse.”

Aman Gupta, 26, a sales coordinator, says, “I remember during a Pathaan show, people were dancing and filming themselves. They kept shouting ‘I love you Shah Rukh Khan.’ We missed many crucial moments in the film because of that. It also continued during the Besharam Rang song.”

Some people seem to think that since they’ve paid for their ticket, they have the right to use their seat however they want, including using it as a bed. Neeti Kashyap, 28, a beautician says, “I recently went for a 9 pm show of Barbie. The lights had barely gone out when the man beside me started snoring loudly and stayed that way till the end. His girlfriend didn’t even wake him up. If it were not for the subtitles, I would have missed the entire film.”