The customer that approached the management at the Stadium 10 Cinemas had a request that very few in the office had ever heard of before.
Why not introduce “Bollywood” into the normal rotation – the official name films from India that usually include Hindi language to cater to the growing ethnic population in the Central Valley?
That’s exactly what the Manteca Marketplace Stadium 10 – now part of the Santa Rosa Entertainment Group – decided to do.
“We haven’t had a whole lot of interest in the Bollywood movies, but a big part of that is that the word hasn’t really gotten out to those who would enjoy it,” said theater manager Becky Burgthole. “We’re hoping that once word spreads among the Indian community then we’ll have something that they’ll be able to enjoy right here in their own town.”
According to Burgthole, several moviegoers that have taken advantage of the foreign films have expressed their gratitude – noting that that they had previously been forced to drive to the Bay Area to see films on the silver screen or resort to waiting for the movies to come out as rentals.
With the majority of the movies have Hindi subtitles, the genre itself is aimed at those who can appreciate not only the foreign-language but the style of the movies as well. It is a style that theater employee Matt Castle says isn’t all that different from the Mumbai-based “Slum Dog Millionaire” that won numerous Oscar’s despite the majority of the script and the story being in English.
“There are parts of the movies that are very explosive, and the plots of the movies are well thought out and take some time to dissect and understand,” Castle said. “It’s really like the true ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ and that makes the people who have been waiting for these films very happy.”
The cost of the foreign films is slightly higher than the blanket $3 entry fee that the theater charges. Burgthole is hopeful that this is just the first in a series of special engagements that will help the theater truly become something that is representative of the community as a whole – evidenced by the request for the Bollywood films that were added to the regular circulation.
“We’re not sure what that next step will be, but we really want this to be a community theater where people can enjoy the movies they want to see,” she said. “That’s the goal that we’re striving for right now.”
The Manteca Marketplace Cinemas 10 is located at 1321 W. Yosemite Avenue. For more information, or for showtimes, call 239-3456.
