Indian film debut for interiors group

Jestico & Whiles has completed interiors for India’s largest cinema multiplex, which opens at the end of June in Gurgaon, near New Delhi. It is the consultancy’s first work in India.

The complex, located in a shopping mall called The Metropolitan, is the first interior-designed cinema in the country, which traditionally relies on rolling out identical, tried and tested formulas, says Jestico & Whiles associate David Perera, who is leading the project.

Jestico & Whiles will also create interiors for a further two multiplexes – a luxury complex in Mumbai in the heart of Bollywood, and an 11-screen cinema in Bangalore, both of which are set to open early next year. They will be modified to suit each site, but retain the design thread started with the Gurgaon complex.

At the Gurgaon site the consultancy has created ‘subtle’ signage to complement the interiors, as well as a two-screen Europa Class cinema complete with its own bar and lounge, the first of its kind in India. It will screen European art-house films, and the main screens will show Bollywood films and mainstream Hollywood blockbusters.

Each of the seven individual auditoria feature acoustic angled walls with concealed lighting, allowing visitors to ‘experience a sense of excitement’ before the film has begun, says Perera.

In the foyer areas, ‘reflections’ is a key theme, mirroring film projectors and cameras. Coloured lights are bounced off white walls and black polished floors, and a stainless steel ocular ceiling sits above the foyer.

Jestico & Whiles won the project without a pitch on the strength of earlier work on multiplexes in Prague after PVR Cinemas, which owns the Indian complex, approached the consultancy.