A picture-perfect idea from Iran

As an unexpected outcome of the coronavirus lockdown, Ayatollah-ruled Iran has partly lifted its veil of strict orthodoxy that inhibits social interaction between the genders by allowing the reopening of Tehran’s only drive-in theatre, which has been banned since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, in view of conventional picture auditoriums being shut because of the lockdown, the authorities have permitted drive-in screenings, but only of films carefully vetted so as to preclude objectionable content.

Once a common feature of North America’s suburban socioscape — and referred to as ‘passion pits’ for the same reason that a censorious Iran looked askance at them — drive-ins faced an existential challenge from multiplexes, videos, DVDs and screening devices. In India, such establishments have remained a noddity — a novel oddity — rather than becoming the norm. However, with the post-lockdown compulsions of maintaining social distancing and avoiding centrally climate-controlled venues as potential infection hotspots, drive-ins could become a growth sector everywhere. The desi versions could have spaced-out slots marked for two-wheelers and four-wheelers, and for tractors and bullock carts in rural areas, providing safe big-screen entertainment that wins a unanimous vote of confidence where the eyes have it.