Wassup Hyderabad: These Bengaluru fun-preneurs can help you lounge out and watch a movie of your choice this weekend

A ten-member outfit has organised SteppinOut Movie Nights, which lets you lounge on bean bags and watch movies under the stars — whether it's Home Alone or something way hotter. They're in Hyd now!

One of the screenings organised by SteppinOut Movie Nights

For the young and exciting, every weekend plan inevitably involves a movie — whether it's at home or at the theatre. Bengaluru-based SteppinOut Movie Nights is all about redefining the movie-going experience. Lounge on bean bags, mattresses or chairs under the evening sky, and watch a movie of your choice with your loved ones. While Bengaluru has been experiencing this for over a year, Hyderabad experienced this for the third time, while it debuted in Mumbai on March 26.

Changing the movie-going experience one city at a time, is the ten-member team headed by Sushen Kakkar. "Watching a movie outdoors adds a new dimension, which cannot be experienced in a theatre. You can’t even see the person sitting next to you in a theatre, it’s so dark. But when you’re able to look at the people beside you, laugh at the same jokes — that's the bonding experience we are trying to create," says 25-year-old Sushen, who also advocates the concept of open spaces through this event.

Dream team: The force behind SteppinOut Movie Nights

We are on board and excited about the idea until we hear the ticket pricing — Rs 250 early bird, Rs 350 regular. We pause and ask the obvious question! "A mixture of seating, a LED screen which is 32 feet wide and 16 feet tall, a food section that’s better than most theatres, meeting like-minded people; this isn’t just any movie-going experience. It is a community activity!" exclaims Sushen, establishing that they aren’t trying to recreate the air-conditioned atmosphere.

He wants to build an experience. That is why even the 10 to 12 movies that they put up for voting are the ones which have a nostalgic factor, and not something you’d easily catch on Star Movies. "Like when we screened Home Alone, young parents came with their children to show them what they had watched growing up," says the self-proclaimed movie buff. There are themed nights as well — horror, superheroes and more.

We spent three months going through Facebook analytics to understand our target audience before we set foot in Mumbai
Sushen Kakkar, marketing executive

All this and the company relies purely on social media marketing. How else do you think their Mumbai screening (at Novotel, where the viewers had their backs to the beach) was sold out without them even stepping foot in the city? Now, they have their eyes set on Delhi and Chennai.

Roadblocks faced: As they were young and did not know the legal procedure, they were caught unaware of the No Objection certificates, paying royalties and other processes involved in screening a movie. But that was that. They have always acquired all permits required and rightly say that these are just issues a screening could face

The team have more plans for the future. They want to screen documentaries and support independent filmmakers, which they have already piloted. They also want to explore a more thematic movie experience including food and décor, which could be anything from cosplay to graphic novel superhero movies. The sky is the limit for a concept like this!