The interval was Indian cinema's greatest invention: a built-in pause to argue about the first half.
Now the argument never stops, because the film never really starts. We watch movies in 90-second chunks, pre-reviewed by strangers, spoiled by edits set to trending audio. By the time you enter the theatre, you've already seen the best scenes and the worst takes.
The price of being surprised
Something is lost when nothing is allowed to unfold. The slow first act, the patient setup — these aren't flaws to be optimised away. They're the price of being surprised.
The interval used to split a story in two. Reels have split it into a thousand pieces, and no samosa break can put it back together.