It’s so amusing to me that neo-bolly writers have so much trouble writing in the interval and complain that it messes up their “structure". Just like they don't know how to incorporate song n dance. It only messes up your structure coz you drank the 3 Act HW Formula koolaid.

Plenty of BW films incorporate the interval beautifully and seamlessly - a format that is unique not only to the bolly canon but also the movie-watching culture. But no, they have to go imitate festival films & HW structure & memorize Robert McKee's dumbass book back to front.

Bolly suffers from the “curse of the second act” so much these days coz they’re trying to split 3 acts into 2 halves, when really it should be 4 specific acts (2 mini-movies) with a resolution/cliffhanger in the middle. Of course we're talking theatrical here, not OTT.

Just coz a white dude didn’t write the book on it doesn’t make BW's traditional structure any less sound. In fact, it's superior. Provides a natural denouement AND dramatic high where many films normally tend to drag. Genius, if done right.

Save the interval. Wish more ppl would learn to write it in - only KJo, Shashank & Ayan do it intentionally. Even YRF does 3 acts now. Most force-fit the intermission as a half-hearted midway point w/out really understanding how the story arcs should rise & fall in both halves.

Of course the other side to this - desi exhibitors shouldn't force unnatural intervals in HW/foreign films. Knives Out was my first experience watching in a BD theater and they literally stopped it in the middle of a dialog in a really intense scene. Don't do that.