Apsara 35mm (Charminar)

For residents around Charminar, Apsara, along with Menaka 35mm, provides the prevailing range of Telugu films, at very affordable prices. But if you value your life more than money, you wouldn't watch a film here even if there is a 100% waiver on the ticket. And if you manage to sit through the movie despite the intermittent fade-ins and fade-outs caused by random power cuts, manage to hunt down at least a dozen unrelenting flies, and fend off the flagrant comments of other viewers, you ought to quit your job and enroll for AXN's Fear Factor.

Apsara is one of the many theaters in Hyderabad lacking in basic infrastructural and cinematic paraphernalia, and yet manages to draw scores of people for its movies from the nearby areas of Shah-Ali-Banda, Jahanuma and Charminar. The freedom this hall grants is unparalleled - you can park your vehicle anywhere in the bylanes adhering to the halls' boundaries, smoke your stick anyplace in the auditorium, add your own special effects (laser beams, mobile tones etc.), sprawl your legs over your neighbor's neighbor, and spit anywhere, except on the screen (for God's sake, you're here to watch the movie!).

I haven't dared to go to the loos - you can try, though. Sit through any movie, and $50,000 is waiting for you at AXN.