INDIA, Dec. 4 -- If you've ever seen a Hollywood film in India, you've probably experienced that surreal moment when the screen abruptly fades to black at the worst possible time. Perhaps it's mid-kiss, mid-chase, mid-dialogue... only for the word INTERMISSION to slam onto the screen. No, Christopher Nolan did not write that. Indian exhibition chains did. And they did it because India loves intervals with a kind of devotion Hollywood simply cannot understand. Let's probe deeper into the concept of the movie intermission.

The intermission itself wasn't born here. Because projectors couldn't run lengthy reels continuously, early movie theatres everywhere had breaks. Hollywood skilfully retired the pause and embraced continuous storytelling...