A quick tour of the movie halls showed deserted ticket counters with balconies and lower stalls being the worst hit.

Says Ashwini Malhotra, manager of Piccadily cinema, currently showing the Aamir Khan hit "Sarfarosh", "one third of the crowd has not shown its face to us ever since the cricket began". The theater, with a seating capacity of 400 in the balcony, had 265 people for the late night show. And the upper stall, seating 460, had just 159 people, on the opening day of the mega event when Engalnd played against Sri Lanka.

The figures are no better for the other shows either. He predicts that the figures have only one way to go and that is down, as the World cup action hots up.

Manjit Singh, booking clerk of Dhillon cinema says that about 50 per cent people have not come to the hall since the World Cup began. The worst hit shows are the evening and night shows.

Manager of KC theatre, Khan, swings a standard line "farak to parta hi hai" to talk about the situation, a line which finds many takers.

Says Sanjay Vashisht, an executive: "Who wants to drive all the way when you have excellent World Cup action beamed right inside your home yaar!" His wife has been after him to take her to see "Sarfarosh" but this typical cricket junkie hasn't obliged so far.

Similar is the case with the Mehras, who simply do not leave the set when cricket is on. The entire family sits glued to the TV and relies mainly on home deliveries to survive. Their neighbours, who went all the way to Panchkula to visit friends and plan a movie, came away disappointed as any talk was substituted by the Indian vs South Africa match. They talk of the peoples' apparent disinterest in everything, including cinema, once the match is on.

The youngsters too, are wildly in love with cricket. Pitti, a college-going girl says: "I wanted to see the match, but my friends dragged me here."However, the 3 pm show at Kiran cinema, showing "Stepmom" today was sold out. "It just fizzles down to how nice is the movie," says Vishal, a B. Com final year student.

Says a cricket enthusiastic: ``There is likely to be luke worm response to the movies hall till June 20 when the curtain goes down on the World Cup.''