‘OLD TIMES’
Some of the old cinemas have been restored and renovated, and the single-screen experience still has its devotees.
In Bengaluru, Mukunda Cinemas still draws crowds — even for early-morning shows before work.
Hundreds lined up before dawn for a recent 6:00 am screening of the latest release of film star Yash, who is hugely popular in India’s Kannada-language cinema.
Santosh, a 47-year-old businessman who uses one name, queued with hundreds of others as crowds set off fireworks outside while waiting for the show.
“Only in the single screen theatres can they take the cinema to the next level, it increases the tradition of cinema,” Santosh said, as cheers and whistles reverberated through the packed hall before the film began.
Veerain Reddy, the third generation of his family running the 50-year-old theatre, said maintaining the establishment “was not an easy task”.
Inflation, rising costs and “so much competition” have made business tough.
“But people who are really passionate are still trying to maintain these single-screen theatres, where people come to watch and celebrate cinema,” he told AFP.
Another survivor in Mumbai — formerly known as Bombay — is the Regal Cinema, an Art Deco hall that opened in 1933.
“The rest of them feel very artificial, commercial, very blingy,” said 23-year-old fan Vanshika. “But Bombay has little places which remind us of the old times.”
