Curtain call: Cinema's old-world charm

There was a time when going to the movies was not just about what was on the silver screen. It was an experience that included long queues in front of theatres with ornate facades and regal interiors,

Dec 15, 2018, 11:20 IST6 min

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CHENNAI: Batcha theatre (once popular as Minerva), on Davidson Street, completed 100 years in 2016. The theatre is currently being renovated and may reopen early next year.

Image by P Ravikumar for Forbes India

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CHENNAI: The 77-year-old Casino Theatre in Annasalai, which started as a venue for plays, now screens only Telugu films. Earlier, however, it screened predominantly English films.

Image by P Ravikumar for Forbes India

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CHENNAI: The red-and-black mosaic tiles of the lobby, of the 77-year-old Casino Theatre in Annasalai

Image by P Ravikumar for Forbes India

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KOLKATA: Built in 1883, Star Theatre was a venue for plays and was originally located on Beadon Street it is now on Bidhan Sarani. It was one of the first places to screen motion pictures in Kolkata. Even now plays are staged here at least twice a week.

Image by Subrata Biswas for Forbes India

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KOLKATA: Minerva Theatre was built in 1893 as a venue for plays and staged William Shakespeare’s Macbeth as its maiden production

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KOLKATA: Mitra Cinema on Bidhan Sarani is 87 years old, and started with the screening of Dena Paona, the first film from New Theatre studio. In 1963 the cinema was bought over by Hemonta Krishna Mitra and renamed after the family name

Image by Subrata Biswas for Forbes India

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BENGALURU: The Vijayalakshmi Theatre in Mahadevpura has stopped screening movies for the past five years. In its better days, this single-screen theatre showed English films, with the 1969 Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif-starrer Mackenna’s Gold being one of its hits. The theatre will soon be demolished

Image by Nishal Lama for Forbes India

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BENGALURU: Inside Sandeep Theatre at Shivaji Nagar stand rows of numbered cases meant to hold celluloid reels

Image by Nishal Lama for Forbes India

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BENGALURU: Movieland, the 70-year-old theatre in Gandhi Nagar, is one of the last few surviving single screens and still manages to run house-full shows sometimes. It mostly screens Telegu movies

Image by Nishal Lama for Forbes India

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BENGALURU: Inside the box-office at Movieland

Image by Nishal Lama for Forbes India