Tribhuvan and Kailash, the age-old cinemas in Gandhinagar, Bangalore, are next in line to be demolished. Both cinemas were prime locations for new Kannada film releases and have always been reminiscent of the good old days—high seating-capacity and that charm that one doesn’t find in multiplexes. One may even remember the large cardboard cut outs of the actors that stood adjacent to the buildings. Sadly, both cinemas would stop screening on Thursday, 27 April.
Jnaneshwara Aithal, the leaseholder of both cinemas told The Hindu that the move was inevitable as the collections were dwindling.
“We cannot match the facilities offered by multiplexes in a single-screen theatre,” he said.
Single screen cinemas are vanishing from the city. K G Road in Gandhinagar had the most number of cinemas per square mile—this remains nothing but a memory at the moment. Many of the cinemas in the area were demolished in the name of development.
Dattatri (60) joined Tribhuvan as the manager when he was in his twenties. An emotional Dattatri told the The Hindu, “People have changed. Demands of the present generation are different and difficult to fulfill.”
What’s disappointing is that the staff of 40 will have to find new jobs after Thursday. As several single screen cinemas continue to shut down, what’s important to note is that everybody cannot afford to watch a film at multiplexes. Perhaps, some of these cinemas must offer tickets at subsidized rates to at least grant people the freedom of choice. Fame Shankarnag does this to an extent.
