Old theatres, new experience

In the age of multiplexes, which replaced many single screens in the city, especially Cyberabad, Old City still offers a delectable blend of old and new experiences of watching a movie. The experience of watching movies in this part of the city still maintains a charm of the good old times, when theatres were known as talkies

The finest lounge seats, online bookings, seating categories of balconies, boxes and dress circles, separate queues for men and women still exist in the single screens spread across the Old City. The management across a few theatres are trying their best to equip themselves to bring in the latest cinematic experience.

Shama talkies of Jahanuma, that had suspended the screening of movies during the holy month of Ramadan, is back with a bang with the Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Chennai Express’, which expectedly is drawing in crowds by the hundreds. During Ramzan, Shama renovated the premises and introduced online ticketing through popular web portals like bookmyshow.com.

The theatre was partially occupied on Friday, August 9, the first day of the reopening, as people were busy with their festivities and prayers. The theatre which started in 1982, has 715 seats and runs weekly shows of the latest Hindi movies. As Minhaj Hussain, Managing Director, Shama talkies says, “There were only two such occasions in the last two decades when we ran films for 100 days and more – ‘Dilwale’ in 1990’s and ‘ Nikaah’ in 1982. However, films featuring Salman Khan, which have its own appeal, run for a few weeks at a stretch. The fans whistle, howl and freak out at the actor’s dialogue delivery and body language, which is formidable to say to the least, say the theatre staff, who are used to the din created by the delirious film viewers of the area.”

The management affirms that the average occupancy of the theatre has been around 70 per cent and during this period, they expect housefull crowds. It is predominantly preferred by Muslim audiences and hence it does not make much difference to them as they shut shop during the Ramadan period, a practice which began in 1999.

As far as competition goes, the neighbouring Bahadurpura, which has two top theatres – Metro and Sri Rama – attracts viewers keen on viewing both Telugu and occasionally, Hindi films. “The introduction of the HD resolution projectors such as the PXD and equipments like UFO digital projection, an equivalent of PXD, being used by us has altered the viewing experience tremendously,” says the management of the theatres. The Shama management also had featured films exclusively for women in the recent past and had reserved around 12 shows for them. Even now, box space in the theatres is reserved only for women during the release of Hindi films starring leading heroes (read Khans!)