It’s curtains on movie screenings at Chandigarh’s Kiran Cinema
On Thursday, the iconic Kiran Cinema in Chandigarh’s Sector 22 also joined the league of fading away theatres, with the owner deciding to stop screening of movies
Standing tall with their imposing structures, single-screen theatres were City Beautiful’s star attractions until the early 2000s, attracting long queues of passionate movie buffs.
With advent of multiplexes, however, they died a slow death, gradually shutting down one by one.
On Thursday, the iconic Kiran Cinema in Sector 22 also joined the league of fading away theatres, with the owner deciding to stop screening of movies.
While the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee (CHCC) has allowed the owner to construct two commercial floors without demolishing the outer facade, it previously had rejected their proposal to convert the building into a multiplex.
Citing that Sector-22 is a heritage sector and the theatre itself was designed by Le Corbusier’s associate Maxwell Fry in 1956, the committee had said such buildings cannot be demolished and can only be adaptively reused.
The owners then submitted a proposal to permit commercial operations, while choosing to cease movie screenings, already stalled since 2019.
There are 200 seats in the theatre, located in the city’s oldest sector and owned by Delhi-based businessman Chetan Gupta. Between 1996 and 2005, it stuck to the risky but ultimately profitable idea of screening only popular Hollywood hits such as Titanic, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and James Bond movies.
It was also one of the first places in Chandigarh to screen the live telecast of the 2002 Football World Cup.
Shutters already down on five other theatres
Save Neelam Theatre in Sector 17, shutters are already down on other single-screen theatres in the city.
Three of these were in central Sector 17 — KC Theatre, Anand Cinema and Jagat Theatre.
Anand Cinema was the first to close down in the early 80s over some violations after screening only one movie.
It was the end of show for KC Theatre in 2005, following its owner Ashok Kumar’s long-fought battle with the UT administration to convert it into a multiplex. The complex was eventually brought down.
As for Jagat Theatre, it was converted into a mall in 2015 after a six-year battle over building bylaws.
Neelam Theatre still occasionally screens a couple of shows to mostly empty seats.
Two other theatres – Nirman in Sector 32 and Batra in Sector 37 – also ended operations in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
“For more than a decade, we have been requesting the UT administration to allow us to make some changes to the buildings, but all our requests have been turned down. Today, all single-screen cinemas have closed, resulting in substantial losses for owners and revenue loss for the government,” said Naresh Batra, owner of Batra Theatre and president of Single-Screen Cinema Association, Chandigarh.
Designed by architect HS Chopra, land for Batra Theatre was purchased for ₹27 lakh through an auction in 1977. It was opened three years later in 1980. It had a seating capacity of around 1,500, but closed in 2014 amid stiff competition from multiplexes.
Inspired by Corbusier’s architectural style, the 984-seater Nirman Theatre began functioning in the early 1980s. It was previously owned by the Gulati family and changed ownership multiple times. A fire in 2012 led to its closure.
Manmohan Singh, former chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), believes that the UT administration should adopt a pragmatic policy and adapt to the times.
“These buildings can be utilised for various activities without altering their character. Promoters should focus on developing the buildings based on their locations rather than solely considering the floor area ratio (FAR),” he opined.
Sole survivor also struggling to stay afloat
The only one still in operation, Neelam Theatre was designed in the early 1950s by architect Aditya Prakash under the guidance of Pierre Jeanerret. It is presently owned by former Punjab minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon and has a seating capacity of 850 seats.
“We are suffering huge financial losses despite screening latest movies with affordable ticket prices. Most of the time, we are forced to cancel the show as only three to four customers show up,” said Dhan Bahadur, manager of the theatre.
