18 July 2024
Capturing India’s Single-Screen Cinemas
"So since single-screen cinema had a 1000 seats
So 700 to 1200 seatein thi usme, toh uss zamane mein housefull ho bhi jata tha
Toh iss tadad mein log aate bhi the
Ek cinema used to have these bunch of ancillary businesses that used to flourish
Chahe woh paanwala ho, chahe woh naee ki dukan ho, chahe woh chaiwala ho, juice wala ho, bakery ho, joote ki dukan ho jaisa bhi ho
Kyunki jab aadmi ruka hua hain film ke liye, toh inn sab cheezon ka woh sewan kar leta hain
Toh ek, jaise chaiwale mile the humko, Poona mein mile the, Cinema tut chuka tha
Toh kehte the ki ""Bhaiyya jab cinema chalta tha, usme hazaar seatein thi""
""Aur jab nayi badi film aati thi, toh panch panch show the""
""Toh aap samajhiyein ki panch hazar log roz iss cinema mein andar bahar kar rahe the""
Kehte, ""Uss zamaane hum log hazaar litre doodh khareedte the, itni chai banti thi""
""Aaj ek litre bhi bhaari padta hain""
So kaha.. he said we used to make daily 20,000 cups of tea a day
Now, ""Koi aa gaya toh badi baat hain, chulha jala denge..."""
On Episode 7 of Season 3 of our podcast “Talk in the Town”, we sit down with Hemant Chaturvedi, a former Bollywood cinematographer turned passionate documentary photographer. Mr. Chaturvedi is on a remarkable mission to document and preserve an integral part of India’s cultural heritage that is vanishing: the single-screen cinema theatres.
Since 2019, he has embarked on an incredible journey, travelling more than 50,000 kilometres across 22 states. Along the way, he has visited over 950 towns to capture photographs of more than 1,150 single-screen cinema theatres before they are lost forever to multiplexes and urban development. These architectural and cultural icons, once vibrant community spaces, are now rapidly disappearing, leaving behind stories of a bygone era.
In Part 1 of this podcast, Mr. Chaturvedi talks about his personal journey of breaking into and away from Bollywood to eventually produce one of the most essential stories of India’s urban transformation. Part 2 delves into the socio-economic and cultural implications of losing these theatres, shedding light on memory, architecture, and what it means for urban heritage to fade into oblivion.