By Col JC Sindhwani (Retd)
The present generation has grown up seeing movies in Multiplexes which offer three to four choices of pictures on the same floor of a Mall. The Malls which have come up in various cities in the country give the visitor almost everything under the sun. Branded goods of all kinds, food courts, children’s games corners and, of course, the Movie Theatres, all in one complex.
So, let’s go back in time and see what was the shape of our Cinemas or Talkies as they were referred to in those early days. We shall start from the Station end of Dehradun and move up north, paying tributes to them. The first Cinema Hall was Laxmi Talkies just outside the Railway Station. It also had the then Delhi Bus Stand very close by, which had just enough space for 3 or 4 buses. This Hall has now given way to a shopping cum office complex. The next Cinema was in the Sabzi Mandi at the southern tip of Paltan Bazaar, the Filmistan Cinema. This one too followed the same path of conversion into a shopping cum office complex.
Moving up one comes to the Cinema Street of Doon, the Chakrata Road, which had five cinemas at one time. The Digvijay Cinema was earlier called Prakash Talkies. This was situated on the first floor opposite the famous Clock Tower, the only one then on a high floor. Next, was the Prabhat Cinema which was a level below the ground level. It was commonly referred to as ‘Khadde wala Cinema’ because of its underground location. The stalls and the cycle stand and eating stalls were here and the Balcony was at road level. Later on, another similar theatre came up opposite, the Krishna Cinema Hall. A little further on was Natraj Theatre, just before Capri Cinema. They all have made way for shopping complexes one by one.
A special mention here of Capri Cinema which was earlier called Amrit Talkies.
Mr Amar Nath Bawa, a smart, enterprising and westernised gentleman took over and gave Amrit Talkies a new name, Capri, and also gave it its first Cinemascope Screen. The entire interior was refurnished and the first ever rolling curtains made of Satin were installed in front of the screen. These would go up and down with accompanying background music before and after the movie show. Quite a novelty in those days. The elegant and stylish Mr Bawa, who was distinguishable as he was the owner of the only Cadillac in town, gave Doon Cinemas a very modern outlook. There were no hawkers allowed inside the hall as was the practice in other halls as soon as interval bells rang.
Next on the list was the New Empire Cinema behind Universal Petrol Pump on Rajpur Road. This was a large hall which also had family boxes for 8 to 10 people, a special seating arrangement. There was a Roller Skating Rink on the first floor, a craze with youngsters. A little distance further up was the popular Odeon Cinema, a very cozy small hall, just the opposite of its neighbour New Empire in size. This theatre screened only English movies. A little more about this later.
Two more Cinemas, Payal and Chhayadeep, came up later behind Odeon, and packed up too like others. Similarly, Kanak Cinema met the same fate. The only old time Cinema in Astley Hall still working and going strong is Orient Cinema. The tickets used to cost Four Annas, front stall, Eight Annas, middle, and one rupee for rear stall. Cycle parking used to be two Annas for the show. Amusing, no? Well, the US dollar was four rupees and British pound Rs 13, those days. Bicycles were the universal mode of transport.
The cinemas those days had a peculiar way of publicising their pictures. Tongas carrying bill boards of the films would go around the town playing music. In between, the announcements on mikes about the coming movies would be made.
And inside the hall you would first see advertisement slides of consumer items, followed by Indian News Review, a news bulletin, and trailers of coming films. Only then would start the main film.
Coming back to Odeon Cinema, the favourite of all school kids, I remember it was often booked by various schools exclusively for their students. Classics like Ben Hur, The Robe, Three Musketeers, Gone with the Wind, Ivanhoe, The Sound of Music, The Ten Commandments, and so many others were screened for us schoolmates from time to time. It was a festival time for us as we used to march in columns from school to Odeon and back to St Joseph’s Academy.
The side perks with main feature films were Cartoons of Micky Mouse, Laurel and Hardy, Marx Brothers and Disney Cartoons. One unforgettable unanimous action by all excited children in the hall used to be the beginning of an MGM movie. The entire lot of children in the hall would join in when the lion roared. Some ending up screaming instead of a loud roar. Simply hilarious times when you recollect those wonderful years in school.
(Sindhwani family migrated to Dehradun in 1947 after Partition and settled down in Dalanwala. They belonged to Sargodha and Multan in West Punjab. The writer did his schooling in St Joseph’s Academy. Joined National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla in 1959 and got commissioned into Regiment of Artillery in 1962 from IMA. Saw action in 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars. Retired in 1992 (voluntarily). He is fond of traveling).
