Image courtesy: Prachi Mishra.
Dehradun:
"When I walked down the streets of Mussoorie or Dehradun, something seemed to be missing and it took me a while to realise what it was and now I know it's the old cinema halls," mused author Ruskin Bond, a great movie buff. He added: "Those that I grew up with in Dehradun, those I lived with in Mussoorie through the '50s and '60s and early '70s... the buildings are still there but they have been closed, shut-up or turned into something else."
Mussoorie, today's raffish town, was once home to seven theatres. Films premiered in Delhi's Odeon Cinema found simultaneous release in one or the other of the seven cinema halls. Towards the late 1990s, all that would change. All that remained of the cinema halls were crumbling hoardings and memories of a better day. With the shift in the sands of time, the owners found the balance sheet going askew where income and expenditure just did not match. And the curtains came down on all these theatres and a part of our past was devoured by plain market economics.
This month, all that is set to change. The unrelenting effort of three locals - Rajat Aggarwal, Sandeep Sawhney and Rajat Kapoor - have brought back a glimpse of the golden era. The latest in the world of movie theatres, the Ritz Cinema, stands exactly where once the Majestic (and reincarnated as the Vasu Theatre) stood tall. Two years in the making, Mr Aggarwal described it as: "Two auditoriums with a capacity of 89 seats each, state of the art cinema hall to compete with the best in the India along with a 2K latest projection system with latest servers and a 7.1 Dolby channel JBL sound and surround sound, including provisions for 3D movie complete with concession and cafe area, is set to wow the town."
"Hopefully it will provide the much needed source of entertainment to the local populace as well as the tourists coming to Mussoorie. Especially the school kids and their parents, who will not have to rush down to Dehradun to watch movies every time there is a school outing," added Mr Sawhney.
For old-timers, especially movie goers, the new theatre brings back nostalgic memories of the golden era as the curtains raise for the very first time this July.
Mussoorie, today's raffish town, was once home to seven theatres. Films premiered in Delhi's Odeon Cinema found simultaneous release in one or the other of the seven cinema halls. Towards the late 1990s, all that would change. All that remained of the cinema halls were crumbling hoardings and memories of a better day. With the shift in the sands of time, the owners found the balance sheet going askew where income and expenditure just did not match. And the curtains came down on all these theatres and a part of our past was devoured by plain market economics.
This month, all that is set to change. The unrelenting effort of three locals - Rajat Aggarwal, Sandeep Sawhney and Rajat Kapoor - have brought back a glimpse of the golden era. The latest in the world of movie theatres, the Ritz Cinema, stands exactly where once the Majestic (and reincarnated as the Vasu Theatre) stood tall. Two years in the making, Mr Aggarwal described it as: "Two auditoriums with a capacity of 89 seats each, state of the art cinema hall to compete with the best in the India along with a 2K latest projection system with latest servers and a 7.1 Dolby channel JBL sound and surround sound, including provisions for 3D movie complete with concession and cafe area, is set to wow the town."
"Hopefully it will provide the much needed source of entertainment to the local populace as well as the tourists coming to Mussoorie. Especially the school kids and their parents, who will not have to rush down to Dehradun to watch movies every time there is a school outing," added Mr Sawhney.
For old-timers, especially movie goers, the new theatre brings back nostalgic memories of the golden era as the curtains raise for the very first time this July.
