I still remember when i was a kid and my parents took me to watch "Nikaah" well they watched and i cried and that was the day and after that they never took me to a cinema hall to watch a movie again... sigh! those good old times of single screen cinemas... the long ques to get tickets to but the tickets in black or go to the cinema stand in a queue to book tickets.. the days of "Sholay" in cinemascope.. the smell of popcorn which was hardly chewable.., instead of coke there used to be Campa Cola and some veg pattys at best.... and if you were watching it in Connaught Place then a trip to Nirulas was the icing on the cake...in case you were anywhere else in South Delhi then a dinner at Def col market beckoned..
And then came the VCR and hey anyone could shell out rs 50 for rental for a Color TV, VCR and one movie for 3 hours and everyone in the house and neighborhood could gather and watch a movie..All night movie marathons were not uncommon in those days. And if you were affluent enough to buy one imported VCR from someone who had recently traveled to Dubai or HongKong then you could rent movies from the neighborhood video library which were mostly pirated from somewhere in Dubai and sold in Palika Bazaar and before you knew time of the cinema was over ... there was cable tv and you were stuck to 24X7 tv... saas bahu serials and the cable waala showing the latest movie one day before it actually released and there were stories in the Sunday newspapers as how the no of cinema halls were going bankrupt and closing down.. famously the archna cinema only one of the 2 cinema halls which showed english movies the other being Chankya. now Archana houses the ndtv offices. Yes and then we grew up and then there was Priya cinemas and a few years later PVR or Anupam as its now called.. if you were young you had to be seen there. They were the hangout places for all youngsters and if u had not been there then u did not belong in Delhi.
Of course now the times have changed its about star world and HBO and the big bad malls like Select city walk. sigh.. I miss those days....
And then came the VCR and hey anyone could shell out rs 50 for rental for a Color TV, VCR and one movie for 3 hours and everyone in the house and neighborhood could gather and watch a movie..All night movie marathons were not uncommon in those days. And if you were affluent enough to buy one imported VCR from someone who had recently traveled to Dubai or HongKong then you could rent movies from the neighborhood video library which were mostly pirated from somewhere in Dubai and sold in Palika Bazaar and before you knew time of the cinema was over ... there was cable tv and you were stuck to 24X7 tv... saas bahu serials and the cable waala showing the latest movie one day before it actually released and there were stories in the Sunday newspapers as how the no of cinema halls were going bankrupt and closing down.. famously the archna cinema only one of the 2 cinema halls which showed english movies the other being Chankya. now Archana houses the ndtv offices. Yes and then we grew up and then there was Priya cinemas and a few years later PVR or Anupam as its now called.. if you were young you had to be seen there. They were the hangout places for all youngsters and if u had not been there then u did not belong in Delhi.
Of course now the times have changed its about star world and HBO and the big bad malls like Select city walk. sigh.. I miss those days....
Nice post...took me back to my childhood. Absolutely used to travel to Delhi and watch three movies a day on videos.
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Updated again...
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