Gaurav sent an early morning news snippet in our Friends WA group. It said “Cauvery” theatre will be shut down and it will make way for a commercial complex”. The post received a sad emoji from all of us and was active after months of silence. My friends pulled my leg (I'll talk about that later) and we all recalled how we went to Cauvery theater to watch Kaante, but ended up watching a Saikumar starter Kannada movie, missing to check what was running for Morning show😊.
For a moment, my mind wandered through two decades of my pensive
reserves of the happy association I had with Cauvery theatre. Of course, this is not a new trend in Namma
Bengaluru, we’ve been used to Individual theatres in the city shutting shop
since a decade now. I’ve written in past about many of the once prominent theatres
like Adarsha, Kino, Uma, Symphony, Plaza, Galaxy and many others on KG road. But Cauvery is a special case for me. It is
close to my home, my school, college and hence to my heart! If you’re a movie
buff and you’re a proud namma Bengaluru resident since early 90s, then you’ll
have a fair idea on what our city has lost on the entertainment front.
Cosmo culture
If you think Bangalore has turned multi-ethnic after the IT
uprising, then you are off beam. Bangalore’s cosmopolitan culture dates to
early and late 80s. While Hyderabad and Chennai play vernacular movies to a
greater extent even today, Bangalore has been offering a rich, diverse and
extravagant movie experience from ages. Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and even
Bengali & Malayalam movie fans have cherished their moments inside a
Bangalore theatre. Remember, those were the days, Mallus and Bongs were not flocking to namma Bengaluru in search of jobs and their numbers were very limited.
No Language wars in our talkies
Unlike today, the Sandalwood movie industry’s cries that “we
don’t get screens for vernacular movies” were just non-existent; because those
were the days where Kannada movie industry was at its peak. Those were the days
when Kannada movies ran to packed houses for one to two years and were remade in all
other Indian languages, thanks to rich Kannada literature adaptations, great
musicians, directors and lyricists. I fondly recall how my dad narrated his movie watching chronicles; Annavru’s Veerakesari was the first ever movie
aired in Navarang and how he had bunked college to watch it, only to be caught
by a neighborhood uncle next to his seat.
Cinema - Now and then
Along with movies, our movie going experience also has seen
a radical makeover. Thanks, but no thanks to OTT! Those were the days where
movie going was merriment. It was exciting for every middle-class family. The
reason was very simple: It was the ultimate sort of entertainment for us. There
was no internet; no IPL and no 200+ entertainment channels on television. And
there were no mobile phones to be hooked onto for 10+ hours a day. If I tell
any millennial kid that I have watched English movies in Sangam, they might get
judgmental. But, yeah, true story! I still remember the ecstasy of watching
English Movies like Jurassic Park, Jumanji, and a few other sci-fi thrillers in
Sangam.
Just like movies, the movie theatres were also equally
special. Not just because of movies, it would also mean a bunch of other things
followed by a movie. A good movie in the KG road/Majestic area would be
followed by Lunch @ Kamat, if it was Urvashi, it would mean, lunch at MTR, movie
in Navrang would always be accompanied by a visit to uncle’s place and so on.
My favorites were Galaxy and Symphony because it’d be followed by ice cream at
Lakeview, MG road and a chance to play in lifts at dad’s office. I still recall
those movie going experiences because of such small pleasures. This is one of
the reasons why I still remember watching movies in Puttanna in Jayanagar,
Geetanjali in Malleshwara or Uma theatre. I got introduced to Rajni saar’s
fandom in Kino, watching Arunachalam! Oh man, I can go on and on!
Cauvery memory
Talking specifically of Cauvery, for me, 2nd show movie meant only Cauvery. Watching movie at Cauvery was affordable compared to paying heavy parking fee at any of the
Multiplexes. A torino (Remember “The Only” soft drink of yesteryears?) shared
between me and my sister was, by far was more enjoyable compared to pre-booking
nachos and Popcorn combos in PVR. My dad getting tickets to home and taking us
was more exciting than today’s booking tickets online. I can never forget my
first movie date disaster with my college crush **winks**. It was Hrithik
Roshan starrer Aap Mujhe Acche Lagne Lage, was again in Cauvery theatre. When I
drive through today’s eternally jammed Windsor-Mekhri stretch, I recall how Cauvery junction, without the BDA's engineering marvel called Magic box underpass, had traffic jams only when a movie show was just over and people would come out of theaters.. Be it Bollywood movie with Wife
and friends or Puneet Rajkumar’s family entertainer with family, the preferred cinema
hall was always Cauvery.
 |
| Cauvery Theater |
Even to this day, all my school friends prefer individual theatres to watch a movie because we enjoy audience’s satirical comments in an individual theatre like Cauvery more than our corporate audiences’ silence in multiplexes. This post is incomplete without mentioning theatres of KG road. While Sagar played Hindi blockbusters like DDLJ and Hum Aapke hain Kaun, Tribhuvan played English flicks. Plaza, Adarsha, Swagath, Lido, Shanti, Pallavi, Kino, Nanda and so many other theatres appear in front of my eyes if I think of movie halls in Bangalore. Today, most of these have succumbed to the real estate roar.
Storylines and narratives in movies of today have changed, the city is changing and so are the movie watching experiences. From watching an early morning show for fans to Netflix and chill, a lot of things have changed. But the fact remains that in the necklace of Bangalore’s cosmopolitan entertainment, so many pendants are missing and many others are in the verge of getting lost. Alas, a true Bangalorean will miss them forever!
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