Temporary cinemas

“Most of us built proper cinema houses in the late 1980s. The building plan of my cinema house was approved in 1987. We have a permanent licence to run this cinema hall but we are not covered under the Master Plan 2021,which is why I can’t upgrade the facilities here,” says Zahoor Ahmed,owner of Hans Cinema. The other cinemas which are still functional are Swaran or Supreme in Vishwas Nagar,Seble on Mathura Road,Lokesh on Rohtak Road and Suraj in Najafgarh.

“When temporary structures were made,back in the 1950s,there were no televisions and we provided a very essential service of entertaining people,” Ahmed says. He shows Hindi movies too at Hans but Bhojpuri films are a bigger draw — which highlights the fact that he still provides a valuable service to an economically weaker segment which is ignored by others. The posters outside the hall advertise the next change,a Bhojpuri film,Hero. “It is a hit film,and we hope it does well,” he says,claiming that Nirhua Rickshawala,another Bhojpuri film,did well in his hall.

According to Ahmed,while they were covered under the Master Plan 2001,they were quietly left out of the Master Plan 2021. With a review on,the cinema owners want the DDA to cover them under the plan. The Lieutenant Governor has asked the land agency to frame a policy for them. A DDA official says they are working on it.

“We all want our land use changed so we can improve our cinema houses,set up food courts and other commercial facilities. We still have a Russian projector that works manually as it makes no sense upgrading technology without improving the building. It is only the love of cinema which makes me run this hall since I am making no profits from this,” says Ahmed.

Manjit Singh Seble,owner of Seble Cinema,says his father started with temporary cinemas after the Partition. “We used to hire chairs to seat people. These cinema houses used to function for only six months at a place and then move elsewhere. One of our cinemas used to function where Hyatt Regency stands today. The then Prime Minister,Indira Gandhi,once happened to pass by and asked for a policy to be made for us. In the 1970s,we were given licences for three years and told we would be given permanent licences if we met all infrastructural requirements. But this didn’t happen,forcing us to approach the High Court. The court ruled that as long as we fulfilled certain terms we should be given permanent licences,” Seble says,who also owns Raj Cinema near Tilak Nagar which is no longer functional. “We couldn’t keep it running because it wasn’t profitable. Cinema houses with a 1,000 seating capacity are no longer viable,” he says.

Seble remembers the first movie shown in the hall,Haridarshan,on June 1,1975. Now they show the latest movies but a balcony ticket is still cheap at Rs 50. “Even if we upgrade our cinema hall,we will continue catering to the poorer sections of society. We will keep out ticket rates reasonable no matter what,” says Seble.