ABOUT ME

I am Lakshita Chahar, from Rajasthan. Currently, I am a student

of Ambedkar University of Delhi, pursuing Master’s in History. I
did my Bachelors in History from Miranda House, Delhi
University. I strongly believe that history writing is much more
than facts. It is a way of understanding the present through
past, as Historian Romila Thapar said. History is a medium for
different communities and groups to present themselves. With a
passion for History, I aspire to contribute something useful in
the history writing of India.

ACKNOWLEDMENTS
In the start, I would like to thank Anand Foundation for giving
me this opportunity. This internship has really helped me in
developing research and interview skills. I am also grateful to
Mr. Sohail Hashmi, Vibhas Verma, P.N. Khanna & Mrs. Sunita
Khanna for sharing their valuable inputs and experiences. And
in the end, I would like to thank my professors of Miranda
House, Miss Bharati Jagannathan & Miss Radhika Chadha for
getting me in touch with the right people for my field work.
Without all these people, it would not possible to complete .
INTRODUCTION

Figure 1 Delite Cinema Hall

All overthe world, we human beings are in deeplove with the cinema. From
being the source of entertainment, it has become a part of our life. It has
become a way of expressing both for oneself as well as communities. Before the
coming of ‘cinema’ in its present form, there were theatres, which performed
plays in different parts of the country. Theatre (in its present form) came with
the arrival of thePortuguese in India,in late 15 th and early 16th century, who
through theatre propagated Christianity. Gradually, these theatre companies
developed in India and the most prominent among them was Parsi theatre
group. It had its branches almost all over India.

In the early 20th century, theatres also began spreading across North India. The
prominent language of theatre here, was the combination of Hindi and Urdu,
which is Hindustani. Theatre was famous among all sections of society,
irrespective of class. As we know it was a major source of entertainment in
those days and was also affordable.
2 Ritz Cinema hall, Kashmere gate
Thecontent of the plays preferred, was different according to the socialclass.
Back then, themes of theatre plays were either historical or mythological, which
was also true in the early days of the cinema. The main patrons of these
theatres were people, who were called ‘Chawaniwale’, these were people who
preferred to buy tickets at the lowest rates (chawani). In Delhi, theatre was also
called ‘Mandwa’, which stands for a large space with a rooftop. For instance,
‘Excleisor’ cinema in Delhi called ‘Seerki walo ka mandwa’, because the area
around the hallwas dominated by Bamboo workers. Even, the famous
‘Jagat’cinema hall in the Chandni Chowk was called the ‘Macchliwalo ka
Mandwa’, due to the presence of fish market in that area. This market is still
there even today and the hall is also famous by this name among local
population.

In Delhi, especially in old Delhi, cinema halls were not built for the purpose of
cinema initially, they were centre of political activities as well, such as in pre-
partition era, two conferences of Muslim league held in the famous ‘Mot
Talkies’. It is with the coming of Bioscope (it is a movie and also referred as
travelling movie theatre. It tells a story with the use of graphics or non-mobile
pictures set in slides)and silent movies, which ultimately led to the decline of
theatre as a major source of entertainment and paved way for the cinema halls.

The era of silent movies also declined with the coming first talkie movie, ‘Alam
Ara’ in 1931. As the era of silent movies paved way for black and white movies
with songs and dialogues, the theatre halls began to show movies and as result
they were called ‘talkies’ and most of them also added it as a suffix to their
name, such as ‘Moti Talkies’, ‘Jagat Talkies’ etc. The experience of cinema
watching of different places cannot be generalized, especially seeing the
diversity of India. The same is applicablealso on Delhi.

The cinema or Single Screen talkies emerged in Delhi at a time, when the city
was going through a major transformation period. With attaining Independence
in 1947, India is entering into a new period of hope and ambitions, as a
sovereign and independent country. And being the capital of this newly
sovereign country, the experience of Delhi would definitely be different from rest
of India. This was also the time when Delhi was coming out of its, British and
Mughal legacy. Thus, it could not be said that the early cinematic history of
Delhi was a straight affair. It could not be said that whatever came in the form
of movies, was simply consumed by the people of Delhi.

The social scenario of Delhi was still very much conservative regarding several
changes. This was true especially in the case of elite and high class and caste
families across all communities. The nature of viewing cinema changed with the
changing social, political and economic scenario in the country. With the
establishment of Single Screen halls first in old Delhi, the people of the city got
their major source of entertainment outside the household.

Just like
today,
going
for a
movie
was a
special

3 Amba cinema Hall, Kamla Nagar

occasion. In those times, the cinema hall one was going to watch a movie was
also the symbol of social status. In the cinematic history of Delhi, the era of
Single Screen halls is a period of nostalgia and attachment to a particular area
and building.

As Ziya Us Salam, the editor in chief of ‘Hindu’ newspaper shown in his book
‘Delhi 4 shows: Talkies of Yesteryear’ that how the demographical profile of the
city was/is led the cinema.The present paper focuses on the journey of cinema in
Delhi through its Single Screen halls from post partition era to economic reforms
of 1991 and how the coming of first, VCR and video and then later of the color
TV and the emergence of Multiplexes led to the decline of Single Screen halls of
Delhi.

THE WALLED CITY

The
Walled
City, or
better
known as
Old Delhi,
was
where
4 The board is showing timings of the shows at Ritz cinema hall the
cinema halls in Delhi first came up. This had happened around the 1920’s and
then they emerged in Connaught Place. This was the time when the old city was
‘The’ Delhi or power of centre, and the areas of C.P. and south Delhi had not
dominated yet. Just like any other part of Delhi, the demographic profile of the
walled city, in a way decided the direction of movie business here. The old Delhi
in post partition era, was occupied by the elite class of the Indian society.

Even the elite people who were coming from Pakistan in post partition period
partially preferred to live in Old Delhi. It is one of the reason that the experience
of this area was very different from other parts of Delhi. There are several
features regarding cinema halls, which were special to old city only. Just like any
other hall, talkies here also had specific patrons, such as Jagat Cinema was
mostly preferred by Muslim gentry and Moti talkies preferred by Hindus, though
there was no hard and fast rule regarding this.
Not surprising, there were social taboos regarding watching movies in cinema
halls in initially days of the emergence of single screen. The movies were not
considered morally high. The women of so called ‘sharif khandan’ or old Nawabi
families were not allowed to watch movies. It is Because of these social
restrictions that the idea of private boxes came up in Old Delhi. These boxes
were either preferred by families, women or couples who wanted to spend some
private time. If we see, these boxes were also symbol of class segregation as the
tickets for these private spaces would definitely be much more than other
general seats. Thus, it would not have been possible for everyone to pay for
these spaces. Hence, these boxes were a symbol of class status.Also it would not
be surprising to know that the restrictions regarding watching cinema were
much more on women than men. However, just like today it was not possible
tokeep oneself away from the magic of watching something larger than life
through cinema. Thus despite having restrictions, women especially muslim
women took transport from the only ‘women park’ near Netaji Subhash marg,
which is called ‘Purdah park’ to watch movies in Kashmere Gate Cinema halls.

5 The famous Regal hall, Connaught Place

The demographic profile of a particular area mattered a lot in deciding what

kind of movies any particular cinema hall would play. The famous‘Jagat Cinema
hall’, while choosing a movie, took care of the feelings of the people living in
that area,as it was situated near Jama Masjid. The same was true also about
Majestic, which was situated near Gurdwara Sisganj and Sahib Sunheri Masjid.
They havealso tried to avoid cinema and faith.
That means they had to ensure that the content shown in the hall is free from
profanity of any kind. In the early 21st century, the license of the Jagat cinema
got cancelled by the government after the allegation that it showed intimate
content. The restriction regarding what could be shown and what could not in
halls, dominated during this time. There were certain elite families who did not
allow their children or other family members to watch movies especially
Hollywood movies. They were of the view that the content shown in English
movies were against their cultural values. But this stand of some families cannot
be generalized, because there were several elite families who encouraged their
children to watch English movies, as it was also related to social status. One
thing which I find unique to Old Delhi and its surrounding areas, is that other
than newspaper columns, another way of promoting movies was via hoardings
in Hindi, Urdu and English; announcement onrickshaws and music band
performance in the streets of Old Delhi etc. During my research, when I asked
people about this promotion stunt, they were unaware about it. What makes
the Single Screen cinema halls, especially in old Delhi and C.P., different from
other Single Screens and even Multiplexes was the grand and royal architecture
of the former. In Old Delhi, Single Screens like Delite were famous for their larger
than life architecture. The same can be said true about halls of C.P. like Regal,
Rivoli,Odeon etc. One major reason for their larger than life architecture was
that many of these halls were either built by British government or took care of
the taste of elite audience which included both English and Indians. Also if you
have enough money to invest then it was normalto build architecture of Mughal
and British standards. The decline in the popularity of Single Screen halls here
began much earlier even before the coming of TV, Video or Multiplexes, the
main reason for this was the departure of the elite population of Old Delhi to
other parts of the city. This led to the settlement of migrate labourforce from
other states of the North India, for whom entertainmentand flashy movies
mattered more thanthe content and artistic importance of the cinema.
Subsequently, these famous cinema halls, which were once respected for their
choices of movies and grand architecture, reduced to watching c- grade movies.
THE CONNAUGHT PLACE

In the post- independence this and other newly built parts of Delhi or ‘New
Delhi’ also called Lutyens’ Delhi were the symbol of modernization and
advancement. The Mughal and indigenous architecture lost its importance and
was seen as something that belonged to past and decay. At this place emerged
some of the best Single Screen halls of Delhi. The Single Screens here mostly
preferred by producers and distributors of the movies to screen latest movies.
That is the reason any new movie would first came here and then only in the
other parts of Delhi. Here, the architectural style of buildings was also
predominantly European.

The oldest Single Screen in C.P. is Regalthat came in 1932, the same time when
Single Screen halls emerged in theWalled City. In its initial days, it was a theatre
and staged various English plays for British diplomats and Indian royals. These
were the halls, where Bollywood stars came up for the promotion and screening
of their movies.

Another Single Screen hall was Rivoli, the only hall which played English movies.
It was the first choice for the elite people of the city. It was only after the
screening of the movie Aaradhna starring Rajesh Khanna, that it began playing
Hindi movies as well.

Then there was

the famous
and one of the
oldest
halls,Plaza,
designed by
British
architect
6 PVR RIVOLI, Connaught Place
Robert Tor
Russell. It was the first hall in Delhi, which served cold coffee to its guest. In the
initial years,here also the focus was on English movies but gradually the
increasing demand for Hindi movies, led tofocus on latter’s screening. Due to the
decline of Single Screens in Delhi, this hall merged into the PVR
chain.Anotherhall of 1960’s was Sheila, which narrowly missed being Asia’s first
70mm screen, due to the mistake of the electricity department of Delhi. This hall
was famous for playing English movies. Before the coming of other halls like
Chankya, Priya, Sheila spoke the language of the haves.

Patriotic gesture was also part of the history of these halls.During the 1962 war,
it handed over its generators for the larger cause to Indian government. Another
famous incident is that during emergency, the Indira Gandhi government closed
down the hall on some useless issue. In protest of these, Sheila decided to close
down and even when government
allowed toreopen it, Sheila choose to
reopen only after 2 days of the
permission, arguing that
“dishonesty should not be
encouraged”.

As even stated above the story of

Imperial hall, also shows that the
social demographic profile of a
particular area mattered most in
deciding both the fate of hall as well
as movies. It is situated near the
railway. In the pre partition days, it was
a hallwhich staged various English
plays and had the reputation of
being a decent place. Various high
profile people visited here. But
during the partition, coming of
large number of migrants in this part,
led to decline in the reputation of the
hall.
Now the crowd did not want any highly
classical act of movie, they just want 7 PVR RIVOLI, CANNOUGHT PLACE to see
entertainment, which eventually led tothe shift of the hall to c- grade movies.
And the multiplex replaced single screen here as well.

Other Parts of Delhi

If one see carefully, the development or the expansion of city in other parts led
to significant changes in the nature of halls. The inflow of population first due to
partition and latter
due to the needs of
livelihood,
completely
transformed the
cinema of the city.

8CHANAKYA HALL. Once this magnificient and grand building now in ruins

When theatre or last Single Screen started in the city, it was Old Delhi and then
Connaught place, the predominant choice of cinemagoers.
It was now that the areas of South Delhi, West Delhi and other which began to
be called the most ‘posh’ areas of the city. For example, the coming of Chankya
hall in South Delhi and development of the area around, led to preference of a
different kind of cinema from earlier. First, the emergence of Single Screen halls,
which preferred English and family movies and later the Emergence of
Multiplexes, created a class segregation in the city. Now, no one wanted to go
watch movies in Old Delhi, because what would the crowd be like mattered a lot
to the elite people and what they wantedwas
a more ‘decent’ crowd.

The area is a huge factor either in the decline or

emergence of halls in Delhi. For example,
there were several hall which were located in
the places such asthe areas of West Delhi where
Jatt population dominated, one could see movies
of SunnyDeol and Dharmendra most popular
here.

9 Board at Rivoli showing the current screening movie

10PVR PLAZA, CANNOUGHT PLACE

The major reason of the decline of Single Screen halls was the coming of TV and
VCR in 1980’s and 90’s. Now people get all the entertainment without spending
on the movie ticket, at home. This led to the decline of Single Screens. When
Single Screendid not have funds, they either shifted to c-grade films, to cover
their expenses or closed down their shutters. The coming of multiplex also led to
the decline, but it was later and cannot be said to be the major reason.

CONCLUSION
“The tunes have changed, the notes remain the same,” said Ziya Us Salam in his
book ‘Delhi 4 Shows’ is the best line to describe the era of Single Screen halls in
Delhi. The craze for cinema is increasing day by day. Today, Dilliwallashave
shifted from the Single Screen to multiplex halls, but the nostalagia of Single
Screen is still there in the older generation. Sohail Hashmi and many other
people, I interviewed, pointed out that watching movies is special even todaybut
the only difference is thatat that time we used to plan days before and would
have to wait for tickets since there was no Bookmyshow to ease the process
then. Nowadays, when people go to watch movies, taking selfies is also part of
watching movie for them, which creates disturbance for other people, but this
was not the case, during earlier times.
I am from the generation of Multiplexes, I always wonder is it possible to have
an attachment with today’s halls, which people had with Single Screens?
Frankly, I don’t have any attachment with any hall, but Old Single Screen halls
attract me more due to their grand architecture.

On the other hand, Multiplexes are very uniform in their appearance. In general,
people have an attachment with buildings or places which have something
unique. Also, unlike earlier times, today people have a lot of options in terms of
cinema halls. Even as Sohail Hashmi pointed out, “the old films during Single
Screen had a different kind of reach to its audience, which Multiplexes don’t
have. Today, a film goes off from halls in two weeks, earlier movies went on for
years in the halls. For ex. Mughal-e-Azam was housefull for 2 years in Golcha
cinema hall.”

In this paper, the focus was also on the demographical profile of the city. How
the social scenario of a particular area decided whether a particular movie
would run in that place or not. In the view of uniformity during the time
Multiplexes, it is difficult to think of such social dominance. However, as
Professor Vibhas Verma from Deshbandhu College pointed out that even today
the demographical profile of an area mattered. He gave example of regional
movies. For example, movies in Punjabi language are screened at the limited
Multiplexes halls of Delhi, where that kind of audience is there who would prefer
to watch Punjabi movie. The same thing was also pointed out by Sohail Hashmi,
who is of the view that to an extent it still matter. He gave example of Chankya
cinema hall and halls in the elite areas of Delhi, where there is possibility that
the movies of Salman Khan would not find mad fan following.

The coming of digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime made to think,
what is the future of Multiplexes? Will people still prefer to go and watch movies
in the halls? However, the people I talked during my research has one thing
common to say that the larger than life experience of watching movie in a hall,
without any disturbance in thedark could not possibly be replaced by either TV
or these emerging digital media platforms. Going in the cinema hall for a 3 hour
movie is still an outing. The journey of Single Screen in Delhi has today
culminated to the screening of eitherc-grade movies or complete shutdown.
However, the journey of cinema in the city is taking new turns with each decade
and defining the city in new ways.
REFERENCES

 Delhi 4 shows: Talkies of Yesteryear by Ziya Us Salam

 India’s experience with Multiplex by Aparna Basu
 From the ruins of Chanakya: Exhibition History and urban Memory
by Ipsita Sahu
INTERVIEW
Mr. Sohail Hashmi(He is a leading authority on Delhi’s history & is
specifically known for his Delhi heritage walks . He is historian, activits,
academician and film maker)

Q. As we know that, there were some Single Screen halls, especially

in old Delhi and C.P. area, which had private boxes and balconies. Can
we say that these were symbol of social status?

Private boxes were there in almost all halls. Regal has it and many
other halls as well. Anyone could book these boxes, especially those
who want privacy. It was also part of the social status, because it was
only balcony area where this type of boxes were, otherwise there
was no such segregation in general seats. And of course, these boxes
were expensive in compare to other seats of the hall.

Q. Unlike today when we have digital media platform to know about

the upcoming films, but how one got to know regarding the
upcoming film in Single Screen era or post independence period?

There were regular advertisements in Newspapers about the new

movies. Also most newspapers had film review column. Through
these also people gets to know whether a movie is worth watching
or not. Other than this, In old Delhi, there were these Cycle Rickshaw,
which made announcement, when a movie was going to release and
in which cinema hall. This way to promoting movie was not in the
New Delhi area, which is VIP area. It might be because in this area
slow moving vehicles were not allowed to enter.

Q. Demographical profile of a particular area mattered a lot during

the era of Single Screen. Do you think the same demographical
impact is their even in the case of Multiplexes?
I think it is still there. Because let’s take example of Salman Khan’s
movie, as we know he has mad fan following, but if today his movie
will release in Chanakya hall, then the same kind of craze would not
be here. Another example is of patriotic movies, there are still some
areas which have much grand response for these movies than other.
That’s why, this kind of areas you still have.

Q. what was the food arrangements during Single Screen? Were

people allowed to take their own food inside? Or there were
restaurants inside and outside of the hall? Who owned these
restaurants or stalls?

Some halls had their own restaurants. The stalls outside the hall
were both type, private as well as owned by cinema halls. During
interval, some vendors would come with 6 bottles of Coca-cola and
tap the bottle holder with a key and they would go around the hall.

Q. Comment on the run of c-grade films in the once prestigious halls

of Delhi.

In these halls, C-grade movies were not played in the initial years.
Because there were taboos regarding certain kind of movies here, as
it was residential area. However, with the changing Demographic
profile of Delhi, the cinema also changed. For ex. Once the elite class
of walled city moved out and shifted in other parts of Delhi, then
majority of halls in walled city play c-grade. It was so because now
the patron of these halls migrant labour from neighbouring states.

Q. Do you think people could have the same emotional attachement

with multiplex halls, which they have with Single Screen halls?
I believe people who are going in Multiplexes, bulk of them went
there to click selfie or they would talk in between the movie. This
kind of behavior disturbs other people. These type of crowd could
never have an attachment towards any hall. In earlier times, we used
to plan days before, because we were interested in watching movies.
Also the old movies during Single Screen had a different kind of reach
toits audiences, which Multilexes don’t have. Today, a film go down
from halls in 2 weeks, earlier movies run in the same hall for years.
For ex. Mughal-e-Azam was housefull for 2 years in Golcha. The
cinema had some connect to what was going around, either
lingustically or other way. They had some connect to the ground,
that’s why they resonated. These days, that kind of resonation is no
longer. I am sayingthat good films are no longer in making. Some
really good work is going on, but that kind of connect is not
happening. If we see, in terms of technology, today’s cinema is far
more developed than earlier days.
Mr. VIBHAS VERMA
( He is an Prof. of Hindi in the Hindi Department of Deshbandhu
College, Delhi University)

Q. Why did not Multiplexes open in Old Delhi area?

One reason is the constraint of size. You need a large area to build
Multiplexes and in old Delhi lack of space is major problem. Also
Multiplexes are built for the kind of audience, who has their own
transport. For that parking area is a need. So, such scene was not
possible in old Delhi.

Q.The architecture of the Single Screen was different and grand,

which made it much more attractive. What you think regarding
Multiplex halls?

Not all Single Screen halls had different or grand architecture. It was
only the famous halls, which had attractive appearance. However,
architecture made this halls attractive and memorable for people,
which is missing in the multiplex halls.

Q. Do you think people could have a sense of attachment to

multiplex halls, which was there in case of Single Screen halls?

I don’t think so. Because there was no strong reason for that kind of
attachement. Even in the appearance Multiplexes are almost similar.
People knew that if one multiplex will close down than another will
came up. So, it is not going to impact them emotionally. Because,
being multiplex does not give it a sense of individual identity.

Q. Do you think demographic profile of an area, is deciding factor in

what kind of movies would be played?
The demographic profile still matters to an extent. For ex., regional
movies such as Punjabi even today releases not in all halls of Delhi,
but only in some limited areas, where their possibility of getting hit is
higher. Another example is of areas like East Delhi and Old Delhi,
where larger portion of population is Bihari labour, as a result
Bhojpuri movies dominate here.

Q. what do you think regarding the future of Multiplexes?

Till the time, this outing experience is attached with movie watching,
cinema halls will grow.

Mr. P.N. Khanna

( He is basically a delhite, whose family came to Delhi during the
partition era. )
Q. Is your family basically from Delhi or came from somewhere else?
My grandfather came from Punjab (Now Pakistan-Punjab) to Delhi in
partition days. From that time, we are living in Delhi, so we
considered ourselves Delhite.

Q. During your young days, in which Single Screen halls you

preferred to watch movies?

All the halls in Cannought place like Rivoli, Regal, Odeon, Plaza etc.

Q. what are the changes you find in the halls during Single Screen
and now in the time of multiplex?

One major difference is that, unlike today that time (during Single
Screen) the seats in the hall were not comfortable. Second, today the
technology of cinema is far better than Single Screen days. But that
time, when you arrive in the cinema hall, the person who checks
tickets, used to take you to the seats. Unlike today, when you walk in
the hall and they say your seat is somewhere there (pointing towards
random side). That time, interval was long enough to have snacks
and then go back to your seats. Unlike, today when interval is too
short. Also in some halls there used to be a bell ringing in the foyer,
which told everybody that movie is soon going to start.

Q. Do you think watching movie from a particular seat and particular

hall was a symbol of status?

At that time, the cost of seat dependent upon, where is the seat in
the hall located. If you were in the front row, it cost less and if you
were right at the back, it would cost substantially more. If you were
somewhere in the middle, which has middle rate. And if there was a
balcony, then it would be most expensive. So, there is difference due
to the cost. Because the kind of people who had occupied these
seats, both social and economic difference.

Q. When in 1990’s video and VCR came into India and

subsequentlySingle Screen halls had declined. Then did you continue
to watch movies in the hall or shifted to TV at home?

No, I still prefer cinema halls for watching movies. Because at home,
it is small screen of Tv, so one do not get the same impact of big
screens of cinema halls. Also going to cinema hall was and is an
experience; whereas watching movie on TV at home does not mean
anything. Today you can get movie on demand on TV, you can play it
pause it anytime; but the experience of watching it on big screen,
with amazing sound system and no one is there to disturb you is
special.

Q. what kind of movies your family or you had preferred to watch in

your grown up years?

In my growing up years, we mostly watched English movies. My

parents encouraged us to watch English movies, rather than Hindi
movies. The reason for this is better content and technology of
English movies. However, my cousins were encouraged to see Hindi
movies and not allowed to watch English movies. Because English
movies were not considered culturally right. My friendsin college
were amazed that I could go to watch English movies and follow each
and every word spoken in the movie. But I think majoritypeople used
to watch Hindi movie, as everyone was not comfortable with the
content of English movies.
Mrs. Sunita Khanna
Q. From where your family is?
We came from Pakistan during partition. I was 7 year old that time.

Q. What was your experience of watching movies in Single Screen

halls in your growing up years?

We lived in a joint family after we came from Pakistan. My parents

used to watch all kind of movies, but we as children were allowed to
watch only certain kind of movies like movies based on mythology.
We used to watch movies mostly in cinema halls like Delite, Golcha,
Ritz. These halls were earliest to our residence.

Q. Was there any kind of social taboos or restriction regarding

watching cinema for a girl in your family?

No, I was born in a family, which did not put us behind the doors of
home. These kind of taboos were there, but I did not faced any of
these. We used to go for movies both with our parents and
grandparents. My grandfather was very fond of movies. He would
buy tickets for the whole family, as we are living ina joint family.

Q. what time of the day, you and your family generally prefer to go
for a movie?

Generally, we used to go after lunch around 3 pm. That was the best
time for the movie. Because, as we know Morning show was not
convinent due to household work and school. Evening shows were
not also comfortable because family used to sleep early. Due to
security reasons, we were not allowed to go for evening show. That’s
why, matinee show time was best.

Q. In Which language movie was mostly preferred by your family?

Because as we know there was some restriction regarding watching
English movies in our society, mainly due to intimate scenes.

My grandfather would watch movies only in Hindi. But I would used

to see English movies, with my father as well. We liked movies in
both languages. Any movie which is good, we watched it. When
Oscar movies released in winters, we generally went to see them.
Also, we used to prefer movies of Punjabi language, as we
understand that language. Movies revolve around Sikh or Muslim
culture, we enjoyed them all.
Q. Did you continue to watch movies in Single Screen halls, even
after the coming of T.V. and video cassettes?

Not only that, even today as well, we shall prefer to watch movies in
hall. The experience of watching movie in hall is special.

Q. For you, which halls are better, Single Screen or multiplex halls?
I prefer multiplex over Single Screen. Because we can also go for
shopping and eat out, tillthe time show will start.