Virtual Experience: Single Screen Cinemas of Kolkata

We talk a lot about the history of Bengali cinema. We take pride in Bengal's and Calcutta's cinema. We celebrate incredibly talented directors, actors and technicians. But we forget a key element beyond the success and popularity of cinemas and their makers in Bengal. We forget the historic and once hugely popular single screen theatres which brought these movies to the public, before the days of multiplexes and Netflix. The movie going culture of the 1940s to 70s  fuelled by these beautiful ArtDeco single screen cinemas and their affordable tickets, made cinemas a massive success in Bengal.

Movie-going then, was an experience unto its own. Tickets had to be bought a few days before by standing in long queues. Then the day that a middle class family went to a movie, it was as if they were going to attend a wedding! Preparations started from the morning, the house buzzed with happiness and anticipation. You…