'Rahul' is back
Since I don't remember the theatre in Bombay where I saw the Sunny Deol starrer Arjun (my first ever in front of the big screen), I consider Rahul Theatre in Pune as the place where I first saw films. Since we didn't go to many films then, it was an uncommon treat of sorts to go to Rahul for a Sunday matinee. I particularly remember watching a lot of classic Chaplin films, including The Gold Rush and One AM.Later in life, when we came back to Pune, Rahul (along with the likes of Mangala) was still at the top of the pecking order when it came to city theatres. DDLJ was watched there. Soon, each college morning for 4 years, Rahul would be on my way to COEP. The two listed movies for the week would have their names spelt out in block letters outside (just one, if it was a real blockbuster). A particularly fond memory was seeing the names Satya and Hyderabad Blues unchanged for several weeks in 1998. Even then, I remember realising something had changed in Indian cinema. I also remember watching Lagaan soon after the exams that concluded our COEP stint in 2001.
In a couple of years, the multiplex revolution had swept through the city, led by City Pride, and followed by Inox. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the last movie I saw at Rahul. Soon, the 5-screen E-Square hungrily towered over Rahul next door and that was the end of Rahul. For about two years, Rahul has been under construction. There was no announcement outside and it wasn't clear (to me) whether the place had been sold or was being refurbished or was changing professions. Last week, I saw Rahul open, without any fanfare, now apparently a little multiplex of its own, with at least two screens. This means it has gone the Mangala route, and can perhaps survive a little with the benefits that a multiplex can claim.
Whether this will make any real change to its current position - I do not know. The difference was stark in the last days: the service was ordinary compared to the new waves of "plush service" around us, and no wonder that the mall-tiplexes of the city have magnetically drawn people towards them. Still, a little crumb of nostalgia survives. I wonder if they still serve the expensive cabbage-stuffed little samosas. Does anyone know?
9 comments:
My memories of movie watching are mostly from the extremely non-plush Vijay Theater which had(has?) the worst seats, worst sound and the best movies. A perverse place where stalls was actually better than balcony.
I am sure you have memories like hearing the rain on the roof while watching John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.
Kaun in a matinee screening (after being twice trumped by sold-out shows and tickets hawked in black); the poster of Masoom (?) that refused to come down; catching matinee shows in 1992 on Wednesdays thanks to a very short official day at Fergusson College; The Little Mermaid, Jurassic Park; the sense of having watched a really wonderful film after walking out of a Satya show; then there was the sadness at seeing an all-English theatre go Hindi (Alaka was another); the cream rolls and that strange samosa; staring at posters and movie stills while leaning against the metal pipes lining the wait for the ticket counter; the large crowd streaming out (all those two wheelers) after a screening ... it's good to see the non-multiplex relic return (I remember also the reopening of West End with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Vijay, Alka, Neelayam, Mangala and Rahul - places I still cherish in my memories. Too many fond memories of the movies that I saw at these places to mention here. Blame it on the childhood / teenage nostalgia or the fact that the multiplexes today lack a character of their own - the cinema hall itself is no more an integral part of the movie-watching experience (at least, for me).
Great mention of the cabbage-stuffed samosas at Rahul! :)
Hirak: as you have blogged before, Vijay deserves a separate post to itself! The ratio of entertainment value to lack of sophistication/ambience is probably the highest among all theatres :-)
George: Indeed. Can't remember the last time I saw a "man in black" i.e. a munna.
Sandeep: sadly, the multiplexes have a certain sort of culture of their own. However, I'd be hypocritical if I said I didn't sometimes like that plushness, but sometimes it also gets in the way.
Ah! for a moment I thought, your post was about Dravid hitting ton after ton :-)
Me too...was expecting to read something on Dravid :)
Thank god it wasn't another cricket post.
Rahul was one of my favorites, being the closest to my house. But it soon lost out to Vijay, where one could get balcony seats for 45 bucks even when we were in COEP.
The samosas are something I'll always remember though :)
You write really well. :) Enjoyed reading this post... I too have some memories of 'Rahul' - as a kid, visiting my cousins in the summers.
There was a fountain right outside the university. We'd even splurged in it to beat the heat.
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