Movie Memories – Theaters Where You Saw lot of Movies

maheshwariMaheshwari/Parameshwari was the the best theater in Hyderabad. Have memories of watching a majority of movies there. Saw Ajooba, Sanam Bewafa, Saajan, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, Pyar Ka Tarana, Khuda Gawah, Suryavanshi, Khal Nayak, Darr, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Anjaam, Prem, 1942 A Love Story, Yeh Dillagi, Raja, Suraksha, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Rangeela, Deewar, Shakti, Zamana Deewana, Judwaa, Auzaar and Dil Se.

The early part of the song is shot at Maheshwari/Parameshwari theater complex. You can see that Saajan is playing. It is from a Ram Gopal Varma directed Telugu movie Money starring Chakravarthy, Renuka Shahane and Paresh Rawal. Its a good song too with some good music.

Remember watching HHRPK in the AC theater after we were drenched in rain. Remember going to watch Judwaa for a morning show on the Sunday of its release and saw a huge crowd. We thought there is no way we are going to get tickets and a guy walks to us and saying he has extra tickets and sells us for same price πŸ˜€

—————–

Sangeet Sangeet was a theater in Secunderabad. This was considered a “prestige” theater. Hollywood movies used to play there especially Oscar nominated/winning movies. Bollywood movies used to rarely play there – may be in a morning show. The crowd used to be the rich/posh types. Have memories of watching The Fugitive, Baby’s Day Out and Schindler’s List back to back, Titanic, The Sixth Sense and American Beauty. Saw Lage Raho Munnabhai (was playing in regular shows) in 2006 during a visit to India. Found out later that it was demolished and has now been replaced with this. The new one looks really good.

sangeetcineleisure

—————–

santosh
Santosh 70mm/Sapna 35mm were theaters in Hyderabad. I think we were taken to some movie here on animals while in school. Don’t remember the name. Saw Aankhen (starring Govinda) here and had to run like crazy to get the tickets. The theater had this stupid thing where they would not open the gates until the last 20/30 min before the start of the show. A crowd would assemble at the gates and you had to run to the ticket counter to get tickets coz they would be sold out in no time and then sold in black. Other movies that I saw there were Pathar Ke Phool, Jaan Tere Naam, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Baazigar (2nd time coz missed the early 15 minutes of the movie first time) Andaz Apna Apna, Dilwale, Droh Kaal, Jallad, Amaanat and Dil To Pagal Hai. I think I was the only guy in the theater while watching Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Hated the movie as it was full of rona dhona and it just wouldn’t end.

—————–

venkataramana

Venkataramana was the theater where I saw my first movie by myself. The movie was Hum. The theater was filled with students and they were throwing torn papers from their books. The whole theater went crazy during Amitabh’s entry scene and the Jumma Chumma De De song. Also watched Baazigar there but missed the initial 10-15 min because we could not decide in time to go see the movie or not. I think I saw Salma Pe Dil Aagaya too over there – dragged by a friend who used to watch every movie that released. The same friend dragged me to watch Guddu and I wished that the tickets would get over and they did just when we reached the ticket counter πŸ˜€ Saw Hulchul starring Ajay Devgn instead in the 35 mm.

—————–

ramakrishna70 And then there was Ramakrishna 70mm/35mm where I saw movies like Phool Aur Kaante, Deewana, Parampara, Jeena Marna Tere Sang. Once we went to watch Kshatriya on a Sunday and we could not get tickets for the movie. Ramakrishna 70mm/35mm and Tarakarama another theater which played Telugu movies primarily were owned by the Telugu actor and ex Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao. The theaters started playing adult movies with uncensored scenes and there was a big controversy with newspapers posting the news on front page. The theaters were shut down for a brief while and it hurt the theater’s reputation. I think this was after the theaters were already given to his sons and he was sidelined politically with Chandrababu Naidu engineering an internal party coup against him and taking over as the Chief Minister.

—————–

shanti Shanti was a theater which normally played Telugu movies but which started playing Hindi movies later on but rarely. Watched Yes Boss, Pardes and Aur Pyar Ho Gaya there. It was easier to get tickets there. Also watched Indian (Hindustani Telugu Version).

—————–

skyline Skyline 70mm/Sterling 35mm were theaters which used to play English movies – action movies mostly. Watched Rambo: First Blood Part II and the Martin Lawrence comedy Blue Streak here and Rush Hour. Basic Instict ran for close to a year in Sterling πŸ˜‰

—————–

Anand was another theater in Secunderabad. It was like the poor cousin of Sangeet. Remember watching The Green Mile and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Anand

There were some other theaters too where I saw the odd movie. Devi was one theater which primarily played Telugu movies but it would occasionally play Hindi movies. Remember watching Rathri (Raat Telugu Version), Roja (Telugu Version), Barsaat and Raam Jaane πŸ˜€ The theater wasn’t that great to look at from outside but it had good seating and good sound system.

——————–

Tags:
25 Comments
  1. hithere 11 years ago

    Good post. WIll come back later. For some reason have hard time finding images of Kanpur, Agra movie halls. May be they have been converted to multiplexes.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Thanks. So you used to live in Agra too or did you go there often?

      • hithere 11 years ago

        Yep..actually longest…We have a house there but these days I goto Bangalore.

        ps – In last visit went to Secundrabad (Mallareddy Nagar). I am not sure how far is that from your place. Had Briyani at Paradise.

        ps1 – If you have a defence background, you normally are “khanabadosh”. The good part is you see and meet different people and brings perspectiveness in thought process. The bad part is your friend circle keeps on changing.

        • Author
          sputnik 11 years ago

          Oh. Went to Agra back in 2009 actually Jan 1st to see Taj Mahal.

          Met this driver at the Railway station who drove us around and took us to Agra Fort and Itmad-Ud-Daulah’s Tomb. We wanted to go to Taj Mahal earlier but he said it would look better in evening.

          But when we reached there at 4:30 there was a huge crowd and there was no way we would have made it. So some guys there were asking for money and said that they will take us in without having to stand in line. I thought that those guys had some deal with the Taj Mahal authorities. So paid that guy and guess what he did.

          He just took us and sneaked us in the queue near the entrance. Others saw but luckily did not say anything. It was so embarrasing πŸ˜€

          It will probably be 1 hour with the traffic to Mallareddy Nagar from my place. Paradise is quite famous for Biryani. Been there only once. I like Biryani at Bawarchi Restaurant at RTC Cross Roads in Hyderabad.

  2. Alia Bhatt fan 11 years ago

    let me share the incident of my village,many years ago i think it was 1996 or 1997. we had gone for vacation at my mama’s house. we planned to go for film. so my dad got tickets. but he didnt buy ticket for my elder cousin brother as he didnt know he was coming nor had the cousin mentioned any desire to go with us, he was expecting us to take him anyway. πŸ˜€ when he came to pick us for the film, my stupid pansy cousin started crying (he was quite grown up, may be 16-17 years) as his ticket was not bought, we thought, let him cry, we will go and have fun. so we took the autorickshaw . after 1 km there is a railway fatak and the road is steep ,its like a “dhallan” . my dad went to check the fatak guard and ask him when the train was supposed to come and auto driver followed him. as the driver seat was empty and we 3 kids were on the back seat, the auto started moving backwards! before we cud think of taking an action,the auto fell into a pit with 3 of us. luckily the auto didnt blast as shown in hindi films πŸ˜‰ however i got a minor scratch. it was a scary experience. we realised our stupid cousin had jinxed our day and we decided not to go for the film and came back home πŸ˜›

  3. shetty 11 years ago

    Wow post.

    I will be posting my experience in installments

  4. shetty 11 years ago

    Coming to Hyderabad, I saw Vimal theatre on my way to Kukkatpally (On official work) . Since I had enough time, decided to check the movie hall. Some hindi movie was playing (Cash?) and the manager was kind enough to show me the projection room and other areas. He even got me Dosa (with 5 different chutneys) and soft drink from the near by hotel. I took many photos there (Let me check if I have the pics…will share here)

    Other than Vimal. I have seen Athithi tum kab jaoge in Prasads. I got bored half way down the movie and went to diff auditorium and saw one telugu movie

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Thanks Shetty.

      I have never watched a movie in Prasad’s πŸ˜€ Went to see Shikhar starring Nana and Shahid but did not get tickets.

      Kids have coin collecting or stamp collecting hobbies. I used to roam around the city on my BSA SLR trying to find theaters πŸ˜€ The only way I could remember directions was by theaters πŸ˜‰

      Thanks for the link to the Mangalore theaters.

  5. shetty 11 years ago

    As I mentioned earlier, My first movie was Love story, which I saw in Amrith talkies, Mangalore. Later in 90s the theater started playing soft porn (with hardcore bits in between). It was demolished 2-3 years back. Apart from Love story, I have seen couple of soft porn movies there

    CENTRAL.Mangalore: This is in heart of the city and I have watched most of the hindi movies there. I have watched many movies alone!!!. This was a prestige theater in Mangalore befoer the advent of multiplexes

    Roopavani, Mangalore: My Dad’s shop was next to this theatre and whenever I went to visit my Dad, He used to give me Rs 50 to watch the movie as he didnt like me coming to the shop. So I used to see most of the movies here (mostly kannada) My first movie here was Namak Halaal

    There were other Theatres too like Suchitra and Prabhat twin theatres (Saw Jung, Jallad, Tere mere sapne, Rangeela here) Platinum (Saw MKS -rerun, Insaaf etc) Jyoti (Saw many kannada movies here) Newchitra (Saw Hollywood movies here) Balaji (Mallu porn movies) Ramakanti (Kannada Semi porn movies)

    I used to remember which movie was playing in which theatre all the time…many friends used to ask me on this.

  6. shinji 11 years ago

    (I have wrote about my favourite experience being Drive In at Ahmedabad, earlier at satyamshot, Sputnik please add images from my post, thanx )

    The best movie experience one can have… under the natural enviorment ..observing sunset ..and slowly the screen lighting up..it always magical for me.. Nowhere in India i suppose the same exist as of now (in mumabi it was there earlier but it was flop).. bringing the carpet and pillows and home made food and farsan and water and relaxing under the nature. The walks before the movie starts. its size and lenght always amazes it me. its located at prime place in ahmedabad where if u sell this plot it will be amonmg costliest place in ahmedabad i guess and i was always worried that one day it will be sold after emergence of multiplex culture but it survived and how.

    Between i should share i still go to drive in in my fiat (the taxi model of mumbai) and both make me fall in love with cinema as usually i dont take carpet or chair but i relax on my fiat padmini and watch the movie.
    Interesting fact-if u are leaving in the flat exactly next to drive in one can see the movie from balcony though voice may not come. my friend had once told a tale of seen it once in this manner and i guess it was some akshay actioner of 90s. really uniquely free cinema.
    A bad experience of course like everything else it has got old now and how. Guess what i had gone to see bunty or babli in Drive in. And what did i found. The screen was a bit poorer quality but the real thing is when a retro typical never before heard song started some stupid black and not clearly identifiable face was dancing ..slowly i found tune catchy and after a minute i realize it was Ashwarya rai bachan who was looking shyam in colour because of poor maintainace of the screen i guess. !!!
    i remember seeing dil toh pagal hai, bunty babli, dilwale dulhania le jayenge, mann, ishq etc in 90s in drive in..
    acc to me no cinema , single screen, multiplex can give u a Drive in experience… simply unique experience
    Even today its quite economic for a sunday picnic.. it gets full on sunday or a big movie. Last year i saw Golmaal returns in drive in after long period of time and i relieved whole my childhood of watching AB, Anil Kapoor, Sunny deol… man i still remeber sunny deol breaking the jail in Salaakhein called movie.
    It has i think capacity for 1000 cars. Very good pav bhaji, chinese.. and italian toast pizza is a favourite. when i was small i used to eat 5 vada pavs per movie.

    the picture show old speaker (they havent replaced them for bloody my birth i guess and some times u my bad luck can have a broken speaker alongside where u park ur car and u are in for terrible time.
    Ofcoure any description of drive in impossible without mentioning the 90s era before multiplex it was the no . 1 theater and price was that on many a weekends we had entered the huge line 50-100 cars (ofcourse line got so big for raja hindustaani, ddlj they blocked the whole main road by 1 kms i guess or more) and when after waiting u dont get ticket u drive out with disappointment of turning late because not only u miss movie u miss rest under sky, home made food, vada pavs, ofcourse the people the crowd.
    Imagine 5000 or more people under same area laughing, clapping, seetis and roars… its more than cinema ..drive in is life at its best.

    https://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/sunset-drive-in-ahmedabad/

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Done.

      Have never been to a Drive In theater. Been to a public theater in Public Gardens, Hyderabad once during some Film Festival and Meet Joe Black was playing. Tried to watch the movie but people were noisy and doing their own thing. So left after a few minutes.

      Initially the public theater was famous for playing movies for free on Saturday and Sunday I think. But later on the park itself lost favor with the people with new well maintained parks coming up.

  7. shetty 11 years ago

    I spent my highschool days in Puttur (Small town 50 kms away from Mangalore) and I was the biggest movie buff there. I was the only guy in town who was subscribed to Screen weekly in Puttur. Video library owners used to consult me before making additional prints of VHS (Usually they used to buy only one original VHS of new release and used to record it on blank cassetes to save money) So for me there was no rent charged for cassetes in all the vdeo libraries. I was the Taran adarsh of Puttur those times (remember i was barely 15 years old). People believed in my verdicts and I used to manipulate them (I used to favour Anil kapoor movies). There were 2 video parlours in puttur and for me it was always free.

    I messed up with Heer Ranjha (Telling the videowallhas that it was a hit and asking them to make many prints) after that my credibility was dented a bit.

  8. shinji 11 years ago

    oh that i have heard for a first time!

    but i can understand crowd reaction given the choice of film πŸ˜‰

  9. FS 11 years ago

    Feels good to knw abt different experiences of different members… especially shetty bhai’s Manipulation πŸ˜‰

    My father took me to Razia Sultana to some theatre in Bangalore but later all three films which i mentioned like Chota Chetan, Deep Blue Sea and Lost World, i saw it in Guru Theatre in my village.. Tried to search for pics but couldn’t.

    In Dubai, i normally prefer Mega Mall’s Grand Cinemas, Dubai Mall’s Reel Cinema Multiplex

    Mega Mall Grand Cinema’s Pictures

    Reel Cinemas

    I watched Avatar in IMAX theatre of Ibn Batuta Mall again in Dubai

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Some lovely pictures there.

      Have been to Dubai only once back in Aug 2002 on a transit visa for like 14 hours. As soon as I stepped outside the airport it was so hot that it felt like I was in a oven.

      Was at the hotel all afternoon and then someone I knew from India (my neighbor who was working and living with his relatives who I knew from before too) took me out to show me Dubai. Just traveled around the city in the car and they showed me the beautiful buildings and malls and then went to the beach. Saw Burj Al Arab from outside but they said if I had informed them earlier and come for a couple more days they would have taken me inside too πŸ˜€ Loved the city and all the Palm trees.

      • FS 11 years ago

        Its a beautiful place & you must have come during summer though the normal temp wud be between 40-55 deg along with humidity tht strecthes frm april-nov of which jun-sep will c the temp around 48-60 deg.

  10. aryan 11 years ago

    Good post thoda hatke hai from regular posts.

  11. Alia Bhatt fan 11 years ago

    Talking about theatre experinces, i used to love watching films in theatre when i used to see only few films in theatre. but now i prefer watching movies in blu ray on laptop. there are so many aspects of a film you will miss on the big screen but can notice it while watching it at home with the repeat modes, good headphones and good screen quality and most importantly no disturbance. there are too many distractions in theatre.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      I think I am more critical while watching movies at home than in theater πŸ˜€

      While watching at home if the movie is not good one can always stop watching it completely or do something else like browsing while movie is running in the background.

      • Alia Bhatt fan 11 years ago

        actual worth of a movie is realised on laptop πŸ˜€ in theatre with the audince reactions, you can get carried away πŸ˜‰

Leave a reply to hithere Click here to cancel the reply

Β© Copyright Tanqeed.com 2008-2021. All rights reserved. Rules Advertise Privacy Policy Terms of Service Contact Us Update/Feedback RSS

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?