Stand-alone theatres vanish one by one

Secunderabad: "If cinema is a subject, then Sangeet was like my school. I watched the best of English Cinema there apart from the ones in Hindi and Telugu. From James Bond films to Lagaan, from Amar Akbar Anthony to Adavi Ramudu the theatre was like my second home. Every time coming from school or college or work -looking at Sangeet was a huge stress reliever. o many memories were attached to it.

" sighs Ashwin Nallari, a movie buff. Like Ashwin many cine-goers in and around Secunderabad still miss those days when single screen theatres enthralled audiences coming from various parts of the city.

Going to theatres during those times was a grand family affair. From what to wear to how to travel, it almost gave a feeling of a mini-picnic. One can never forget the cushion- less seats, the claps, and whistles of ardent movie lovers, the delicious samosas and cold sandwiches which completed the movie-watching experience.

Fighting in queues for tickets and then later saving them as memories were like a passion for teenagers back then. Although theatres located in the other half the city like Sandhya, Sudharshan etc have been able to retain its old-school charm, those situated in the twin cities have lost its aura over the time all thanks to the stiff competition from multiplexes and lack of maintenance by the theatre staff.

While a few like Tivoli, Manju, Prashant etc who upgraded their technology and developed the infrastructure to facilitate cine-goers have been successful in drawing reasonable crowd even during the testing times, movie theatres like Anand, Manohar and Ajantha among several others were razed or closed down paving way for other commercial spaces in the area. However, cinema halls like Nataraj on the SP Road stopped screening movies and are selling furniture now.