Plaza Theatre (Bangalore)

Plaza Theatre

Plaza Theatre in Bangalore
Address M.G Road
Bangalore
India
Coordinates 12°58′30″N 77°36′22″E / 12.9751°N 77.606°E / 12.9751; 77.606
Current use Metro Station
Opened 1936
Closed 2005
Years active 1936-2005

Plaza was a film theatre located in the city of Bangalore, India. It used to be on M. G. Road in the Bangalore Cantonment area. It was built in 1936 and mostly screened Hollywood movies.

History

Arcot Narrain Swamy Mudaliar was a contractor who built many buildings in Bangalore including the Attara Kacheri (the present premises of the Karnataka High Court).[1] From the money he earned out of it, he purchased a number of properties on M. G. Road including a 17,000 sq ft (1,600 m2). property over which the Plaza theatre was eventually built. His grandsons, A S Krishnamoorthy and Rajamanickam Velu wanted to construct a film theatre on this property, where they were formerly running a furniture business and went to Great Britain to understand how a great film theatre should look like.[2] They came back and constructed Plaza theatre in the year 1936 modeling it after the Piccadilly Circus in London.[3] The first film to be screened here was The Broadway Melody in April 1936.[3] The theatre also had a wooden dance floor which was used by English soldiers for ball dancing.[4] Initial ticket prices ranged from eight annas for the front seats to 1 rupee and 12 annas for the balcony's highest seat, called The Dress Circle.[5] The theatre also had a bar which served drinks to patrons who came to watch movies.

Movies

Movies that have been screened here include Hans Christian Andersen, The Court Jester, Artists and Models and The Ten Commandments. The latter ran for 44 straight weeks making it the longest running movie in the theatre.[6] Loads of school children were brought to the theatre to watch this movie and a special personal screening of the movie was arranged in the year 1959 for the Maharaja of Mysore, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar and his entourage.[4] Initially, the theatre was associated with MGM Studios screening movies like Gone with the Wind before moving on to Paramount pictures to screen movies like Roman Holiday, An Officer and a Gentleman and the James Bond movies.[6]

Closure

View from projection room on closing day[7]

The last film that was screened here was Meet the Fockers on March 17, 2005. The Narrain family sold the theatre since their children, all professionals,did not wish to carry on the family business. A mining investor from Bellary purchased this property and wanted to build a shopping mall in its place. However, the Bangalore City Corporation refused permission to build a shopping mall. The land has since been acquired for the Bangalore Metro project and will house the Plaza theatre station on the East-West Corridor route.[8]

Notes

  1. ↑ Now it's curtains on Plaza theatre, Print edition of The Times of India, Bangalore edition, Page 3, dated 2005-03-11
  2. ↑ Anand Parthasarathy. "Thanks... for the memory!". Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 2003-09-26. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  3. 1 2 Pradeep Sebastien (2003-05-15). "The lone ranger". Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 2003-05-15. Chennai, India. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  4. 1 2 "It's curtains for Plaza theatre". Online Edition of The Deccan Herald, dated 2005-03-20. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  5. ↑ Janardhan Roye. "Curtain call for Plaza". Online Edition of The Deccan Herald, dated 2005-03-28. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  6. 1 2 Hemangini Gupta. "Final fade-out". Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 2005-03-30. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  7. ↑ Kiran Jonnalagadda. "Plaza theatre's last day". Flickr. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  8. ↑ Shubha Narayan. "Plaza to be acquired for elevated Metro station". Online Edition of The Deccan Herald, dated 2006-02-13. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
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