Watch: Decline Of Single Screen Cinema Halls Captured In Moving Lens

Bhubaneswar: When the past generation talks about movies, the one thing they associate most of their memories with is single screen cinema hall. These traditional cinema halls once buzzed with people, cheering and whistling. However, these are being shut down slowly.

To broach this issue, three young boys, Debasish Mohapatra, Abinash Pradhan, and Brajaraz Behera, from Odisha have come up with a documentary film, the teaser of which was released on April 27.

“Our project talks about the decline of single screen cinema halls in Odisha. The reasons for the same are many – no updates by the owner, more number of multiplexes, onslaught of television channels, video piracy, taxes imposed in various forms and lack of government support, to name a few,” said Debasish.

These halls, where majority of the working-class people watch movies, provide tickets at a reasonable price. “This reason makes it all the more important to save and stop single screens from shutting down,” added Abinash.

Making this documentary took them almost a year. “We had to do a lot of research on every single screen cinema hall. Curating information about those that have been shut down was difficult and time-consuming. From going to theater owners to reaching out to people, asking them about their memories, it was a lot of work since we took no help from any established filmmaker,” Brajaraz further said.

The film was shot at different locations in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Cuttack and Puri. “The film will be released soon and we are planning to take it to some international fests,” added Debasish.

While it has been directed and co-produced by Paritosh Pradhan and Udit Narayan and the trio, Sunil Patanaik has penned the script. Saroj Rout edited and Nayan Agarwal designed the graphics for the documentary.