An exhibition titled "India's Vanishing Picture Palaces" is currently showcasing the poignant journey of cinematographer Hemant Chaturvedi, who has documented over 1,400 single-screen cinemas across India. The exhibition, running till January 25, is part of the sixth Self Discovery via Rediscovering India Festival organized by the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
The Accidental Discovery That Sparked a Mission
In 2018, cinematographer Hemant Chaturvedi arrived in Allahabad for the Kumbh Mela, hoping to immerse himself in the spiritual experience. However, his plans were disrupted when his booked luxury accommodation turned out to be a makeshift bunk inside a cow shed. With days left before his return and feeling disheartened, Chaturvedi decided to take a walk with his camera on a bright January afternoon.
As he strolled towards Allahabad University, a sense of déjà vu struck him. He asked a rickshaw puller to direct him to a cinema hall and was led to Lakshmi Talkies, a long-shuttered Art Deco cinema. Inside, he found teak banisters, terrazzo floors, and hand-painted murals of the Ramayana, all stripped bare and awaiting demolition. It was in that moment that Chaturvedi realized he was not just looking at a building but at a social space that once held collective memories—first dates, family outings, arguments, gossip, shared laughter, and shared silence.
Documenting the Social and Architectural Legacy
This accidental encounter became the starting point of Chaturvedi's mission to document single-screen cinemas across India. His photographs capture the essence of these "picture palaces" that were never merely places to watch films. They were landmarks and gathering points that shaped the social atmosphere of towns and cities.
Chaturvedi explains, "Cinema halls taught us how to feel together." Theatres built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries began as drama halls inspired by British theatre architecture before being converted into cinemas. They featured circular balconies, wooden stages, and elaborate facades. The Art Deco cinemas of the 1940s and 1950s spoke of modernity and optimism, reflecting the aspirations of a growing nation.
Personal Stories and Emotional Attachments
In many abandoned theatres, Chaturvedi found old projectors coated in dust. He recalls standing in a projection room where the projector had not moved since the last show. The caretaker told him that the machine was not outdated technology but something he had spoken to every night. In another town, an elderly projectionist refused to let go of a broken machine, saying, "Isne meri poori zindagi chalayi hai. Main isse kaise phenk doon (It has led me my entire life, how can I leave it behind?)"
One particularly memorable experience was at the Globe Theatre in Ranikhet, built in the late 19th century and later converted into a cinema. Located beside a British-era control room, access was nearly impossible. Chaturvedi slipped in early one morning, photographed the interiors before being stopped by guards. The last film screened there was Shahenshah (1988), and inside the crumbling lobby lay a faded poster of Amitabh Bachchan.
The Decline and Loss of Single-Screen Cinemas
Chaturvedi emphasizes that these places did not shut because films stopped working. "They shut because time, disputes, and neglect slowly corner them," he says. The most decisive shift came with the arrival of multiplexes in the late 1990s. Cinema moved from town centres to malls, from one large hall to multiple smaller screens. Ticket prices rose, and the idea of cinema as a shared experience weakened.
The neighbourhood theatre, once accessible to all, gave way to controlled spaces shaped by consumption and convenience. Single-screen cinemas, unable to compete with changing economics and technology, began disappearing. Studies show that from nearly 24,000 single-screen cinemas in 1990, India now has less than 2,000, a number that is fast declining.
The Erosion of Collective Emotional Experience
What was lost in this transition was the deep sense of collective emotion that cinema talkies once nurtured. Iconic Bollywood dialogues became legendary not merely because of the films themselves but because thousands had heard them together, repeated them, and carried them back into their everyday lives.
With multiplexes segmenting audiences and OTT platforms pushing cinema into private, solitary viewing, that shared emotional rhythm has steadily weakened. The experience of watching a film shifted from social ritual to individual consumption, eroding the cultural bonding that once defined movie-going in India.
Chaturvedi's documentary, Chhayaankan, which was also screened at the exhibition, maps the creative journeys of well-known cinematographers who have worked in the Mumbai film industry between 1962 and 2012. Through his work, Chaturvedi not only preserves the architectural beauty of these vanishing cinemas but also revives the collective memories and social histories they embody.
The exhibition serves as a powerful reminder of a bygone era, inviting viewers to reflect on the cultural and emotional significance of single-screen cinemas in India's social fabric.
