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Visual Documentations
The entance to Aleya, one of the oldest cinema halls in the Ballygunje-Gariahat locality, Kolkata. Aleya has shut down; an apartment block is being constructed in its space.
Seema Das, grew up in a locality surrounding a cinema hall in the southern fringes of Kolkata. After her marriage she shifted in a locality close to Aleya. Having spent all her life in the proximity of single screens, she rues how its absence also takes away with it a vibrant night time in the city. With shows running late and people rushing in and out, the city felt safer than it feels now for her.
Deepak Das runs his store in front of where Aleya stood once. Migrated to Kolkata to study and work, he has been minding this hop for the past 22 years of his 25 years stay in the city. Laments the loss of customers post-closure of the cinema. He symbolises the stasis that has engulded this city and its inhabitants.
The legend of Metro Cinemas stand out in red in the backdrop. It was built by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1935 to show Hollywood films to the city's elite. The building's architect Thomas White Lamb, was one of the foremost designers of “movie palaces” in the 20th century. It had fallen under disrepute and disrepair, only to have been renovated in recent times. The building now houses a shopping mall and two screens. It will offer interesting insight into the kind of restoration project that should or should not be undertaken.
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