The landmark Elite Cinema, which had shut operations a few years ago, is being pulled down.
A shoemaker has taken the property and a four-storey structure will replace the cinema, officials at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation said.
On Monday, a gigantic crane mounted on a pedestal was pulling down the front walls of what used to be Elite. Several pedestrians walking along SN Banerjee Road paused and looked on at the gaping hole on show now.
The bus stop there got its name from the cinema. Conductors sometimes call it Elite Corporation to also announce the presence of the civic headquarters on the other side of the road.
Like many of the famous theatres in the heart of the city, there was a time Elite would mostly screen Hollywood movies.
Over time that made way for Hindi movies. The final nail was struck by multiplexes.
The pulling down of Elite Cinema marks the end of one more single-screen theatre in the city. New Empire, Globe, Chaplin (formerly Minerva), Lighthouse and Paradise are among the others that have already shut down, unable to sustain themselves as the business of entertainment keeps evolving rapidly.
The proposal to allow the conversion of the cinema hall into a “mercantile building” was passed by the mayoral council of the civic body last year. “The old building fell under the category of an ‘assembly’ building. The new building will be a ‘mercantile’ building,” said a CMC official.
The CMC Building Rules, 2009, define different categories of buildings. Museums, banquets, auditoriums and cinema halls are among the structures that fall under the category of “assembly” buildings. Shops, stores, and retail showrooms fall under the category of “mercantile” buildings.
“The current owners of the plot applied for conversion of use for the building and have got the approval,” said the official.
“They (the owners) would not be pulling down the entire old structure. The sidewalls of the structure will not be demolished, but they will be strengthened,” the official added.
CMC sources said the facade is being pulled down because police wanted the building to be pushed back from the main road. The Elite Cinema building started immediately from the pavement along SN Banerjee Road.
“The proposed new building will go 6 metres inside compared to where the front wall of the old building stood. There will be provisions for car parking, too, in the new structure,” said the official.
The last time Elite Cinema changed hands was in May 1979 when the last owners purchased it from Nadir Theatres of Bombay for Rs 6 lakh.
Many Calcuttans fondly remembered watching cult movies at the cinema. Himadri Guha, a civil engineer, said Elite was well known for running English movies. “I remember watching movies in the late 1960s. The ticket price then was 65 paise,” said Guha, 72.
“I had once bought the tickets for a movie featuring Sophia Loren. I was still under 18 and the film was meant for adults. I went to the hall wearing trousers and a full-sleeve shirt thinking no one will be able to figure out my age,” said Guha, then a Shyambazar resident. “But the Anglo-Indian manager of the hall was standing at the gate. He gauged my age, stopped me from entering and took me to the ticket counter where he refunded the ticket price,” he said.
Guha remembered having seen Love Me Tender, which featured Elvis Presley, and Summer of 42 at Elite. All films by 20th Century Fox used to be shown first at Elite, Guha said.
Another Calcuttan in his 70s, a resident of Chandni Chowk, said he had heard from his parents about a skating show at the auditorium in the late 1940s. “This show was performed a couple of years before my birth. Later, I watched My Fair Lady and Spartacus at Elite. Many Russian movies were also screened there,” said the septuagenarian who also remembered having watched the Russian adaptations of Hamlet and King Lear there.