I was at Cinepolis mall inside Acropolis Mall, for the 10am show of the Kartik Aaryan-starrer Chandu Champion. A little after noon, I noticed a few Cinepolis employees coming into the hall and moving from row to row, speaking to the people. I overheard the word “fire” and thought it was a drill because the movie was still playing. Then someone said “turn off the movie and turn on the lights, there is a fire in the food court”.
There were about 15-20 people in the auditorium and we all shuffled out through the usual exit, except this time we were herded out via the stairs at the back. People started running down the stairs, with more people joining on each floor landing. We were out of the building by 12.15pm and there was already a significant number of people milling outside. I first saw light smoke coming out from behind the rounded part of the building. The smoke grew in intensity very soon. I heard store workers worrying about personal items they had had to leave behind.
‘The journalist in me got into action, clicking a few quick pictures and videos and sharing them with my colleague.’ My Kolkata
I waited for around 15 minutes, taking in the happenings around me. The journalist in me got into action, clicking a few quick pictures and videos and sharing them with my colleague.
The down traffic towards the main entry to the mall had been blocked by then. No autos or cabs were being allowed to stop on the Rashbehari connector in front of the mall. So I walked a little ahead and hopped on to a bus to go to office.
