Kailash Cinema being razed to make way for shopping complex

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 22

Kailash Chowk, one of the busiest roundabouts in the old part of the city, will soon lose its identity — the Kailash Cinema — after which it was named.

Although the roundabout will continue to be called as “Kailash Chowk”, the one of the oldest cinema halls in the city will be no more, as the razing work is on.

Lying closed for the past almost 15 years, it was sold off. Currently it is being razed to make way for a shopping complex.

Be it shopkeepers near the cinema or those living in other parts of the city, everybody had fond memories of the cinema, which came up here in 1954. According to the old timers, Mughl-e-Azam was the first movie to be screened here.

Jugal Kishore Mehra, who runs a small samosa-kachauri shop at Kailash Chowk, said the cinema was constructed in front of their eyes and it was sad that now it was being dismantled. Pandit Shankunt Lal was the manager of the cinema, remembers Mehra.

“The movie hall caught fire once and it is closed since then. I have seen Ganga Jamuna, Chetan, Dharti and many other old movies here. After me, my children used to go to watch movies here,” he said.

Nobody misses Kailash Cinema more than Ashok Marwaha, since the day it was closed, as his house had a common wall with the cinema.

The family would overhear the entire film every day. “We would hear dialogues and the melody of songs used to create a pleasant environment at home. We never got disturbed and used to enjoy it. During night, the dialogues and songs became more audible and the entire family enjoyed it. We came to know about the story of every film,” said Marwaha.

He said the late-night show of 9 to 12 was their favourite. “After finishing our work, we used to go to watch the movie in our night suits. Those were the days we miss today and some of our friends were envious of the privilege we had of going to the cinema late at night,” he said.

He said now all that he knows is that a complex with 260 shops and a parking in the basement is coming up in its place.

Manjit Singh, who runs a juice and fruit shop at Kailash Chowk, said the cinema was started by four partners and was later sold off.

Mughl-e-Azam, Ram aur Sham and Professor were a few of the films Manjit remembers watching here.

RK Narula, another city resident, said Dharam Veer, Nanhe Farishte are some of the films he watched here, adding that in 2002, Aag was being screened and the cinema actually caught fire. People used to say: Kailash mein Aag lagi thi aur sach mein aag lag gayee.