KMC to open offices at Roxy cinema hall

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will set up its offices at Roxy cinema. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Mayor-in-Council held recently.

The civic authorities will set up the Assessment, Market and Advertisement department at Roxy. As the cinema hall is a heritage building, the facade will not be changed.

The civic authorities had given a lease to Bengal Properties Private Limited. On the expiry of the lease in 2007, the civic authorities wanted to renew the lease but the lessee did not agree to the lease rent. They then moved court. In 2017, the property became free and the KMC took possession of the building.

Roxy cinema is one of the oldest cinema halls of Kolkata. Earlier, there was an opera hall which was converted into a cinema hall in the late 1930s.

'Kismat', the famous Hindi movie whose main role was played by Ashok Kumar, was released in Roxy in 1943. The movie was screened for 108 days at a stretch. It was a box office hit and fetched Rs 10 lakh in those days.

Many of Amitabh Bachchan's hit movies like 'Great Gambler' was released in Roxy.

Mayor Firhad Hakim said the work to set up the offices would begin soon. "As it is a heritage structure, the facade will not be touched. There will be state-of-the-art offices."