kolkata: Cine lovers in the city have reasons to cheer with Golf Club Road in Tollygunge getting a permanent single screen venue for cinema. Radha Studio, located at the ground floor of the Cinema Centenary Building—close to Bangur hospital—opened its door for screening of commercial films on a regular basis from Friday.
State Sports and Youth Affairs minister Aroop Biswas, who is also the MLA from Tollygunge, minister of State Information and Cultural Affairs Indranil
Sen, actor Dev, Soham, director Goutam Ghosh, Haranath Chakraborty and local people representatives were present at the inaugural programme.
"Cinema halls are like temple for an actor. All single screen theatres that were situated here have closed down. So, a facility like this where people can come and enjoy Bengali films at such a low price was badly needed. I owe my gratitude to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for such an initiative,"Dev said.
Single screen theatres like Malancha and Madhuban located in and around Tollygunge have closed down.
"We have been using this venue for screening of films during the Kolkata International Film Festival every year. Now, the 152 seat auditorium will exhibit film shows in same pattern as in Nandan on a regular basis. The screening committee that selects films for Nandan I and Nandan II
will do the same for this venue too,"a senior official of the state Information and Cultural Affairs department said. The ticket rates are only Rs 30. Three shows will be held each day with films like Kishmish, Kolkatar Harry and The Eken being screened on Friday.
"It is a small stride in fulfilling the Chief Minister's mission that Tollywood has the potential to offer a stiff competition to Hollywood,"Biswas said.
Taking the cue from Biswas, Sen said that the Chief Minister had again proved that she was the friend, philosopher and guide for Tollywood.
Old timers are nostalgic at the start of screening at this address with the plot housing Radha Studio, which saw the birth of
Doordarshan in Calcutta in 1975 before it moved to its current premises in Golf Green. Radha Studio had the best lights, which they used to rent to outside units too.
The venue will be used as a preview theatre, which is very important before starting to screen films.
A project has been undertaken under a state government-supported initiative to restore the films and news reels preserved in the vaults at the Cinema Centenary Building and Rupayan lab.
Four of the first lot of films that have been restored under the project were screened at the festival, including three of Satyajit Ray's films 'Hirak Rajar Deshe', 'Sonar Kella' and 'Sukumar Ray', and Gautam Ghose's eponymous documentary on Ray.