Priya Cinema's 60-year legacy hangs in the balance

Kolkata: The fate of the iconic Priya Cinema Hall in South Kolkata, where a fire had broken out recently, continues to hang in the balance with the owner saying on Monday that he is unsure if the building would be used as a single-screen theatre, or for some other business activity.

Arijit Dutta, the owner of Priya Entertainments, said he was flooded with requests to reopen the theatre.

"All my family members and friends want me to re-open the 60-year-old theatre as public sentiment is involved with Priya Cinema. The single-screen theatre has witnessed special screenings of many cult Bengali films in the past few decades. I am yet to take a call on the matter," he said.

The fire had started on the first-floor office of the hall around 10.15 pm on August 4, leading to panic among the late-night show viewers. They were, however, safely evacuated. After inspection, authorities of the Fire department claimed to have found shortcomings in the safety measures at the cinema hall.

In a notice, the department asked the owners to install water sprinklers and smoke detectors within the auditorium for getting a "no-objection" certificate.

Dutta said he was ready to abide by the directions of the Fire department, but insisted that the suggested norms were not common features in single screens across the country.

"To my knowledge, no single screen theatre in the country has the equipment suggested by the officials. However, we are ready to go by the directions, considering public safety aspects," he said.