Jaane Kahaan Gayee Woh Din
Sangeet Theatre, one of Hyderabad's oldest cinema houses (since 1967) is being torn down to be rebuilt as a plush multiplex. Good decision, Hyderabad needs more cinema halls (have you tried getting tickets to a movie on the weekend?). But I couldn't resist feeling nostalgic about the place. It was an essential cornerstone of my teenage years.
Sangeet was one of two "decent" theaters in town that showed English films. In high school, Sunday afternoons at Sangeet was a rigid tradition. After a hard night of "partying" we woke up stiff and sore (er, we thought head banging was so cool) and got someone to drive us to watch the latest English movie in town, even if it was something as awful as Titanic. Hyderabad was really short of places to out at. So going to the movies was the next best option. And then it became a cultish thing. If you were invited to watch a movie with us, then you're "in". Yeah, we were a bunch of snobs.
I laughed out loud as I remembered the day it was my friend Shraavya's birthday and we carried a little cake for her. Not wanting to wait for the interval, we lit it up in the middle of the film and began to sing for her. People around us were livid and the manager stormed in and found her holding this cake with 16 bright candles, yelled at her and threw her out while we were sniggering in our seats. Nasty teenagers, I say.
The cinema house also played an important role in supporting budding romances. Where else could we escape the conservative eyes of the city's adults and smooch and cuddle in the darkness? I think more than one of my friends had their first kiss here.
Sangeet's chutney sandwiches are still famous. Spicy chutney downed with Thumbs Up (the cola drink), an explosion on the taste buds. Sometimes, when we're in the area, we stop and pick up a few for the road. The man who's been making them has been around for 15 years now and I hope they bring him back when the shiny multiplex opens.
I haven't watched a film there in a few years, with traffic it now takes one hour to get there as opposed to the twelve minutes about ten years ago. Also, it's just not the same without the gang of friends. But whenever I think back, I can't remember what else we did on Sunday afternoons.
posted by apoorvi at
7:11 PM
2 Comments:
Such a well written post, it brought back memories of my first movie I saw at Sangeet in 1996 - English August. Coming in from a small town where there were ceiling fans in theaters the whole concept of air conditioning in the hall was a mind blowing experience back then. Some of my favourite movies of all time were seen in that theatre - Saving Private Ryan, the thin red line . I also remember exiting the theatre after watching Mission Impossible 2 and how in the bike lot everyone (including me) were revving their bikes up - suddenly 100 CC looked a lot like a 1000 cc!. Me and my family would catch late night movies and munch on those delicious chutney sandwiches. I kept going back to Sangeet for a long time not to watch movies but because their office sold old movie posters and here is where I picked up a vintage first edition poster for Fight Club.
In the 80's Secunderabad and MG road where the happening places and gradually in the 90's it ceded to Hyderabad, though Sangeet stood fast to remind us 'Secunderabadis' of the 'life' in the twin cities so it is with a tinge of sadness I read your post about the tearing down of so many memories of so many meetings that a Rs. 500 a month pocket money could afford
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