Mumbai: The fortunes of Alexandra Cinema, a famous single screen theatre in Nagpada, rose and ebbed like ocean tides in the last 105 years since it was founded by Ardeshir Irani and Abdulally Esoofally in 1921. Once a favourite haunt of movie-goers for its Sunday Hollywood classics, it gradually fell into disrepute for showing X-rated fare. In 2007 the last film was screened, and around 2011, Alexandra transformed into an Islamic study and prayer centre. Now it is set to be demolished to make way for a residential complex.Audiences recall the magic of watching movies in such standalone theatres in the 1960s-70s where a samosa and ticket cost Rs 2-5 each. Spectators would freely whistle and applaud when Amitabh Bachchan beat Mohan Sherry in Trishul, laugh heartily at Mahmood’s antics in Ginny Aur Johnny, and throw coins at Jayshree T’s mujra ‘Humne maana hum pe saajan’ (Dada).Glitzy multiplexes are a different prospect, say critics, adding tickets and food are prohibitively expensive and collective outpouring of emotion is seldom witnessed.The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) provided TOI an updated list of June 2026 which shows that only 45-50 single screen cinema halls remain functional in MMR. The rest, around 125, have closed down. A requiem is being written every other week.Owners of single screen theatres say that faulty govt policies including high taxes, electricity bills, tiresome licence procedures and lack of incentives have left them suffocated. In fact, tax holidays are granted to multiplexes owned by rich corporates. The prospect of redevelopment is enticing — only if the mandate to include a movie hall in the new premises is removed, they say.Senior film critic Rajiv Vijayakar says, “I have watched movies in single screen theatres across India because my father had a transferable job. The atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the audience cannot be compared to a multiplex. Rarely do you see people clapping now — maybe in some cases like Dhurandhar.”He recalls, “Decades ago I had gone for a short three-day holiday to Mussourie, and every afternoon, I would visit a particular 50-seater theatre to watch films. I remember seeing CID 909, Shehnai and Yaadein. In Delhi I watched Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia in Sheela Cinema, which had installed the first 70 mm screen in India. In Chennai I recall going to a nice theatre located in the basement of a building.”Vijayakar moved to Bandra in the 1970s where Bandra Talkies and New Talkies became his standard haunt followed by Gaiety-Galaxy. “Of course it was a lovely era but let me not omit the occasional rat sightings in single screen halls,” he laughs. He recommends that the govt grant a tax holiday to single screens to revive them.The challenge of OTT and web series is not the sole hurdle. Nitin Datar, past president of COEAI, spells out a series of factors that have brought the curtains down on single screen theatres. “The first cause would be the [unfavourable] policies of the govt of Maharashtra, like very high property tax, electricity rates and [cumbersome] licence renewal. Then, multiplexes which were the new entrants were given a tax holiday for a period of five years, and in that duration, they earned around Rs 15-20 crores. But when our single screens asked govt for a similar incentive to compete with multiplexes, we were denied it and left high and dry,” he says.“Thereafter the Maharashtra govt gave a tax free scheme like multiplexes to theatres in the state — except in corporation areas like Mumbai and Pune. But after GST was introduced, govt discontinued this policy. Meanwhile exhibitors had spent a huge amount on renovation — and they came into losses. Then the govt almost put compulsion on single screen theatres to go for digital projection and computerised ticketing. So first we used to sell paper tickets, now it was computerised. And the benefit of this was taken by agencies who monopolised the process,” Datar says.If that were not enough, big distributors and producers were acting like a “monopoly” cartel. “Due to pressure by multiplexes, they did not supply films to all the single screen theatres,” he says.COEAI and other associations requested the govt for subsidy and loans so single screens could survive and compete, to no avail.Datar is presently renovating his own Uday Cinema in Ghatkopar into a commercial complex, including two screens in the mandatory cinema hall.A high profile revival in recent years was that of Eros Cinema, Churchgate, in Jan 2024. A spokesman for Metro Realty which owns the theatre said, “The redevelopment of Eros was a capital intensive and challenging project, envisioning adaptive reuse of spaces in an iconic heritage building. It now houses an IMAX cinema, flagship store and ten dining options.” Similar financial backing is often not available to single screens in non-prime locations.Kapil Bhopatkar’s family has owned Bharatmata Cinema in Lalbaug since 1941. The hall underwent a full makeover in March. Bhopatkar says, “The challenges for a single screen are multiple. Firstly we have no control over the content that we screen. I don’t make the films that I exhibit at Bharatmata. After all only if the film does well, the theatre does well. Moreover, we pay unusually high electricity bills because we are charged at a commercial rate. We pay huge sums in property taxes and of course there are vast upgradation costs. We need some kind of govt support and ease of licencing regulations. Those owners who want to exit the business and apply for change of user should be allowed to go.”Bharatmata has been revamped in a tie-up with One Cinemas, Rajat Haksar and Sunil Patil. “Ours is a heritage structure so we retained the exterior but changed the interiors — chairs, AC, a bigger screen, better sound and 2K projections.”Even as newer direct to home technology and OTT overtakes the cinematic experience, several generations of film lovers long for that one Drive-In or Navrang that did not force them to break the piggy bank.
