When someone asks what you remember the most about your childhood, you will say, apart from the usual school memories and fun with friends, the movies you watched with your family. Those Sunday evenings when the whole lot got into a Premier Padmini and went to see blockbusters. Your dad rushing everyone at home because: “Malli housefull ayipothe black lo konalsi vasthundi!”. The huge cut-outs, the first day crowds, the thrill of the velvet purdah being lifted from the screen… You remember everything with such vividness!

Cinema has always played such a major role in our lives. And those were the days of expensive videos cassettes (VCRs). No internet. No torrents. No access to the stars, except cinema-halls.

We recollect the glorious days, and those theaters where unforgettable memories were made.

1. Sangeet: I remember watching many English movies with my grandfather here… I remember being thrilled by Star Wars, scared by The Sixth Sense, and purely awed by The Lion King. The sound of ‘The Final Countdown’ playing before the curtain lifted itself brought us goosebumps! It was one of the most iconic movie-halls in the twin cities, and I bet many had shed a tear or two when it was razed down in 2008.

2. Maheshwari and Parameshwari: These twin theatres came up in the 80s and soon became glamour queens. Glitzy in their decor and architecture, they were best known for the escalator, probably the first in public space in Hyderabad, which was almost a major tourist attraction those days.

3. Anand was like the Hindi-speaking cousin of Sangeet. DDLJ had its longest run in Hyderabad here. History books have paved the way for accounting ledgers, and it was demolished in 2012.

4. Skyline and Sterling: The big Landmark in Basheerbagh. There was plenty of parking, huge space, with nice eating joints around. Many English blockbusters like Chicago, Titanic, and a whole lot of Bond movies enjoyed great runs here. Basic Instinct ran for close to a year in Sterling!

5. Liberty: The theatre was so popular that the bus stop and area at the junction of the road meeting the Basheerbagh-Tank Bund road from Himayat Nagar came to be known as Liberty. Though I don’t have any memories associated with this one, my dad does, and it was apparently a huge affair with some old fashioned architecture on it! Classics like The Sound of Music and Guns of Navarone enjoyed a fair share of re-runs here!

Fun Fact: Odeon actually is the Greek name for a theatre.

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