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STORY OF THE EROS CINEMA HALL
Khadeeja Arif
This posting is tracing the journey of one of south Delhi's oldest cinema halls - EROS, into becoming a multiplex.
Mr. Balbir Singh had just passed his matriculation that he got a job as a manager at the Eros cinema hall in 1968, which was then an established cinema hall in South Delhi. His only reason to join cinema hall manager was his love for cinema/films. It's a different story that he could not see many films when he was on duty. But, yes, he saw more films then he would have had seen otherwise.
Eros cinema hall was established in 1956. Other two cinema halls of the time were Sudershan and Shalimar. They were equally popular, but less 'up markets' Eros was among the best cinema hall in the city. It belong to Mr. Jagdish Rai Sood, who is the owner of the Eros Group, a prominent name in the business of hotels buildings. Eros has hotels/ buildings The Park Royal Hotel, Charhood village, Karam Pura building on its name. Ansal, DLF and the Eros were three big names of its times.
The reason why people would like to come to the Eros were many: it had a capacity of 150 cars parked at a time and 781 seats in the hall. The hall had discipline and 'decent crowd'. The hall was divided into three parts: the balcony, upper stall and the lower stall.
During 1971, the hall had undergone renovation.The seating capacity was expanded to the 1027 seats. The reason behind this renovation was the growing competition with Kamal and Paras, two new cinema halls came at this point in time, had more seating capacity than the Eros, hence their collection was good and phenomenal business. The Eros group was one of the most successful in the entire South Delhi. The rent of the hall for a film per week was 1.5 lakh. "If the film has a big star cast, the rent would be low but if the star cast is small the rates would be high."
Before Paras and Kamal, Eros was the only cinema hall which was getting the latest films first The bookers were given money in advance as to "book the film" with the distributor. Deluxe films, in the Bhagirat place, were the permanent bookers dedicated to the Eros groups. "Eros was the hall for the gentry". The audience comprises of people from Sunder Nagar, Defence Colony, Nizamuddin, New Friends Colony, Badarpur Boarder, Lajpat Nagar and Okhla. Initially the ticket at Eros cost " Das Aaana" then 2.50 Rs, and, finally when the hall closed in 2004, it was 40 Rs.
In 1971, the Eros group also came up with another cinema hall namely Vishal cinema hall in Raja Garden. There was boom in the business. Vishal had a separate booker, Mr. Colonel Joginder from the Screen Exchange in Bhagirat place. As the competition grew stronger, with the coming of cinema halls like Sapna and Kamal, the bookers also started charging high. And, to get the latest film first, the cinema hall owner/ exhibiter had to pay at least 5-10 lakh rupees in advance. The film that was got by Eros first would run on Eros first then on the other cinema halls.
During the 1970 there was a trend of films getting premiered at the cinema halls in Delhi. Eros was one of the obvious choice of the film producer to premier his films. The films that got premiered at Eros were Sanyasi of Manoj Kumar, Rocky, Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye etc. There was competition for the premier also. But, the exhibiter had to give no money: "Woh approach se hi hota tha".
The number of cinema halls was less and people would only to see a film. There was less competition and more business. " At least ek film teen hafto tak zaroor chalti thi. Aajkal jo film teen hafto tak chlati hai tau samjaho who hit hogayee." Neel kamal was one of the films that was shown again after 10 years of its release and ran for three full weeks. Dostana ran for 7 weeks. Mera naam Joker ran for 6 weeks. Kuch Kuch hota hai ran for 3 weeks. Tere Naam (the last film on Eros)- 3 weeks.
Another important change that occurred in the show business was the demise of the old films from the big screen. The trend was alive till the late eighties. Today nobody wants to watch an old film on a cinema hall. " itni mehgi ticket lekar koyi purani fim kiyon dekhega. Sab kuch tau cable par maujood hai." To show an old film meant 20% of the total business.
Morning show had gone in 2002. " We tried to show regional films dubbed in Hindi but that also didn't work as there was nobody to see these films. Safai karne ke paise bhi nahi nikalte thay." Morning show ticket was lower than the normal show as there were hardly anyone to see the morning show. The larger number of cinema halls not only meant the competition in the business but also meant the shorter run of a film on a particular cinema hall. " Jitne PVRs banege utni hi kam filmain chalen gi. Chhoti public se hi film ka business hai.Aur aajkal kaun un logo ke bare main sochta hai. Sab ko paisa kamana hai."
Eros was doing pretty well till 2000. It was only with the coming of the 3C's in 2002 that the business got really affected. The same audience that used to come to the Eros shifted to the 3C's. The distributor preferred to show his films on the 3C's rather than on the Eros. Mukta Arts, the distributor, would decide to show its film on a hall that would give him the maximum in advance and the best business. The other cinema halls that come under Mukta Arts are- 3C's, Sapna, Sonia, PVR Naryana, wave saket etc. Paras would not affect Eros because it has a different distributer. But the fact that 3C's and Eros had the same distributer would affect the business, as the distributor would prioritize 3C's over Eros.
Eros got shut in 2004. The last ran on the hall was Tere Naam. The reason was the growing attention of the audience to the 3C's, including the priority of the distributor.
Eros is under construction. The new Cineplex would come soon. The new hall would have two screens where two different films would run at the same time. It will have total 800 seats in the rest of the land would be transformed into a market place. The new cinema hall would take at least two years to come up: " aur uske baad 3C's khu ba khud mar ajyega"
Mr. Balbir Singh had just passed his matriculation that he got a job as a manager at the Eros cinema hall in 1968, which was then an established cinema hall in South Delhi. His only reason to join cinema hall manager was his love for cinema/films. It's a different story that he could not see many films when he was on duty. But, yes, he saw more films then he would have had seen otherwise.
Eros cinema hall was established in 1956. Other two cinema halls of the time were Sudershan and Shalimar. They were equally popular, but less 'up markets' Eros was among the best cinema hall in the city. It belong to Mr. Jagdish Rai Sood, who is the owner of the Eros Group, a prominent name in the business of hotels buildings. Eros has hotels/ buildings The Park Royal Hotel, Charhood village, Karam Pura building on its name. Ansal, DLF and the Eros were three big names of its times.
The reason why people would like to come to the Eros were many: it had a capacity of 150 cars parked at a time and 781 seats in the hall. The hall had discipline and 'decent crowd'. The hall was divided into three parts: the balcony, upper stall and the lower stall.
During 1971, the hall had undergone renovation.The seating capacity was expanded to the 1027 seats. The reason behind this renovation was the growing competition with Kamal and Paras, two new cinema halls came at this point in time, had more seating capacity than the Eros, hence their collection was good and phenomenal business. The Eros group was one of the most successful in the entire South Delhi. The rent of the hall for a film per week was 1.5 lakh. "If the film has a big star cast, the rent would be low but if the star cast is small the rates would be high."
Before Paras and Kamal, Eros was the only cinema hall which was getting the latest films first The bookers were given money in advance as to "book the film" with the distributor. Deluxe films, in the Bhagirat place, were the permanent bookers dedicated to the Eros groups. "Eros was the hall for the gentry". The audience comprises of people from Sunder Nagar, Defence Colony, Nizamuddin, New Friends Colony, Badarpur Boarder, Lajpat Nagar and Okhla. Initially the ticket at Eros cost " Das Aaana" then 2.50 Rs, and, finally when the hall closed in 2004, it was 40 Rs.
In 1971, the Eros group also came up with another cinema hall namely Vishal cinema hall in Raja Garden. There was boom in the business. Vishal had a separate booker, Mr. Colonel Joginder from the Screen Exchange in Bhagirat place. As the competition grew stronger, with the coming of cinema halls like Sapna and Kamal, the bookers also started charging high. And, to get the latest film first, the cinema hall owner/ exhibiter had to pay at least 5-10 lakh rupees in advance. The film that was got by Eros first would run on Eros first then on the other cinema halls.
During the 1970 there was a trend of films getting premiered at the cinema halls in Delhi. Eros was one of the obvious choice of the film producer to premier his films. The films that got premiered at Eros were Sanyasi of Manoj Kumar, Rocky, Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye etc. There was competition for the premier also. But, the exhibiter had to give no money: "Woh approach se hi hota tha".
The number of cinema halls was less and people would only to see a film. There was less competition and more business. " At least ek film teen hafto tak zaroor chalti thi. Aajkal jo film teen hafto tak chlati hai tau samjaho who hit hogayee." Neel kamal was one of the films that was shown again after 10 years of its release and ran for three full weeks. Dostana ran for 7 weeks. Mera naam Joker ran for 6 weeks. Kuch Kuch hota hai ran for 3 weeks. Tere Naam (the last film on Eros)- 3 weeks.
Another important change that occurred in the show business was the demise of the old films from the big screen. The trend was alive till the late eighties. Today nobody wants to watch an old film on a cinema hall. " itni mehgi ticket lekar koyi purani fim kiyon dekhega. Sab kuch tau cable par maujood hai." To show an old film meant 20% of the total business.
Morning show had gone in 2002. " We tried to show regional films dubbed in Hindi but that also didn't work as there was nobody to see these films. Safai karne ke paise bhi nahi nikalte thay." Morning show ticket was lower than the normal show as there were hardly anyone to see the morning show. The larger number of cinema halls not only meant the competition in the business but also meant the shorter run of a film on a particular cinema hall. " Jitne PVRs banege utni hi kam filmain chalen gi. Chhoti public se hi film ka business hai.Aur aajkal kaun un logo ke bare main sochta hai. Sab ko paisa kamana hai."
Eros was doing pretty well till 2000. It was only with the coming of the 3C's in 2002 that the business got really affected. The same audience that used to come to the Eros shifted to the 3C's. The distributor preferred to show his films on the 3C's rather than on the Eros. Mukta Arts, the distributor, would decide to show its film on a hall that would give him the maximum in advance and the best business. The other cinema halls that come under Mukta Arts are- 3C's, Sapna, Sonia, PVR Naryana, wave saket etc. Paras would not affect Eros because it has a different distributer. But the fact that 3C's and Eros had the same distributer would affect the business, as the distributor would prioritize 3C's over Eros.
Eros got shut in 2004. The last ran on the hall was Tere Naam. The reason was the growing attention of the audience to the 3C's, including the priority of the distributor.
Eros is under construction. The new Cineplex would come soon. The new hall would have two screens where two different films would run at the same time. It will have total 800 seats in the rest of the land would be transformed into a market place. The new cinema hall would take at least two years to come up: " aur uske baad 3C's khu ba khud mar ajyega"