Another legendary theatre, Cauvery, located in the vibrant center of Sadashivnagar in Namma Bengaluru, has closed its doors. Over its storied history, the theater screened a wide variety of films, including multilingual blockbusters. It closed on April 19.
The Cauvery theater served as a cultural center for moviegoers of all stripes during the 30-week run of the Telugu hit Sankarabharanam (1980), the 22-week run of the Bollywood classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), and the 12-week run of the Kannada film Premada Kanike (1976), starring Dr. Rajkumar.
Along with many other Kannada films, Kamal Haasan’s Indian (1996) ran on theaters for more than 100 days, enjoying a prosperous run till its conclusion with Kantara (2022), which made a tidy fifty thousand bucks during its 50-day run.
The Cauvery theater opened on January 11, 1974, with a screening of Dr. Rajkumar’s Bangarada Panjara (1974). In January 2024, it celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with gusto and sentimentality. But in the end, a choice taken ten years prior decided its demise. Taking up his father Narasimhaiah’s legacy of the Cauvery theatre, Prakash muses on the harsh realities of a post-Covid world and the unstoppable march of time.
The theater closes after months without a show and is unable to pay its bills.
“We have to adjust over time,” adds Prakash. “With only a few screens, the pandemic inflicted a serious hit to our theater company. Even with multilingual cinema screenings, vacant chairs were the norm. With only a week to spare after the premiere of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan on April 10, our final screening brought in a pitiful Rs 60,000. We were forced to cope with “NO SHOW” signs starting in January 2024. We haven’t been able to pay even our monthly electricity bills for the past few months.
Pieeth, who resided in Sadashivnagar, visited this theater frequently with his family and used it as a second home. He remembers, “Puneeth had his own preferred box, where he enjoyed watching every film. He would stroll in for the 9.30 night shows.”
The spirit of Cauvery will live on in the hearts of everyone who witnessed its cinematic magic, even if its physical presence may diminish.
“Films cannot draw fifty people.”
Prakash also attributes a significant portion of the theater’s decline on the emergence of OTT platforms. “OTT platforms provide convenience at a significantly lower expense,” he says. “Audiences prefer the comfort of home viewing despite ticket prices ranging from Rs 150 to 200,” adds Prakash, who is already preparing for a commercial complex since he believes it may help them make 10 times as much money as they have so far.
According to Prakash, Puneeth Rajkumar is one name that sticks out among the innumerable guests who graced the Cauvery theatre.
Owner of Veeresh Theatres and exhibitor KV Chandrashekar claims there isn’t even a choice. The Cauvery Theatre, which had 1,300 seats in the past, eventually had only 900. But attendance at the movie theater declined sharply, which was one of the primary causes of its closure.
Speaking about the change in moviegoer behavior, he explains that multiplexes provide a range of languages under one roof, whereas single screens like Cauvery could only show one Hindi or Kannada movie at a time. He continues, “Multiplexes can switch screens to running films, unlike single theaters.”
Chandrashekar asks, “Despite once drawing at least 5,000 people on a daily basis in five shows, today’s films fail to draw even 50 people in any show,” as he muses over Cauvery’s former splendor. How is it going to last?
Though it might take some time, Chandrashekar gives some hope by stating Prakash Narasimhaiah’s intentions to turn Cauvery into a commercial project with a multiplex on top.
