Barely a week after reports emerged that South Mumbai's iconic Regal Cinema's owners are planning to shutter over plummeting occupancy, film industry patrons — including owner of Maratha Mandir and G-7 Multiplex Manoj Desai — have expressed a desire to help save it. Last week, owners of the last few surviving 1000-seater single screen had voiced concern over their dwindling sale and said shutting down was the only option.
"It is a very prominent place in the film history of Mumbai. In my youth, Pankaj Udhas and I went to see many movies there. Running a single screen theatre is actually less of a challenge than a multiplex. I know the owners of Regal well and they have been facing some challenges over the last six months. Anybody would love to buy Regal cinema to save it from its current crisis," said Desai, speaking exclusively with DNA.
Regal, which opened its doors on October 4, 1933, is known for many 'firsts', including being the first Asian theatre to be air-conditioned as recorded in the Limca Book of Records. At the time, Faramji Sidhwa and Kaikhushroo Kooka engaged British architect Charles Stevens, son of iconic CSMT architect Frederick Stevens.
Film critic Amod Mehra, while admitting that multiplexes were driving out business, opined that the government should now pitch in to save Regal. "It has to be preserved as a movie theatre and nothing else. Liberty and other single-screen theatres in Mumbai are also struggling to survive."
"Government should give some incentives to save Regal and such theatres. The film industry lacks unity and hence no one is coming forward when an iconic theatre like Regal is shutting down," claims Mehra.
Even art décor conservationists are coming forward to save Regal. "It is difficult for one family to maintain these historical structures. There are many people who are interested in preserving it so they should open it to public and those who can invest in it. Regal brought the cultural mileau of Western movies to the city. It has so many beginnings and is as important to preserve as the CSMT," said Dr Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, a visual anthropologist and author.
DNA also reached out to Regal's owners, but they refused to comment on the issue.
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