The curtain will fall on Kailas Theatre, one of the oldest movie halls in the State, on Thursday after 63 years.
Filmgoers in and around the town, considered a cultural centre and the commercial hub of northernmost Kerala, would from now cherish fond memories of the golden hits screened at the cinema since it began its run on August 26, 1951.
The cinema hall is being closed down to make way for a shopping mall. The 94-cent land, given on lease to the theatre owners, has been sold to a Mangalore-based business group.
The movie hall was set up by 10 personalities of eminence who had taken the initiative to open the famed Durga high school here in 1948.
It was named Durga Talkies and was set up in a palm-roofed hall in a ground close to the railway station before shifting to the new premises.
Kailas Theatre was among those honoured in Chennai for completing 50 years at a function hosted by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce to mark the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema in September last.
Having exhibited the first Malayalam voice movie Balan , innumerable hits of Udaya theatre, Kumarasambhavam to the latest How Old Are You , the cinema experienced the turbulent times in the film industry till the recent past. But, it managed to update its technology in keeping with the emerging trends, said theatre manager K. Venugopalan Nambiar. “We are planning to exhibit a latest Malayalam movie on the last day on Thursday sans fanfare, he said.
Fond memories of the movie hall, which played newsreels and national anthem at the end of every show in the past, would remain etched in the minds of film-oers, said P. Damodaran, a taxi driver.
