Tribhuvan and Kailash, which are to be closed from Friday, were at one time regarded ‘prestigious’ for any new release.
Huge garlanded cutouts of ‘heroes’ were permanent features of the two theatres that are located within one complex.
100 days
The theatres have seen many Rajkumar starrers running for 100 days, including Sampattige Sawal . The latest to hit the mark were Rangitaranga and First Rank Raju .
While films of top stars were screened in Tribhuvan, small-budget films such as Anubhava , Aandhi , Nagamandala , Mysuru Mallige have been screened in Kailash. Films of Rajashri Productions ran for long durations in Kailash.
Renovation
Both theatres had been renovated about a decade ago. This had brought down the number of seats in Tribhuvan from 1,150 to 783, and in Kailash from 300 to 243 to provide more leg room for the audience.
Jnaneshwara Aithal, the lease-holder of the two theatres, says that bringing down the structures is ‘inevitable’ given the dip in collections.
“We cannot match the facilities offered by multiplexes in a single-screen theatre,” he said.
‘Hard to please
present generation’
Thursday will be a sad day for K. Dattatri (60), who joined Tribhuvan as the manager in his twenties. He has vivid memories of all the films screened in these two theatres.
He became emotional while speaking to The Hindu . “People have changed. Demands of the present generation are different and difficult to fulfil.”
Out of jobs
Over 40 workers will have to search for jobs from Thursday. Jayanna, producer and distributor, said, “I will miss these two theatres, where my films fared well, a lot.”
Landmark theatres
that were razed
Kalpana, Kempe Gowda, Opera, Plaza, Imperial, Pramod, Galaxy, Blue Moon, Blue Diamond, Geethanjali, Himalaya, Alankar, Pallavi, Kino, Swastik, Central, Shivaji, Devi, Sangam, Naga, Lakshmi Maruthi and Prabhat, Shanti, Nanda, Paramount, Minerva, Sagar
