Goodbye Skyline and Sterling

[Jaszalcatraz]

The place apparently closed down on March 4.

A lotta sweet memories here.



I remember watching my first movie in Hyderabad in this place. It was Batman in 1990.

Another great memory is the Marathon Lord of The Rings Trilogy where I knew half the people in the theatre.

Also the Friday 1:45 show that I never missed in my intermediate and whenever I'm in Hyderabad.



Will miss ya forever

[ycr007]

I had read in the paper that they are Temporarily closed for Renovation.

And the Owners insist that English Movies will be continued to be exhinited

there.



Hope they' won't pull it all down & build a new multiplex.

[Jaszalcatraz]

[ycr007]

I had read in the paper that they are Temporarily closed for Renovation.

And the Owners insist that English Movies will be continued to be exhinited

there.



Hope they' won't pull it all down & build a new multiplex.

[CtrlAltDel]

i miss them too...they have given me perfect cover for numerous dates and reasons to "cut" classes in intermediate....



if they're just being renovated, as jackal says, its a relief....coz that place badly needed a face lift and refurbishing....i wish they turn into a modern, plush cineplex like HiTech Cinema or Sensation in the next avtar (whenever it is....)





btw, anyone knows whats with Santosh/Sapna...? they too have been closed since a few months....since the structure is still untouched, i hope its only for renovation....i love that place too

[CtrlAltDel]

...as jackal says...

:oops: sorry, i meant "ycr"...

[ycr007]

...as jackal says...

:oops: sorry, i meant "ycr"...

Chalta hai Boss......With the DB being as slow as it is,mistakes r bound to happen.



I had read the bit o' news in Hindu's Online Supplement "Metro Plus"

[ycr007]

Where have the English flicks gone?

IF ONE wanted to catch the latest from Hollywood, one would go to Sangeet, Anand, Skyline or Sterling. All changed and the first casualty was Anand - it was all set to play Men in Black II, when suddenly the theatre shut down and since it has re-opened, the theatre has only been playing Hindi films. The twin theatres, Skyline and Sterling, played their last movie - Mystic River and have been closed from March 4. The manager says the reason for closure has been falling collections. The last bastion, Sangeet, would also be going the multiplex way as Akshat Misra says, "English movies just do not do well. Especially over the last two years, collections have been falling which is why we have been running Hindi films."

Source: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/03/19/stor ... 220100.htm

[akhilis2cool]

Thats a sad bit of news. several theaters in hyd. have closed over the years. There were two of the oldest cinema halls near my house...Dilshad and Royal. saw them being pulled down brick by brick (i live rite behind them) my dad and uncle(s) have so many gr8 memories associated with them.



But i guess this is inevitable. its after all business. no profit means no business.

[CtrlAltDel]

one thing i dont get....new cinemas are multiplying in all the suburbs of hyderabad while main cinemas in the city center are closing



4 years ago, the Surya twins in abids closed (they were sealed by the Commercial Taxes dept for non-payment of taxes worth crores...)

about 3 years ago Sai Kishore closed (family dispute, i hear. It closed for same reason in 1987 and reopened in 1994). It was a good English movie hall with a gr8 sound system...

Then Anand closed temporarily and reopned under new management as a Hindi movie hall...

Ajanta and Natraj in secbad have closed (while the ramshackle Manohar n Rajeshwar nearby still operate )

Shalimar and Kavya closed (but i dont think anyone really cares )

Santosh n Sapna are closed since a few months and a board near the gate says "Closed for renovation" (a sign of hope?)

now....Skyline and Sterling....snifff....snifff....



at the same time new cinemas are opening in suburbs every year...look at Dilshuknagar and Kukatpally these days! they are almost like RTC X Roads...

There were two of the oldest cinema halls near my house...Dilshad and Royal. saw them being pulled down brick by brick

i saw the last movie played at Dilshad before it was closed: a nth rerun of "Jewel of the Nile"...and i remember the my friend and I were the only ones in the big balcony

[ycr007]

at the same time new cinemas are opening in suburbs every year...look at Dilshuknagar and Kukatpally these days! they are almost like RTC X Roads...

Kukatpally area has about 10 theatres now.All of them show ONLY telugu

movies.5 of them are quite good.Dunno abt the rest.

[ahilis2cool]

one thing i dont get....new cinemas are multiplying in all the suburbs of hyderabad while main cinemas in the city center are closing

I guess the only reason cld. b maintanence costs. the older ones will have higher maintanence costs. On the other hand a new cinema hall will attaract more crowd than an older or renovated one...people like new things I suppose...

at the same time new cinemas are opening in suburbs every year...look at Dilshuknagar and Kukatpally these days! they are almost like RTC X Roads...

arrey yaaron dilsukhnagar mein taxes kam hai since they come under a panchayat. remember shiva ganga? they still have tickets in the range of 10 - 20 rupees

There were two of the oldest cinema halls near my house...Dilshad and Royal. saw them being pulled down brick by brick

i saw the last movie played at Dilshad before it was closed: a nth rerun of "Jewel of the Nile"...and i remember the my friend and I were the only ones in the big balcony

inspite of staying rite behind the cinema halls...I only watched one movie in dilshad....shree 420

[ycr007]

One of the main reasons why the cinema halls are moving away frm the city

is that more & more people are settled in those areas only.

With the passage of Time,when a city's population expands,most of them

would be xpected to settle down nearabout the city fringes and as more &

more people migrate here, the city expands outwards.



So it really makes sense to have cinema theatres in those areas.

I thnk not many will disagree with me when I say that Kukatpally & Dilsukhnagar

are two of the Most crowded localities in Hyderabad.And they are the nEwest too.

All the older areas like Ammerpet,Begumpet,Panjagutta etc have become

hubs of Commercial activity.So there's little or less returns in the cinema

halls being stup there.

[akhilis2cool]

I guess the halls at RTC X road are an exception to the above theory ycr

most of them close down coz of profits declining...

[ycr007]

I guess the halls at RTC X road are an exception to the above theory ycr
most of them close down coz of profits declining...

yeah,but profits declining can be attributed to two (maybe Three) factors:



1.The Movies are not enticing the viewers' attention.They want classy fare

which is quite less nowadays.



2.The movies are exhibited for very long periosd jus' to satisfy the Heroes,

Producers etc which causes a severe drop in the collections.After all if every1

arnd has seen the movie within 3 weeks,then whatz the point in stretching

it to 100 days!!!



3.With the mushrooming of multiplexes,the Halls are robbed of the clientele

in the Upper-Middle class segment whic leads to practically empty balconies.



Also there are other factors like Distributors charging Exorbitant fees,

Public discern etc.Ovarall,it wud make sense for the Owner if he conks

off the hall & builts any Profitable entity there.

[CtrlAltDel]

After all if every1 arnd has seen the movie within 3 weeks,then whatz the point in stretching it to 100 days!!!

..but that artificial stretching is being done by the fan clubs who buy the tickets in bulk. there is no expence for the exhibitor here.

Also there are other factors like Distributors charging Exorbitant fees

distributors do not charge the exhibitors anything. Distributors take the hall on rent and screen the movie. entire box office collection goes to the distributor after tax, with the exhibitor taking a small percentage for maintenence (abt Re.1 per ticket). so if there is less people in a hall, the exhibitor also lose the maintenence charge they charge per ticket, and also they have to pay entertainment tax depending on the seating capacity of the auditorium (E-tax in most states does not depend on number of tickets sold).



IMO, Cable TV and piracy are largely responsible for the lesser number of movie audiences these days

[Mayavi Morpheus]

yeah man... Long live movie piracy

[akhilis2cool]

I guess the halls at RTC X road are an exception to the above theory ycr
most of them close down coz of profits declining...

yeah,but profits declining can be attributed to two (maybe Three) factors:

1.The Movies are not enticing the viewers' attention.They want classy fare
which is quite less nowadays.

theres no dearth of attaractive movies nowadays. even a regular telugu movie wld. have songs that are designed only for the front benchers.

2.The movies are exhibited for very long periosd jus' to satisfy the Heroes,
Producers etc which causes a severe drop in the collections.After all if every1arnd has seen the movie within 3 weeks,then whatz the point in stretching it to 100 days!!!

thats the case only with telugu movies I guess...and not all the movies get stretched...only the chiru...nagarjun...venky stuff...there are so many telugu movies releasing every month

3.With the mushrooming of multiplexes,the Halls are robbed of the clientele in the Upper-Middle class segment whic leads to practically empty balconies.

that cld. b true ...but then the majority of the watchers are from the middle and lower middle classes..and hyd. so far has only one multiplex...

Also there are other factors like Distributors charging Exorbitant fees, Public discern etc.Ovarall,it wud make sense for the Owner if he conks off the hall & builts any Profitable entity there.

dunno much abt. the distributor charging exhorbitant fees...

I have seen several movie halls turning into marriage function halls (including shalimar ) that has not done much to change the fortunes I guess...coz there are many better function halls already.



ghoomphirke mere dimag mein ekhi baat aati hai...maitainence maintanence...maintanence

[Jaszalcatraz]

I've always wanted to go on a photographing mission around Hyderabad. Take pictures of the hangouts of our generation. From Irani Cafes to theatres. Chat bandis to famous shops. Problem is that I dont have a digicam and the older cams wont be of much help.

Now that the Hyderabad we know is slowly dying we need to do this quickly.

I wonder if Fullhyd.com is planning to do anything of this sort. Not just gathering information, just a page where everyday we can see a glimpse of our city. A new picture of an old building or memory everyday.

Idea kaisa hai?

[akhilis2cool]

I've always wanted to go on a photographing mission around Hyderabad. Take pictures of the hangouts of our generation. From Irani Cafes to theatres. Chat bandis to famous shops. Problem is that I dont have a digicam and the older cams wont be of much help.
Now that the Hyderabad we know is slowly dying we need to do this quickly.
I wonder if Fullhyd.com is planning to do anything of this sort. Not just gathering information, just a page where everyday we can see a glimpse of our city. A new picture of an old building or memory everyday.
Idea kaisa hai?

I dea jhakas hai i wld. like to contribute too.

magar mere paas to normal camera hai...uske photo develop karna boleto mehnga padta...digicam mangta mereko bhi. ..else FH shd. sponsor the photo developing charges ...they can keep the originals with them...

[Mayavi Morpheus]

Very good idea Jasz. We need pics of the new and old Hyderabad. There are loads of pics of banglore, gurgaon, delhi and kolkatta on net, but sadly no pictures of Hyderabad.

[Jaszalcatraz]

Idea jhakas hai i wld. like to contribute too.
magar mere paas to normal camera hai...uske photo develop karna boleto mehnga padta...digicam mangta mereko bhi. ..else FH shd. sponsor the photo developing charges ...they can keep the originals with them...

If I remember right, I think FH has a digicam themselves. Maybe they can give the cam to someone they know (with good photography skills) and pay the travelling charges and give a list of places to be photographed. It wont cost them a lot.

btw.....I have decent photography skills

[akhilis2cool]

Idea jhakas hai i wld. like to contribute too.
magar mere paas to normal camera hai...uske photo develop karna boleto mehnga padta...digicam mangta mereko bhi. ..else FH shd. sponsor the photo developing charges ...they can keep the originals with them...

If I remember right, I think FH has a digicam themselves. Maybe they can give the cam to someone they know (with good photography skills) and pay the travelling charges and give a list of places to be photographed. It wont cost them a lot.
btw.....I have decent photography skills

good selfpromotion I say

but yes...I wldnt. mind u doing the job.

[Jaszalcatraz]

good selfpromotion I say
but yes...I wldnt. mind u doing the job.

Was just giving ideas and options for the Mods to begin with.

I'm putting a few pictures of Moscow Metro Train Stations below for the people to have an idea of how this can work out like.









Those are just 2...for the complete list goto http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/Kievskaya/Kiev2/mainpage.htm



Imagine having pics of panoramic views of the insides of Skyline, Gokul Chat, Madina, Sultan Bazaar etc. Already Purana Paradise chale gaya. Kuch tho karna hai.

[CtrlAltDel]

thats a cool idea Jasz...a sorta online Time Capsule capturing our time as it exists now!



i have an SLR and as Akhil says i'd be a hassle developing n printing the rolls...if a digicam is made available i too volunteer to click pictures anytime