Chaplin cinema, off New Market. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

As part of their urban renewal programme, the civic authorities have drawn up a plan to close down Chaplin cinema, earlier known as Minerva, and build a four-storey mall in its place.

The single-screen theatre off New Market, owned by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), was leased out to the West Bengal Film Development Corporation in 1990 against an annual rent of Rs 87,400.

The lease expired last year and the civic authorities have approached the film development corporation for the hall?s custody.

?Corporation chairman Sanat Kumar Bose has requested a discussion over the lease and I will talk to him,? said mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya.

Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay said the lease terms of several civic buildings will end in a year or two and the CMC must put those premises to a more productive use, resulting in a higher revenue collection.

At a meeting last week, joint municipal commissioner Md. Sahidul Islam had formally requested the film development corporation to hand over the hall to the CMC, instead of insisting for a renewal of the lease term.

?The heyday of conventional cinemas is over. Considering the location of the hall, we believe there are enough opportunities for better utilisation of the space, which will augment the CMC?s income,? said Sahidul Islam.

Film development corporation administrator S. Chatterjee said: ?We have received a letter from the CMC. The state government will finally decide whether we will hand over the hall or approach the civic authorities for a fresh lease.?

Officials said the cinema has been incurring losses ever since it was leased out .

?The business prospect of the hall is bleak. The film development corporation has been running two theatres ? Chaplin and Ahindra Mancha ? and both are incurring losses,? said an accounts department official.

The corporation in 1993-94 had received a loan of Rs 1.03 crore from the state government. Of the amount, Rs 58.60 lakh was given to the Calcutta Improvement Trust for renovating Chaplin. Interest on the loan has crossed Rs 1 crore.

Sources in the civic body said that if the hall is handed back to the CMC, it would be easier for the authorities to attract private partners for overhauling the century-old New Market.