Cuttack, Aug. 24: Orissa High Court has called for an all-out effort from those concerned to revive cinemas in the city.
The court said that once Cuttack used to have theatres "almost in every corner and cinema was the source of special entertainment" for the residents.
"The magical and amazing time slowly started fading away. One after another theatre was shut down. Reasons were not that the film buffs lost interest in cinema but may be due to growth of television network, video craze, absence of good cinemas as well as good theatres," the court said.
"Time has again changed. Multiplexes have become very popular and crowd-pullers, besides the film industry's income is sky-rocketing. As it is flourishing, every endeavour should be made from all, so that the people at large get complete relaxation in the theatres and forget the worries of their lives," the court observed.
The single-judge bench of Justice S.K. Sahoo observed this while directing police to "issue renewal of licence of Grand Cinema immediately".
The one-time most popular Grand Cinema, which began its journey with Dharmendra-starrer Ankhen on August 8, 1969, was running till 2008.
The cinema stopped screening films since April 1, 2008, for want of renovation. An application was filed on May 10 this year seeking renewal of licence to restart the cinema on the occasion of rath yatra.
But, police, who are the licensing authority, rejected the application on July 16. The rejection was challenged in the high court.
"In the event, the petitioner (Grand Cinema) deposits the fees chargeable for a new licence within a week and files an undertaking to comply with the conditions as mentioned in the conditional fire safety certificate dated April 4, 2016, within the prescribed period of three months according to the certificate, the licensing authority shall issue renewal of licence immediately," Justice Sahoo said while disposing of the petition on August 10.
The police have fixed August 26 for inspection of the theatre for renewal of its licence.
Kabir Charan Swain, thr assistant manager of Grand Cinema: "With sitting capacity reduced from 795 to 373, the single-screen cinema, completely refurbished for Rs 3 crore, is now equipped with latest surround sound, high-quality picture, acoustic sound system and well-furnished recliners where viewers can sink into cozy confines for a comfortable cinematic experience."
The city had 14 cinemas. But, only five of them - Brindaban, Jayshree, Samrat, Nishamani, Sangam Miniplex - are functioning at present.
The Sangam cinema was revived in October 2014 as the first Cineplex of the city. The first multiplex in the city with four screens is coming up as part of the twin theatres Durga-Devi revival project.
The six other six cinemas that have downed their shutters include Rajatarangini, Jyoti, Suraj, Prabhat, Capital and Hind.
