{"id":4450,"date":"2016-04-02T21:15:32","date_gmt":"2016-04-02T15:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450"},"modified":"2016-04-02T21:15:32","modified_gmt":"2016-04-02T15:45:32","slug":"last-show-chandan-cinema-mumbai-single-screens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4450","title":{"rendered":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

F<\/span>or most young people of this <\/p>generation<\/span><\/a>, surge pricing is something you pay for an Uber during rush hour, but there was a time when the term meant picking up tickets to a sold-out movie at the rate of \u201cdus ka tees\u201d from a scalper. The year was 2001, and my friends and I had paid a 3X surge price to get tickets to watch <\/span>Lagaan<\/span><\/i> at Chandan Cinema. <\/span>\n\nWhen the Champaner XI won the match against the hated <\/span>angrez<\/span><\/a>, the entire theatre erupted. Suddenly, there was no class, language or religious divide. We all were dancing in a celebratory frenzy. That\u2019s when it hit me \u2013 literally. Something whacked the back of my head and I realised that people from the balcony were throwing coins at the screen, to celebrate the success and victory. Back home, my dad told me it was an old custom, forgotten over time, when viewers threw coins to express their joy at the screen.<\/span>\n\nWhile I won\u2019t miss the feeling of having loose change chucked at my head, it\u2019s impossible not to feel wistful about hearing that the same Chandan Cinema I saw <\/span>Lagaan<\/span><\/i> and countless other movies at, is downing its shutters. It will soon give way for a <\/span>shopping mall<\/span><\/a> and a multiplex, going the route of so many other single-screen theatres in Mumbai, with their decades-old history and unique stories lost to time.<\/span>\n\nChandan is \u2013 was \u2013 in Juhu, or as my mother used to say, \u201cAmitabh ke bangle ke paas\u201d. The theatre of choice for any movie buff living in and around Andheri. Sure, the Parla crowd had Shaan, but they never had the A1 samosa, which Chandan offered. Over its 50 years of existence, Chandan has screened everything from golden oldies, to <\/span>Lagaan<\/span><\/i>, to last month\u2019s <\/span>Gully Boy<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Now, if you\u2019re the type that goes \u201cShhh!\u201d at others in the theatre, Chandan or any single-screen is not the place for you. Seetis, <\/span>gaalis<\/span><\/a>, and exclamations accompany the entire runtime of a film. I watched <\/span>Avengers: Infinity War<\/span><\/i><\/a> in Chandan, and when Thor reached Wakanda, there was an uproar of close to three minutes, with shouts of \u201cAb dangal hoga!\u201d and \u201cChandan main aaya bhoot, Thanos ki maa ki\u2026\u201d I guess you know where that sentence is going.<\/span>\n

No longer will the board outside the ticket booth greet regulars with a sign proclaiming \u201c180 Balcony \/ 90 Stall\u201d.<\/blockquote>\nSimply put, if you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium, Gaiety-Galaxy, and Chandan.<\/span>\n\nBut single-screens like Chandan are fast losing ground to multiplexes. The model has been in decline for years now. As far back as 2010, a <\/span>BBC report<\/span><\/a> quoted Sameer Joshi, the owner of Chandan, as saying that the cinema had been sliding downwards since the 1980s. That 2010 report states that the owners of Chandan had managed to buy some time and stall the cinema\u2019s demise by carrying out renovations and refurbishments. Nine years on, Chandan\u2019s time has finally run out. <\/span>\n\nEven as the beloved <\/span>cinema<\/span><\/a> plays its final show, there are still those who remember a time when it was one of the premier theatres in the city. Gopi Nair, a senior teacher of production at Whistling Woods International, recalls when Sooraj Barjatya\u2019s superhit <\/span>Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!<\/span><\/i> released. Barjatya issued a diktat of sorts, which said that if the theatre didn\u2019t have AC, he wouldn\u2019t exhibit his film. Chandan was one of the first to comply and duly set an air-conditioning system, which then allowed them to run <\/span>Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! <\/span><\/i>successfully for 50 weeks straight. The theatre was one of the first to switch to Dolby Digital sound, when <\/span>1942: A Love Story <\/span><\/i>released.<\/span>\n\nWith the closing of Chandan, a chapter of Mumbai\u2019s cultural history has reached its coda. No longer will the board outside the ticket booth greet regulars with a sign proclaiming \u201c180 Balcony \/ 90 Stall\u201d. There will be no more whistles when the hero makes his entrance, no \u201coohs and aahs\u201d for the <\/span>villain<\/span><\/a>\u2019s machinations, and no more celebrations when good finally triumphs over evil. What will remain however, is the memory of the moments when the magic of celluloid mixed with the madness of reality to create something that couldn\u2019t exist anywhere else except here, right here at Chandan Cinema.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":319,"featured_media":4451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[7919,5760,80,7920,7921,35],"class_list":["post-4450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-chandan-cinema","tag-multiplex","tag-mumbai","tag-shopping-mall","tag-single-screens","tag-theatre"],"yoast_head":"\nLast Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-02T15:45:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jay Pikle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jay Pikle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jay Pikle\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8634160916a14c6979a326ce2e4a1cce\"},\"headline\":\"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-02T15:45:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1554369300.png\",\"keywords\":[\"chandan cinema\",\"multiplex\",\"mumbai\",\"shopping mall\",\"single screens\",\"theatre\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pop Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450\",\"name\":\"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1554369300.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-02T15:45:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8634160916a14c6979a326ce2e4a1cce\"},\"description\":\"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1554369300.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1554369300.png\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4450#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8634160916a14c6979a326ce2e4a1cce\",\"name\":\"Jay Pikle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ef784567c769fc919826cda3061656c566d435508c452232ce30743aabc12416?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ef784567c769fc919826cda3061656c566d435508c452232ce30743aabc12416?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ef784567c769fc919826cda3061656c566d435508c452232ce30743aabc12416?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jay Pikle\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=319\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?","description":"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?","og_description":"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-04-02T15:45:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jay Pikle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?","twitter_description":"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jay Pikle","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450"},"author":{"name":"Jay Pikle","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/8634160916a14c6979a326ce2e4a1cce"},"headline":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?","datePublished":"2016-04-02T15:45:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450"},"wordCount":743,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png","keywords":["chandan cinema","multiplex","mumbai","shopping mall","single screens","theatre"],"articleSection":["Pop Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450","name":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png","datePublished":"2016-04-02T15:45:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/8634160916a14c6979a326ce2e4a1cce"},"description":"If you truly want to know what a Mumbai crowd is like there are only a few places you should go to: Wankhede Stadium or Chandan Cinema. But soon Chandan will give way for a shopping mall and a multiplex, with its history and unique stories being lost to time.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4450#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Last Day, Last Show: With Chandan Cinema Gone, Is This the End of Mumbai\u2019s Affair With Single-Screens?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/8634160916a14c6979a326ce2e4a1cce","name":"Jay Pikle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef784567c769fc919826cda3061656c566d435508c452232ce30743aabc12416?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef784567c769fc919826cda3061656c566d435508c452232ce30743aabc12416?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef784567c769fc919826cda3061656c566d435508c452232ce30743aabc12416?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jay Pikle"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=319"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1554369300.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}