Mumbai’s movie magic in single-screen

“Film mein hona chahiye love story, kuch emotional sa [A film should have a love story, something emotional],” says 36-year-old Shyam Singh, sitting in the foyer of Alfred Talkies, a single-screen movie theatre located in Mumbai’s Grant Road area. “Fighting and action scenes are okay, but I like a love story,” he adds grinning.

It is a sunny December afternoon and Shyam is waiting for the 3 p.m. show to begin. A hand-painted banner of blockbuster film, Ram Teri Ganga Maili hangs at the entrance of the building. This Bollywood hit, which released in 1985 nearly four decades ago, still pulls in a sizable crowd.

“Rozana 3 Khel” reads a signage in Hindi and Urdu at the entrance of Alfred Talkies, advertising the daily screening schedule of three shows – the first show at noon, the second at 3 p.m. and the last at 6 p.m.

“Humein movie dekhne ka shauk hai [I am fond of watching movies],” says Shyam, who migrated from Nepal to Mumbai three years ago in search of better wages.

“The tickets here at Alfred Talkies are cheap,” he says, “so we can come whenever we wish to.” A single ticket is sold for Rs. 35. “I do not earn enough to go to expensive theatres and watch films."

Shyam is a contract worker with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and works in catering – prepping ingredients for events, serving and cleaning up. He lives close to the Grant Road area and earns about Rs. 9,000 a month. His family continues to live in Butwal city in Nepal.

Alfred Talkies usually runs popular old Bollywood movies, or newly released films in Hindi, Bhojpuri, Telugu and Tamil which have had a successful first-run. Its most loyal patrons are migrants, mostly men, who are daily-wage earners or short-term contract workers.

The Talkies has a seating capacity of 938 – 596 seats in the main area and 342 in the balcony. The costlier balcony section, however, was shut after the covid-19 pandemic. Today the theatre sees a footfall of 80-100 visitors per day, hosting around 25-30 people every show.

Single-screen theatres have been cast aside in the multi-billion dollar film industry in India, one of the world’s largest, which produces around 1,500-2,000 movies every year. This has forced many such halls to shut down across the city. Less than 100 metres away from Alfred Talkies is New Roshan Talkies, freshly demolished in the year 2024.

The popularity and profitability of single-screen theatres have especially declined after to the rise of online OTT (over-the-top) streaming platforms and multiplexes which screen many shows at a time.

But at Alfred Talkies when the shutters reopen for the afternoon matinee, the place gets a fresh lease of life.

“Jitna kamate hain, usmein guzaara chalta hai [We get by on what we earn],” Shyam says. He finds the 35 rupees ticket at the Talkies to be a good use of his hard-earned money. “For 2 to 2.5 hours, we are entertained, we laugh… it uplifts our mood. Paisa vasool ho jata hai [The money is well spent].” And so Shyam visits Alfred Talkies 2 to 3 times a week. If he loves a movie, he comes in to watch it twice.

Similar entertainment in a multiplex would set Shyam back by Rs. 200-250 with each visit. Watching movies on a smartphone is out of the question since he doesn’t own one. “Hum log mehnat mazdoori karte hain, bade phone nahin rakh sakte. Button wale chhote mobile rakhte hain [We labour and toil, we cannot keep a smartphone. I use a small keypad phone].”

The demand of single-screen theatres was worsened by the covid-19 pandemic. “When the lockdown was announced, most migrant workers returned to their native places and did not come back immediately after the lockdown was lifted,” says Huzefa Bootwala, manager of Alfred Talkies who has been working here since 1979.

“If you come back after six months, you might not find me or Alfred Talkies”, says 70-year-old Huzefa with a wry smile.

He recalls how films used to be the main source of entertainment earlier. “In the 1990s, television became popular; then came the VCR [video cassette recorder]. The people who could afford these brought them home. All of this affected footfall in cinemas,” explains Huzefa. “But a steadier decline came later – around 2012-2013 – with smartphones becoming popular. Now people just download and watch movies on their phones.”

Many plots where single-screen theatres were housed have been sold off to big real estate developers, he tells us. Big chains like PVR now acquire the distribution rights of movies directly from producers, making film distributors defunct. This ends up excluding single-screens from the circulation of film rolls altogether. Theatres like Alfred then rely on copies of old film rolls.

“I like pehle ki filmein [old-time films] better,” says 55-year-old Chandrakumar Gond, one of the attendees of the afternoon matinee at Alfred Talkies. “It is difficult to find meaning in newer films.”

Gond came to Mumbai from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in the year 1996 looking for work. He now works as a painter with a private company and manages to earn a fixed wage of Rs. 18,000 every month.

“I enjoy action films because they involve things you cannot do in real life,” says Gond. He lives by himself in Dana Bandar and visits Alfred Talkies on days he does not have work. A die-hard Bollywood enthusiast, he challenges, “Just name a song and I’ll tell you which film it is from.”

For 50-year-old Laxman Narayan Shankar, watching cinema is his sole hobby. “People used to line up in large numbers to buy tickets,” says Laxman, who has lived in Mumbai for more than 30 years now and has worked as a caterer for most of this time. “Movie tickets used to be sold in black as well, such was the demand about 30-35 years ago.”

Laxman too attributes the decline in single-screens to the covid-19 pandemic. “The lockdowns destroyed everything. Most theatres have shut down and we only have a handful which still run: Alfred, Metro, Super…” he says.

Alfred Talkies housed in a two-storey building is managed by eight people who run the show everyday – Huzefa along with two operators, a guard, cleaning staff, ticket-sellers and an usher. The place has clearly seen better days, as Huzefa points out, “We once had 29 staff members working here.”

The theatres shutting down not only impacts the audience but also the livelihoods which depend on these spaces. Santosh Kumar, 45, has worked at Alfred Talkies since the year 2002, first in the in-house canteen (which shut down in 2015) and now as an usher who checks tickets.

“I came to Bombay just like the others, in search of a job and opportunities which don't exist back home,” Santosh says. His family and children are back home in Mau town in eastern Uttar Pradesh. “The seth [owner] gives us permission to sleep inside the hall. We wake up early and clean the theatre, then go onto doing our jobs. The manager comes from his house,” he says. “I save about 10,000 rupees every month after major expenses like food,” adds Santosh.

The single-screen also offers a living to vendors who serve the audience coming in for a taste of the movies. Karim Ahmed, 34, has been running a makeshift food stall outside Alfred Talkies for the last 18 years. He inherited this business and its skills from his maternal uncle.

Karim whips up omelettes and stuffs them into fresh bread, selling anda-pav to the filmgoers during intervals or those awaiting the next show. For 25 rupees a piece, he is able to sell 50-60 anda pav every day. He earns between Rs. 12,000 and 15,000 in a month, after accounting for expenses like ingredients, cooking gas and even police fines and extortions.

“Ab toh dhandha ekdum slow hogaya hai [Now the business has fully slowed down],” Karim says. His daily revenue fell from Rs. 1,000 per day a decade ago to barely Rs. 500 now. Karim recounts how a decade ago there were as many as 40 to 50 stalls selling street food outside the art deco buildings near Alfred Talkies.

“Din bhar mein do kilo chana nikaalna bhaari hai [It is difficult to sell even two kilos of horsegram in a day],” says 59-year-old Dilip Gupta, who sells roasted chana or horsegram outside the theatre. He says the decline of the Talkies has impacted his earnings substantially. Due to chronic pain and disability in his leg, Dilip is hesitant to move to a new location to put up his stall. His earnings are insufficient for him to undergo the necessary surgery.

With single-screen theatres shutting down across in the city, Alfred Talkies is solace to many. Mintoo Paswan, a resident of Dharavi, says, “Alfred Talkies is quite old and has still survived.” The 45-year-old travels from Dharavi to Grant Road to visit the Talkies, covering a distance of nearly 10 kms on his day off to watch the films screened here.

Mintoo migrated from Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai at the age of 15. He makes suitcases in a small factory for a living, earning around Rs. 14,000 a month, based on the number of suitcases he can make. He lives by himself in the city and looks forward to watching movies on his weekly off-day he gets from work.

It’s almost 3 p.m. and time for the afternoon show to begin. The usher starts calling in the audience waiting in the foyer of Alfred Talkies. Before stepping into the screening room, Mintoo says, “This is a ‘third class’ hall. No one with a good car will come here to watch a movie. If they do, it's only luck by chance.”

“It is us ‘third class’ people who come here: those who sleep on the footpath, factory workers, scrap dealers. The others prefer fancier theatres,” says Mintoo, as he joins the crowd in the dimly-lit screening room.