Delhi's Iconic Regal Theatre Will Close Down On March 31, May Return As A Multiplex

The white stone letters on the building's Gregorian facade read: RE AL THEAT E. The missing letters are a painful pointer to the steadily declining fortunes of this Connaught Place icon. Now, after several pronouncements of its demise, Regal theatre is finally going out of business.

BCCL

The hall, which opened in 1932 and fondly calls itself "New Delhi's premier theater", will pass into history on March 31, with the last screening of Anushka Sharma starrer, Phillauri. "It has been decided by the management to close down the business from the premises w.e.f 31.3. 2017," reads a notice, signed by owner V K Mahajan, hanging in the large central porch of the theatre.

The recent collapse of two buildings in CP and subsequent notices from the municipal council to old buildings to prove their structural integrity was the final nail in the coffin of this struggling enterprise.

In a communication to its employees, the Regal management has asked them to clear their dues.

"The structural engineer has stated that as our building is very old, its inspection will require a long period and we shall not be in a position to carry out business activity as it is likely to endanger the life and property of employees and visitors," it states. Regal's imminent closure evokes a flood of memories among old employees. "It will be the end of an era. Both historic and memorable," says Aman Singh Verma, the oldest serving employee of Regal who has been working as an accountant since 1977.

BCCL

Sitting beside the heavy Godrej safe he has worked with for 40 years, Verma recalls the golden age of Regal."We used to be Raj Kapoor's favourite cinema hall. Now, the shows might be running empty but there was a time when people would start lining up a day before the premier. The hall would be decorated with flowers like a marriage venue, patrons would get specially printed pamphlets and big filmstars like Raj Kapoor and Nargis would come for the red carpets," he says.

Big portraits of these mega stars are on display in the crescent gallery right outside the hall. The proud list of patrons which Regal has welcomed includes people like Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru as well as his daughter Indira Gandhi.

BCCL

Now, visitors are hard to find. The collections from two shows of `Aa Gaya Hero' have fetched just Rs 8,999 while two shows of `Badrinath ki Dulhania' got Rs 12,185. "With collections so low, it is impossible to run a theatre and pay its employees. There were times when we celebrated back-to-back golden jubilees. Now, I don't even remember when we had the last house-full," says Verma sadly while displaying his old ledger.

"We have reached a stage where we get requests from young couples to book the VIP boxes which were meant for families," he says.

The signs of decay are everywhere and Regal is only a shadow of its former glory ."The seats are broken, the sound system is outdated and murals on the walls are falling apart. In the absence of regular maintenance, things have grown worse.

"That's why people have stopped coming," says Vijay Singh, the gatekeeper-cum-ticket-checker who has been working here for more than 23 years. The theatre, conceived by Sir Sobha Singh and designed by Walter Sykes George, the British architect who also designed St Stephen's college, started as a venue for dramatic performances from English and Russian theatre groups. It was only later, with the advent of talkies that Regal began showcasing Hindi movies while other CP theatres like Plaza and Rivoli focused on Hollywood flicks.

AP

These famous vintage theatres slowly lost their charm and, one-by-one, were refurbished as multiplexes in last few decades. Regal remained the only singles-creen theatre in CP. Now, this heritage building with influences from Safdarjung tomb, too, may be converted into a multiplex.

"Instead of the current 658 seats, there are plans to have four screens with a total capacity of 620 seats. We are in the process of getting final NOCs but the procedure is tedious as the building is a heritage structure" says Roop Ghai, the manager. Like Ghai and Verma, most of the 20 odd employees of the hall have been serving it for decades and are now worried about their future.

Whether Regal gets resurrected as a multiplex remains to be seen. What appears certain, though, is that a chapter in Delhi's cinematic history will come to an end when patrons leave the hall one last time on March 31.