Adios Chanakya, we will miss you!

It was a bright and sunny day when my friend and I rode the quintessential DTC bus, got off at Chanakyapuri and walked over to the theatre for a show of R D Burman’s last musical venture, 1942 A Love Story. It was the first movie that I saw with a friend. I was elated with the new found freedom and my adolescent hormones danced in perfect harmony as I took a deep breath under the open sky. It was not that my parents had ever imposed anything on me, but I am sure that all of us have had this feeling. That day set the stage for many future firsts at this theatre, including my first movie in the front-stall with hostel-mates and the first for which I bought tickets in black on one wintery night. This was also the theatre where I returned to movies with my parents with kaun! The theatre was always technologically ahead of its time be it with surround sound or digital systems. I still preferred this over the newly opened snazzy multiplexes …

Under the theatre on the ground floor was an equally timeless place where I had my first pizza, maybe in 1992. In fact, I hated it at that time and it took a second trip to this place to make me fall in love with the pizza. The next 15 years followed with numerous trips to this place, ranging from chit-chat with friends to dinners with parents and others. Gradually its increasing popularity made it so crowded that we had to come specifically during non-peak hours to get a seat. When I met with my childhood friend in 2007 and asked where would he like to go, he replied “Nirulas, of course”.

On December 27, 2007 the Chanakya theatre stepped into history after 37 years!