An era ends. First it was Rex in Bangalore which closed on 31st December 2018 and now it is Chandan cinema in Juhu. I have so many memories associated with both these theatres, especially Chandan, that I felt this urge to put down what/how I felt in words....and then I read this below
https://www.filmcompanion.in/bollywood-stars-remembering-the-iconic-chandan-theatre/
...and though I cannot articulate how I feel as eloquently as Mohini has done, it only strengthened my resolve to pen this long post so here I go....
As I look back on my 2 yrs at SP Jain between 2001-03, I realise that I have such awesome memories of Mumbai. Not only was it the first time I lived in a big vibrant city (apologies to Chennai & Pune) where I made some truly wonderful friends for life, it was also the place where I lived life to the fullest completely on my terms. Yes, I did a fair bit of studying but I also actively socialised (mostly in the virtual world on IM :-P) & partied (nothing outlandish, mostly beers), played a some sports mostly cricket & TT, roamed about aimlessly in Mumbai's beaches/shopping centers and watched a tonne of movies...Many many more than what is probably expected of a full time MBA student.
Of course, movies have always been a constant in my life from REC-Trichy, MBT-Pune, Infosys-Chennai all the way till SPJIMR but it was here in Mumbai in mid-2001, just 3-4 kms away from our Bhavan's campus, at Chandan Cinema in Juhu that I've had the best movie moments of my life. In 2001, it was a classical old-school single screen theatre - decent screen, functional but comfortable seating, good canteen with tasty snacks, reasonably priced tickets, touts with a good supply of black market tickets to accommodate those last minute plans and most importantly, a truly F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C crowd. The audience at Chandan would always be a mix of "class" people in the balcony and "mass" junta sitting below. You could go there for any movie in any genre and you would still find the right crowd to enjoy it with.
I've never been blessed with the greatest memory but I still remember to this day some of my viewings at Chandan. I remember going as a big group from college to watch Dil Chahta Hai and returning back completely in awe of what we'd seen a newbie wonder by the name of Farhan Akhtar deliver. I distinctly recollect animatedly chatting with an equally surprised friend of mine during the interval that we'd never seen a movie like this before and there was a palpable nervous excitement/tension amongst everyone that day on how the 2nd half would unfold. For every such sleeper hit that ran to packed houses for weeks, there was a potboiler film like Devdas with an incredible starcast of SRK, Madhuri & Aish which also drew in the crowds in droves. It was also at the same Chandan that I saw Asoka and could sense right away from the patrons' reaction on Day 1 that the movie would flop. Don't ask me what I was doing watching it on Day 1 - Ajith. Sigh.
Cinema halls like Chandan could never be slotted as the ideal showcase location for a particular type of cinema. Commercial flicks like Kaante, experimental movies like Makdee or just plain confused films like Yaadein, superstar films like Lagaan or early releases of Tushar Kapoor, Sunny Deol's jingoiistic movies like Maa Tujhe Salaam or family dramas like Om Jai Jagdish - everybody got their time and the public decided their fate in 3 days, Friday to Sunday. I've been to films at Chandan where we were total of 10 people in the audience but the show would still go on & the sparse crowd would still smile at each other and make friendly, polite conversation as everyone knew that if you were at Chandan, you had to be a die hard movies fan. If Rohit Shetty was schooled here at Chandan as the FC article alludes to, I can totally now relate to his kind of cinema.
To all those people who wonder why I often watch many movies at single screens (including strong recommendations on watching Salman Khan movies ONLY at Urvasi in Bangalore) and where I picked up these bad habits, all this started at Chandan. It was around 2001 that I developed a fascination for pulpy thrillers & all credit goes to Abbas Mustan and Anees Bazmee who knew how to mix the proper ingredients in the exact proportions to deliver what we now popularly call a "paisa vasool" picture. My first experience of this was Ajnabee, a movie which actually made me a B-I-G fan of Bobby Deol (yeah, I am ashamed of it too)....and then I saw Deewangee starring Ajay Devgn & Akshaye Khanna in a ridiculously guilty pleasure affair & then Humraaz.... Laughing at the unintentionally funny scenes but also biting my nails in suspense was never as much fun later on as it was during those days of watching such movies with aam janta at Chandan.
So many more movies, so many more stories...but stop I will.
https://www.filmcompanion.in/bollywood-stars-remembering-the-iconic-chandan-theatre/
...and though I cannot articulate how I feel as eloquently as Mohini has done, it only strengthened my resolve to pen this long post so here I go....
As I look back on my 2 yrs at SP Jain between 2001-03, I realise that I have such awesome memories of Mumbai. Not only was it the first time I lived in a big vibrant city (apologies to Chennai & Pune) where I made some truly wonderful friends for life, it was also the place where I lived life to the fullest completely on my terms. Yes, I did a fair bit of studying but I also actively socialised (mostly in the virtual world on IM :-P) & partied (nothing outlandish, mostly beers), played a some sports mostly cricket & TT, roamed about aimlessly in Mumbai's beaches/shopping centers and watched a tonne of movies...Many many more than what is probably expected of a full time MBA student.
Of course, movies have always been a constant in my life from REC-Trichy, MBT-Pune, Infosys-Chennai all the way till SPJIMR but it was here in Mumbai in mid-2001, just 3-4 kms away from our Bhavan's campus, at Chandan Cinema in Juhu that I've had the best movie moments of my life. In 2001, it was a classical old-school single screen theatre - decent screen, functional but comfortable seating, good canteen with tasty snacks, reasonably priced tickets, touts with a good supply of black market tickets to accommodate those last minute plans and most importantly, a truly F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C crowd. The audience at Chandan would always be a mix of "class" people in the balcony and "mass" junta sitting below. You could go there for any movie in any genre and you would still find the right crowd to enjoy it with.
I've never been blessed with the greatest memory but I still remember to this day some of my viewings at Chandan. I remember going as a big group from college to watch Dil Chahta Hai and returning back completely in awe of what we'd seen a newbie wonder by the name of Farhan Akhtar deliver. I distinctly recollect animatedly chatting with an equally surprised friend of mine during the interval that we'd never seen a movie like this before and there was a palpable nervous excitement/tension amongst everyone that day on how the 2nd half would unfold. For every such sleeper hit that ran to packed houses for weeks, there was a potboiler film like Devdas with an incredible starcast of SRK, Madhuri & Aish which also drew in the crowds in droves. It was also at the same Chandan that I saw Asoka and could sense right away from the patrons' reaction on Day 1 that the movie would flop. Don't ask me what I was doing watching it on Day 1 - Ajith. Sigh.
Cinema halls like Chandan could never be slotted as the ideal showcase location for a particular type of cinema. Commercial flicks like Kaante, experimental movies like Makdee or just plain confused films like Yaadein, superstar films like Lagaan or early releases of Tushar Kapoor, Sunny Deol's jingoiistic movies like Maa Tujhe Salaam or family dramas like Om Jai Jagdish - everybody got their time and the public decided their fate in 3 days, Friday to Sunday. I've been to films at Chandan where we were total of 10 people in the audience but the show would still go on & the sparse crowd would still smile at each other and make friendly, polite conversation as everyone knew that if you were at Chandan, you had to be a die hard movies fan. If Rohit Shetty was schooled here at Chandan as the FC article alludes to, I can totally now relate to his kind of cinema.
To all those people who wonder why I often watch many movies at single screens (including strong recommendations on watching Salman Khan movies ONLY at Urvasi in Bangalore) and where I picked up these bad habits, all this started at Chandan. It was around 2001 that I developed a fascination for pulpy thrillers & all credit goes to Abbas Mustan and Anees Bazmee who knew how to mix the proper ingredients in the exact proportions to deliver what we now popularly call a "paisa vasool" picture. My first experience of this was Ajnabee, a movie which actually made me a B-I-G fan of Bobby Deol (yeah, I am ashamed of it too)....and then I saw Deewangee starring Ajay Devgn & Akshaye Khanna in a ridiculously guilty pleasure affair & then Humraaz.... Laughing at the unintentionally funny scenes but also biting my nails in suspense was never as much fun later on as it was during those days of watching such movies with aam janta at Chandan.
So many more movies, so many more stories...but stop I will.
