Apsara’s closure a reminder of plight of single-screen theatres and cinema-owners

With the closure of Apsara, located on the Link Road in Kozhikode, just a few metres away from the railway station, the city has lost one of its iconic buildings and a symbol of its love for cinema and Kerala one of its finest theatres.

A cinema is not just a business venture. It is very much part of the cultural landscape of a city, a town or a village. It is a dream house that brings some of the greatest artistic work of our times and transports us to a different, 70mm world for a couple of hours.

When any cinema closes down, it is sad. When a cinema like Apsara Theatre closes down after a glorious run of five decades, it is almost tragic.

With the closure of Kozhikode’s beloved cinema, on the Link Road, just a few metres away from the railway station, the city has lost one of its iconic buildings and a symbol of its love for cinema and Kerala one of its finest theatres. “Apsara was in fact the pride of Kozhikode,” director Hariharan tells The Hindu. “Many of the films I directed were released at Apsara and before I started my career in cinema and moved to Chennai, I used to watch films here regularly.”

He rates Apsara as one of the best cinemas in the State. It indeed was, with its superb screen, excellent sound system and the sensible seat-arrangement, watching a good film at Apsara was quite an experience. And it could house more than 1,000 viewers.

“It is a pity that the number of large, single-screen cinemas continues to dwindle in Kerala,” says Mr. Hariharan, whose films like Sujatha, Tholkan Enikku Manassilla and Pazhassi Raja were released at Apsara. “It is only in large cinemas that you could fully enjoy spectacular movies that have great visuals and sounds. In Kozhikode, Apsara was the best one for such an experience. Only if you give good, must-watch films, will the audience come to cinemas. These days, such films are rare.”

A.R. Vinod, a managing partner of Crown Theatre, another landmark cinema of Kozhikode, too is disappointed that Apsara has closed down. “I still remember watching movies like Karipuranda Jeevithangal at Apsara,” he says. “It is unfortunate that one of Kerala’s best cinemas has closed down. From my own experience, I can tell you that it is not easy running cinemas. It always was tough and COVID-19 made things much more difficult.”

Apsara has joined the unenviable long list of Kozhikode’s closed cinemas that include Sangam, Davison, Blue Diamond and Pushpa. Yes, several multiplexes have since come up in the city, and some single-screen cinemas, like Crown, have gone for makeovers to include multiple screens, but, then, they may not quite be able to fill the void left by cinemas such as Apsara.