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Sonya's avatar

What a moving love letter to the movies. And to Mumbai. Thank you for this fabulous read.

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Sridala's avatar

I remember so vividly the moment in the lift, from the first time I read it back then. Thank you for reposting this.

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Dev's avatar

i had goosebumps by the end. thank you

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Sukriti's avatar

So many childhood memories of Gaiety-Galaxy! (And its paper cones of popcorn, and its famous samosas, of course.) Cannot count how many Karishma-Salman-Raveena-Govinda evenings we’ve had there as a family.

Chandan Cinemas in Juhu is also memorable: our school took us there for a movie which, alas, had a kissing scene—cue the crescendo of adoloscent hooting (“ooooooOOOOO”).

We progressed to Globus and Suburbia next (have to thank Suburbia’s private box room for allowing me to, ahem, hang out with my then-boyfriend, now-husband!) before the invasion of PVRs and Inoxes.

This essay makes me miss those days and (separately) miss you too! ♥️

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Saakshi Samant's avatar

What a touching essay. I remember going to Gaiety for the first time last year and the range of emotions that swept over me as I walked in. Your writing really brought back all those vivid sensations. Thank you for sharing this with us, it felt like revisiting a memory I never knew I had!

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Malati Shah's avatar

❤️ Shades of Cinema Paradiseo, that charming film that unspools every now and then through recollections. These days am being regailed by Sailekh (our charioteer) of stories when his father was the Projector Operator in Maulana Azad Medical College and would let him play a few mischievous tricks to raise cat calls and shouts from the darkened hall bellow the projector room. There is something so magical about stories in beams of light in a dark dark cockeroachy place.

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vinay's avatar

"like kings evesdropping on commoners" - wonderful!

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Riddhi Dastidar's avatar

gorgeous writing, supriya. heart in my mouth at the last line <3

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Anoddyellow's avatar

Loved the essay Supriya. I grew up there too and your description of the place really brought it alive!

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shiwangi's avatar

So beautifully written. Coincidentally I was also thinking about a modest cinema hall in my hometown in Himachal Pradesh. It just hit home.

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