Sri Rajarajeshwari Theatre

Mallathahalli has been our home for a long time. The theater building is a big part of the landscape around here. You can see the tall walls from a distance. The lobby has those old-fashioned tiles that have seen better days and the ceiling fans are almost always spinning to keep the air moving. We spend a lot of time sweeping up after the shows because people tend to leave things behind under the seats. The ticket window is small and has those thick glass bars. We still use the old heavy curtains in the hall. Sometimes they get stuck and we have to pull them by hand. The projection room is quiet and smells like warm electronics and dust. We’ve got benches outside where people sit and wait for the doors to open for the next screening. It gets really loud when a big movie is playing and the crowd spills out onto the street afterward. We’ve seen the kids who used to come here grow up and start bringing their own children. The neighborhood has built up all around us with new apartments and shops, but the theater stays pretty much the same. We have a routine with the reels and the lights that hasn't changed in years. It’s just a local place for people to sit in the dark for a couple of hours and forget about their daily troubles.