Vijayalakshmi Theatre

Vijayalakshmi Theatre has been a fixture on J C Road in Mahadevapura for as long as most people can remember. It’s an old-school cinema, not like those fancy ones you see in the malls nowadays. We still have the big screen and the rows of seats that have seen better days. Managing a theatre like this is a lot of work. There's always a bulb that needs changing or a projector that needs a bit of oil. We show a lot of local films, and when a big star has a release, the whole street gets crowded with fans. The noise is incredible. My father used to run this place, and now I’m the one looking after the ticket counter and the snacks. It’s a bit dusty, and the walls could probably use a new coat of paint, but it has a lot of character. We don't have all the latest digital gadgets, but people still come because it’s affordable and it’s right here in the neighborhood. We open up the gates early in the morning to sweep the lobby and get the first show ready. Sometimes the power goes out mid-movie and we have to scramble to get the generator started. It’s stressful but it’s part of the job. We just want to keep the movies playing for as long as we can. It’s a place people recognize around Mahadevapura, even if it's not fancy. That's basically who we are.