Alankar Cinemas

Alankar Cinemas has been at Charni Road, right near the Opera House, for a really long time. The building is quite old now, and you can see that in the texture of the walls and the old-style seats. It’s not like those new malls with the shiny floors and expensive popcorn. We still have the old wooden ticket counter with the thick glass partition. Sometimes the projector gives us some trouble, and we have to stop the film for a few minutes to fix the reel. People in the audience complain, but most of them understand how it is. The lobby is small and gets very crowded during the interval when everyone rushes out to use the restroom. We sell some popcorn and soda, but we don't have any of those fancy snacks. The ceiling fans are always spinning, trying to keep the place cool for the viewers. It gets very hot in Mumbai, so our air conditioning sometimes struggles when the hall is completely full. We have a few staff members who have been working here since they were young men. They know every corner and every squeaky floorboard of this place. We don't have a big marketing budget or a fancy website to sell tickets. We just put the paper posters of the movies outside on the boards. Some days the theater is almost empty, and other days it’s packed. It depends on the film and the weather.