[Reader-list] A Photographic Documentation of Cinema Halls and Cinema-Going Subcultures in Delhi

[shahid datawala]

Hello to all and a Happy New Year!

"A Photographic Documentation of Cinema Halls and
Cinema-Going Subcultures in Delhi"

My study on this subject is inspired by the pure
visual treat of cinema hall spaces and the changing
culture which envelopes itself around it.  Cinema
halls have changed greatly in the past decade.  This
is largely due to new and improved development in the
entertainment media.  The newly developed ambience of
the cinema complex has at the same time become rather
more significant in the modern context.

Developments such as the VCR, VCD and DVD have
successively altered the popular view of visual
entertainment.  Due to this reason cinema halls find
it increasingly difficult to attract viewers.  Cinema
hall owners have responded to this challenge by
attempting to improve the ambience in which films are
presented.

Nowadays going out to see a film is more like a social
event - in some ways comparable to attending an opera
performance.  People now often visit a movie complex
as much in order to be seen as to actually see the
film which attracts them.

The purpose of this research project would be to
document these developments through the photographic
medium.  For example documentation of existing cinema
buildings and articles associated with the industry.  

Discovering spaces within spaces is something in which
I am particularly interested.  I would especially
focus upon people's interaction with and within these
spaces.  This exploration would in many situations be
an essentially intuitive process.  Hoardings create an
atmosphere.  People interacting with hoardings create
a story.  It would be of particular interest to search
out and document cinema halls where handpainted
hoardings are as yet still in general use.  Further to
this, I would photographically compare examples of
cinema hoardings produced by the two different
techniques - i.e., handpainted and digitally printed.

This project would also document cinema halls
possessing an old-world charm which in some cases has
an historical relevance in the modern developmental
context.  While this may not be immediately apparent
to the average cinema-goer, it is to be hoped that
such documentation would contribute to a wider
appreciation of these architectural assets.  Another
significant objective would be to document cinema
halls in and around Delhi, focusing on the quite
considerable number as yet unknown to the great
majority of viewers.  Of further interest are the many
cinema halls presently lying closed, and the
underlying reasons for this situation so far as can be
photographically documented.  I would also like to
include where possible details of when these cinema
halls were built, and by whom.  Eg., some cinemas
were(and in some cases still are) owned by well-known
figures in India's cinematography community.  Quite a
few of these early cinema halls have already been
permanently closed down.  Some struggle to survive by
scextremelytrememly poor quality films of
ostpornographicnograhic content.

Supplementary to my personal documentation of these
cinema halls, I would wherever possible try to locate
early materials relating to them.  Cinema halls are in
many cases geographical definitive markers.  For
example 'Savitri' -- referring to the no longer extant
Savitri cinema in South Delhi -- is a commonly
recognized spacial reference.

My work every month will focus on various aspects of
cinema halls as I have stated above.  Initially I will
photograph most of the cinema halls in Delhi,
maintaining a diary alongside.  I will then choose
certain specialities about them and further document
it in much detail.  My photographic study will largely
be in the black and white medium.  

Thanks, 

Shahid Datawala  


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