CINEMAS IN SRI LANKA THEN AND NOW

by HM Nissanka Warakaulle

Tracing the history of cinema halls in Sri Lanka brings back nostalgic memories to older folks who were regular filmgoers. While many of the old cinemas in Colombo still exist some have disappeared.

Regal theatre was and still is an outstanding cinema, constructed in the style of an opera house with balconies on the sides. This is locate in the heart of Colombo and accessible from all parts of the city. This cinema, belonging to the Ceylon Theatres circuit, screened English films, except when it was used for premiers of important Sinhala films and those of reputed Directors/Producers.

The next most important cinema in Colombo was the Savoy in Wellawatta. This too screens only English films, except in rare instances when the premier of a Sinhala movie is screened. It was in the Savoy that the then famous rock and roll film “Rock Around The Clock” with Bill Haley and his comets was screened. And what a pandemonium it created on the first day the film was screened! Most young people in the hall mounted small stage in front of the screen and started dancing and the management had to summon the police.

The other cinemas of that vintage were the Majestic, the Empire and the New Olympia all three of which screened only English films. Majestic and Empire belonged to the Ceylon Theatres while the New Olympia was owned by the Cader family.

Among the other older cinemas was the Elphinstone, which screened Sinhala, Tamil and Hindi films. Close to the Elphinstone was the Tower Hall which was converted into a cinema hall after a fairly long stint as a theatre for Sinhala dramas. The Tower Hall showed a jumble of films ranging from English to Sinhala and Hindi movies. Both these cinema halls were converted to drama theatres.

In addition to these cinemas the other very old cinemas in Colombo were the Kingsley in Kotahena and Gaiety in Gintupitiya (both screened Tamil films), Crown on Sangaraja Mawatha, Capitol on Armour Street, Plaza, Sapphire and Roxy (which is now known as Savoy) in Wellawatta, Gamini, which screened mainly Sinhala movies, near St. Joseph’s College and the Fawn on Union Place which screened English films that had been screened in other cinemas earlier. Of these only the Crown is still functioning and as was done earlier, only Hindi films from Bollywood are screened there.

The Gamini and Sapphire cinemas were burnt down during the 1983 riots as they belonged to Tamils. Bus conductors still call out the names of these cinemas to identify the halting places possibly not knowing they’re long gone. The Fawn was later converted ito a Carmart showroom for their Peugeot and Volkswagen cars of that time .

A few new cinemas were built in Colombo after the ‘golder oldies’. The first of these was the Liberty owned by Jabir A Cader, where ‘White Christmas” with Bing Crosby was screened to launch the new cinema. The Rio cinema was built on then Parson Street (now Sir Chittampalam Gardiner Mawatha) and the first film shown there was “South Pacific,” a Rogers and Hammerstein musical. The premier of this film was screened in 1965 with the then Governor-General William Gopallawa and Mrs. Gopallawa as the chief guests.

The Navah came up on a side street next to the Rio with only South Indian Tamil films (Kollywood) screened there. The other cinema screening Tamil films only was the Eros in Pamankada. During the 1983 riots the owner displayed a notice on the parapet wall indicating that the cinema belonged to a named Sinhalese to avoid the fate that befell the other cinemas believed to be Tamil owned. It still continues to show Tamil films.

Later on, two cinema were bult in Borella, the Lido and the Ritz, and Impala on Cotta Road and Samantha in Dematagoda. These four cinemas screened films of Sinhala, Hindi and Tamil languages.

Most of these cinemas are now non-existent. The Majestic was demolished and the Majestic City came up in its place; but within the premises there are two Majestic cinemas known as Majestic Cineplex. There are a few new cinema complexes that have come up in Colombo which are Cine City, Excel World, Scope and Liberty Lite. A new cinema was also built in the shopping arcade in the former race course.

Shifting from Colombo to Kandy, there were not that many cinemas as in Colombo. The Regal of the Ceylon Theatres circuit was the best known in Kandy, starting as the Empire and renamed Regal, which name it still retains. The Regal used to screen English films at early evening shows and Sinhala, Hindi or Tamil movies at the late show. On the same road as the Regal was the Wembley which screened mainly Sinhala films and also films from Bollywood and Kollywood.

Then there was the Wales Theatre which originally started in front of the old public market and had to be demolished when the new market came up. The owner was given a land above Torrington Road. But this too had to be demolished when the new DS Senanayake Public Library was built. When it was in existence Hindi and Tamil films were screened at the Wales.

In the early fifties another cinema hall was built above Trinity College. The owner(Lazarus) named it Laza using part of his name. After the cinema was sold to another person, the new owner rechristened the cinema as the Odeon. This cinema showed English films that were screened at the New Olympia in Colombo.

The last cinema hall in Kandy was the Bogambara cinema. Many serial films were screened there. When the new Bogambara Stadium was constructed this cinema was demolished.

Later the names of some of the cinemas belonging to Ceylon Theatres were changed to Regal. These were the Tivoli in Nuwara Eliya, Chandralekha in Gampola, one in Diyatalawa and Rajah in Jaffna as far as I recollect.

A very interesting cinema I remember was the Royal in Bandarawela. It was on the upper floor of a workshop belonging to Walker & Grieg situated on Main Street. Patrons had to climb a flight of steps to get to the cinema.

Then there was Imperial Talkies which used to take movies to places where there were no permanent cinemas, pitch a large tent and screen films with the help of a generator. This was much appreciated and patronized by the village folks who would not have seen a film otherwise during those days.

At present, there are cinema in almost every nook and corner of Sri Lanka and people do not have to travel long distances to watch a movie of their choice.