Popular Culture: Royal Cinema, Pila House
Director: Madhusree Dutta; Cinematographer: Avijit Mukul Kishore
Duration: 00:27:21; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 20.353; Saturation: 0.078; Lightness: 0.222; Volume: 0.201; Cuts per Minute: 1.974; Words per Minute: 84.708
Summary: Interview of the gatemen at the Royal cinema. Royal cinema is situated in Pila house. Pila house is the district which in early 20th century British adminstration marked as entertainment district – Play house. In local tongue the Play house turned into Pila house. The area was surrounded by various Bazaars – Chor Bazaar (flea market), Null (water tap – broadly meant harware) Bazaar, Kanda-Batata (potato-onion) Bazaar, Bhendi (ladies finger) Bazaar etc. The bazaar with its floating population required entertainment centres. Pila house started with a cluster of theatres which mainly housed Parsee (a generic term for theatrical extravaganza with painted backdrop, historical or mythical themes and melodrama) plays in Hindusthani, Urdu, Gujarati and occasionally Marathi. The theatres later got converted into cinema houses. Some of the century old theatres are still functioning in the area. Interestingly the theatres in 'pila house' have names like Royal theatre, Albert cinema, Alexandra, Imperial – a reminiscent of the colonial legacy.
Close to the Pila house and the Bazaars is Kamatipura – the famed red light area. With the international attention on AIDS epidemic and rise of sexual morality in public life, Kamatipura girls have started fading out since late 80s. As one sex worker once commented 'the red light area is now under white light (surveillance)'.
And on the other side is Congress house, the community houses for traditional musicians and dancers who migrated to the city after the collapse of the tawaif (courtesan) culture patronized by the feudal system. For more information about Congress house please read The music room by Namita Devidayal, 2007, Random house India. Many of the Congress House artists opted for dancing at bars, made popular around 1970s. In 2005 the state govt. of Maharashtra banned dancing in bars. (for more information about bar dancers and the ban please see events under title Bar dancers, in this site.)
With other entertainment establishments in the area under threat, the Pila house theatres are not in pink of heath. The tickets still cost only Rs.15/-, compared to Rs.150/- to Rs.200/- in the multiplexes. As the sites are leased from the govt. at concessional rate for entertainment purposes, they cannot be used for residential buildings. It is only a matter of time when the vicious real estate politics of the city manipulates this stipulation and grab it for 'development'.
Interviewer: Madhusree (M), Mukul (MU), abeer.
Interviewee: Gateman 1 (G1) and Gateman 2 (G2). Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore
15 Rs… 15 Rs… 15 Rs… please go ahead… ig you don't want a ticket then don't stand around… 15 Rs… 15 Rs. Come on… 15 Rs…. 15 Rs… 15 Rs. / 18 Rs…. Come on… 15 Rs type available… its still available 15 Rs…. Hey… come 15 Rs…. The show is on… current show 15 Rs… don't stand around… go ahead… 15 Rs…. Current show… it is only 15… Rs 15…
Pila house, Bombay
The gatemen call like vendors' to attract customers to the cinema. The cinema is situated in the market area and must have also got influenced by the custom of vending common for the consumer goods sellers. The show has already started. Some stray customers stroll in. The price of the ticket (Rs. 15/- and 18/-) is unbelievable low. The theatre, like many others in the vicinity, is old and devoid of modern amenities. It play 35 mm mono sound films and thus can only exhibit old films.
audience
bazaar
cinema
counter
customer
gateman
price
rate
sell
ticket
vendor
Pila house, Bombay
ana
ban
bazaar
bhaiya
bihar
cinema
darga
drama
entertainment district
kamati pura
migrant
moral policing
moralit
mujra
picture
pila house
play
play house
port
red light area
television
theatre
ticket
tv
up
women
Do Talkies is a name of a cinema house, do means two and talkies is to mark the transition from silent era to talkies (where talks/dialogues can be heard). Talkies had become a popular generic name. ana is an old unit of money.
Gateman (G1): I have been working here since 1960.
(M): How did this place look like in the past.
G1: This place was very deserted then. From do talkies till Super (cinema) it was a graveyard.
M: How was this place then? Were there lot of bazaars then?
G1: I was here in Bombay during a period when the tickets were available for 5 & 10 anas. In 1947 my father brought us here to Bombay. Since then am here. I used to stand in the same place and shout 5 anas & 10 anas when the pictures were shown. Nadia …Baburao's Bhagwan Dada and films of other heroes films were shown and I used to shout for ticket sale.
Pila house, Bombay, Do talkies
5 anas
10 anas
1947
1960
bazaars
cheap
cinema house
do talkies
films
graveyard
hero
popular culture
price
rate
star
super cinema
ticket
Films are popularly called pictures. Mentions some old popular films.
M: So how many pictures you used to watch in a week?
G1: Manager saab used to tell us to go and watch the picture and after the work we used to merrily watch pictures.
M: What is your favourite picture?
G1: Oh there are so many favourites. I like old, old pictures like Meena Kumari's, Dilip sahab's Mela, Udan Khhatola. I used to love watching films of these old actors.
M: Gone is the glory of this place right?
G1: As the crowd increases, the show also raises….
M: Now even those ladies of the past have also left?
G1: Oh! All the old ones have left. Now new people have come and they do not prefer old faces. Nobody likes to watch old films now.
M: Everywhere we get ticket for 100 rupees and you still are selling it for 15 rupees? How is it done?
G1: This is dependant on the area. AC (air conditioned) theatres have 100 Rupee ticket. Our theatre is a small one and here poor people come. They bring 13 – 15 Rupees. This settlement belongs to poor people.
Pila house, Bombay
audience
cinema hall
crowd
dilip kumar
films
glory
ladies
meena kumari
mela
neighbourhood
night life
picture
poor
popular culture
price
rate
settlement
theatre
ticket
udan khatola
M: What is their occupation? What kind of people come here?
G1: All kinds of people come here. Its hard to predict what kind of people they are.
M: But what kind of work do they do?
G1: There are lot of Bihari bhaiyas here. Few of them make suitcases, some make belts, few make bags - so its difficult to say what kind of people they are or what work they do. Mostly there are Bihari bhaiyas and Bombay runs because of them. Its these Bihari bhaiyas who come here to see films. They love to watch films.
M: What about the women from Kamatipura?
G1: I cannot speak about them? (looks embarrassed)
M: Why not? Aren't they your clients in the theatre?
G1: Yes, but I cannot speak about them. Please…
(some awkward silence)
Abeer: You told me earlier that there used to theatre here… play
G1: Yes, but that was before our time. I told you we came here in 1947. that time we were small, I con't remember anything. That uncle there knows everything, he would tell you.
These theatres are patronized by the poor migrants from up North. People from UP (Uttar Pradesh) are called Bhaiyas. Bihar is another state and people from there are not called Bhaiyas. Obviously this man is making a generic statement about migrants from the northern part of the country. In some other contexts large scale migration of these people is a very contested issue in the city. But that is not applicable to the culture of 'Pila House'. Close to the multiple bazaars this area has always accommodated settlers and migrants from various regions and thus been cosmopolitan in terms of language and cultures.
Kamatipura is the red light area and the women from there used to constitute a steady part of the audience to these theatres. The red light area is in decline and the women have moved out into small independent clusters all over the city. But the old man refused to talk about 'prostitutes' in public and that too with a middle class woman.
1947
Bihar
Kamatipura
Pila house, Bombay
audience
basti
bhaiyas
bihari
cinema
clients
films
interview
kamatipura
migrants
morality
pictures
poor
popular culture
price
profession
prostitute
red light area
rupees
settlement
sex worker
theatre
tickets
M: But these poor women had to leave… and you don't want to talk… (he blushes)! The glory and the shining no more exist - right?
G1: Yes. All the old faces have left no? So it could be said that the map of the place has changed. Now its all new faces around. Public also prefer new faces. They do not prefer old faces at all.
Abeer: So which old faces do you prefer?
G1: The ones like I already told you.
Still evading the issue of women and making generic statement about periodic changes in society.
eviction
map
neighbourhood
old days
public
sex workers
women
Mukul: What work do you do?
Gateman 2 (G2): I work in theatre.
Mukul: what kind of work?
G2: I work in the door department.
Madu: So what kind of work is that?
G2: Different kinds of work, like seat the audience, tear tickets, or do the shout, it depends on the manager also.
M: What do you mean by shout?
G2: We shout the price of the ticket. It varied from 10-12 anas in the past to 10-15 rupees now.
M: So please tell us more about it.
G2: 5 ana, 5 ana, ek rupiya, 5 ana.
M: Then?
G2: We would say `come soon, some soon',
M: No I asked how did the price rise happen?
G2: It was gradual went changing from 5 anas, one rupee, 2 rupees and so on. So the rates kept increasing. In the past the crowd was less, there was no TV, the crowd was also very nice. The tickets of the tram were also an ana. All old pictures were running then like, Bhagaywan, Mashal, Jaal, Passport, Ashok Kumar's Kismet etc.,
The gradual rise in the price of tickets. Unique way of getting audience to buy tickets like vendors in Bazaar. A reminiscent of the Bazaar culture? This gateman 2 is not only a good story teller but a natural in front of the camera.
Pila house, Bombay
anas
ashok kumar
audience
bazaar
cheap
cinema
crowd
culture
customer
film
jaal
kismet
mashal
passport
picture
popular culture
price
price rise
rate
rupees
theatre
ticket
tram
tv
vending
M: You are saying that the audience or the public have considerably reduced. Why did this happen?
G2: The advent of TV and VCR brought about these changes. So the crowd is reduced.
M: The glory and shine of this place has also reduced considerably.
G2: Oh this is because the ambience of the present day has also spoilt. There is lot of violence all around. There is lot of looting around. So the inflow of public has also reduced considerably.
But now we do have lot of public come from the UP (Uttar Pradesh state) side, they watch lot of films also.
M: Is it that UPites and Biharis constitute the majority of your audience?
G2: Yes. Initially not many of them used to come but now the number has increased considerably. Most of them who work are from UP. Some are involved in making packets, some do zari work, some in embroidery, some pulls hand carts… so most of them are from UP side. Even now if you go in and check you will fine a lot of them from UP side.
With TV and VCR (he obviously is not aware of cheaper format of DVD and VCD) cinema became obscure. But now the newly migrant people from UP (who most probably do not have a dwelling to enjoy home based entertainment) have brought new lease of life to these cinemas.
Pila house, Bombay
UP, Uttar Pradesh
ambience
audience
bihari
crowd
embroidery
films
glory
hand cart
law and order
migrant
pictures
popular culture
public
tv
up
uttar pradesh
vcr
violence
working class
zari
Attempts to articulate links between the issues of home based entertainments, moral policing, invisibility of women in public space and decline of the entertainment district. By control he means ban on dancing in bars by the govt. of Maharashtra and also persecution of sex workers in the wake of AIDS scare. Interestingly what rescued the entertainment industry of 'Pila house' is the homeless migrants to the city, the people who are often under the threat of deportation.
Mujra: an evolved commercial dance form associated with the tawaif – coutsean – culture.
Bandra
Bihar
M: Am hardly finding any woman here?
G2: Oh in the past things were different. They would come to theatres. There were facilities for it in the past. Now these facilities are also missing. Now there are television sets in the houses so what is the need for them to come to the theatre?
M: So you have sent all those women from the surrounding neighbourhoods away?
G2: No we did not send them away. They have television in their homes, can watch lot of channels. They do come now but in very few numbers. There is a control on it. Police also have levied control over them.
Earlier lot of girls used to come. There used to be mujras also in the past. Lot of things used to happen in the past. Now all that ceased to exist.
M: That is what is happening now right. People watch everything in television only these days. Earlier there were a variety of things like mujra, drama etc to look forward to.
G2: Yes. Very true. Earlier there was drama there, theatre here, theatre in the other corner, in every corner we would come across theatres. In the past population was less but the interest that the public had to watch films was also immense. Public used to come from far and wide. They used to come from Bandra, Jogeshwari etc., The ticket was available for 5 ana, 10 ana, ek rupiya etc., in the past and public used to come too. There was much glory in the past but with control and strict policies coming up its considerably reduced. For instance now beer bars are closed, control is levied, government has controlled. Earlier this control was not there. There is control on X (adult films) also now - because of which the public has reduced considerably.
Now we have public from UP and Bihar side. So now the films run. This is also a poor locality. The earning of the residents varies from 600 to 1200 to 1800. So they come here to see films in cheap rate.
Pila house, Bombay
UP, Uttar Pradesh
Jogeshwari
adult
amenities
ban
beer bar
bihar
censorship
channels
cinema
control
cost
culture
drama
earning
entertainment
facilities
films
glory
government
home
homogeneity
ladies
locality
migrant
moral policing
mujra
neighbourhood
plurality
police
policies
policy
poor
popular culture
public
state
television
theatre
ticket
tv
up
wages
women
He would not name the women in sex work / traditional service / entermainment sector, but would talk about them fondly. Those women were independent and visible. But modernization has pushed them back into invisibility. The collapse of the red light area has resulted into small independent and clandestine clusters of sex trade. Which have made the women more vulnerable. Price of modernity and development!
M: People say that the glory of Pila house was also because of the women there and also for the people who used to come and go?
G2: Yes. The women in those times were also of another type. They used to come with izzat (respect) and go with izzat. Nothing untowardly... Because of the control that is levied on everything these days their visits have also considerably reduced.
M: Where did they go but… poor girl?
G2: to some extent… the police has banned some of them, so few are still there and other are cleaned out of the place… (some pause to quieten the surrounding crowd) What ever has remained now are also controlled by the police. So they also do not come. They may come occasionally in one or two, but don't come regularly. The bazaars are still full of these women but they hardly come to this area now. There is nothing in theatre line now.
M: There were mutual existence between them and the theatre people. All those matters are finished now?
G2: Yes its finished now. It was there in the past, there was passion. They used to come and go. Even we used to speak to them and our intentions were also good and we never spoke to them with wrong intentions.
Pila house, Bombay
audience
ban
bazaar
censorship
cleansing
control
dancers
displaced
entertainment
eviction
existence
floating population
glory
honor
honour
izzat
moral policing
mutual
passion
pila house
play house
police
red light area
respect
sex worker
theatre
trade
urban planning
women
Good old days of cheap economy. Pila house was the jewel in the crown of entertainment. Our protagonist feels proud to be part of the glory – though once upon a time.
Pila house, Bombay
The time then was also nice. Everything was also very economical then. We used to get mutton for 1 rupee, for 4 ana; for 3 rupees we used to get chicken, now can you think of these rates, no. Tram ticket would cost us just one ana. But even the trams are stopped now.
M: Brother, tell us why is this place called Pila house?
G2: Pila house… is … the British has named the place so. They have written Pila house in their map also. Wherever you go, everyone will tell you to visit Pila house first. This is because Pila house is a heady experience. When there are 7 theatrse… then you can choose form… Ok today I go to this one, tomorrow to that one. That is what house means…
ana
british
declare
district
economy
entertainment
fame
famous
glory
map
memory
pila house
play
play house
price rise
pride
rupees
theatres
ticket
tram
M: Then how did these dargas (Muslim place of worship)come here?
G2: Oh these dargas here right from our forefathers age.
M: and theatres are built beside dargas?
G2: Darga is in its place and theatre is in its place. Everything runs by these dargas. Its because of these dargas only that even our employers have prospered. It was all made of stones then. The tax that has to be paid to the government was also very less.
M: Was there any link between these dargas and the theatres?
G2: No. Not at all. Imagine there is mosque in front of a theatre now. What link will these two have? Its in its place and we in our place. If one is good at heart its fine if not then its bad.
There are some dargas, popular sites of worship for Muslims, in the compounds of the theatres. Often people pray at the dargas before entering to watch a film, sometimes to a hard core adult one. So far no clear answer about it could be obtained. But my guess is that the dargas were already in existence before the area was marked as entertainment district. The floating population of the bazaars and of the ports must have also included a few sufis and saints who were associated with these dargas. When the time came to build the theatres, the govt. and the owners decided to incorporate the holy sites into the theatre in order to not violate public and religious sentiments.
Pila house, Bombay
adult
ancestor
blessing
business
darga
design
employer
entertainment
foyer
government
islam
planning
pray
religious
tax
theatre
worship
America
Arab ka Sitara
Benaras
Bhopal
Bihar
Delhi
Do Talkies
Europe
Japan
Kanpur
Lucknow
M: From where to where does Pila house exist?
G2: Pila house extends from Do Talkies to Novelty cinema.
M: How many cinema halls are there all together in this area?
G2: Seven of which two of them are closed.
M: All these had theatre in the past?
G2: 2-3 were used for dramas the rest were all cinema theatres.
M: Did silent cinema also run then?
G2: It was shown in the Arab ka sitara. It was during our forefathers reign.
M: So what kind of people used to be there in Pila house in the past? People from UP, Bihar were not there in the past - right?
G2: There were people from UP, Bhopal, Benaras side, Lucknow, Kanpur, famous dadas (dons) of Kanpur, Delhiites. Dadas used to speak up face to face.
M: So Arabs, Pathans would also be there?
G2: Pathans were there. Arabs were not there.
M: Did the shippies come?
G2: Yes. Ships from America, Japan etc., Captains from different countries used to come and watch films. Europeans also used to watch films. Generally they used to visit the entire place and leave.
Novelty
Pila house
The number of cinema halls are reducing. In the past people from the North India used to populate the area. They might have come on trade purposes to the adjacent bazaars. Sailors from visiting ships at the Bombay port were also regular visitors. Some of the cinema halls were built in pre-cinema days and used to host stage plays.
UP
Uttar Pradesh
america
bazaar
business
cinema hall
dadas
district
do talkies
dons
drama
entertainment
europeans
expanse
films
japan
migrant
novelty
pathans
pictures
pila house
play house
plays
port
pride
sailors
ships
silent cinema
theatre
traders
visitors
M: So you have seen life right?
G2: Oh Yes.
M: Did you have fun?
G2: Yes I did. The dressing in the past was also very different. Loose pants and shirts were in then.
M: Don't you think the glory and shine of this place has gone?
G2: Yes. It went came and went. But nothing is the way it was in the past. Now we have reached a stage when I myself started loosing interest in the theatre line.
M: I heard that there were lot of bazaars in this area and the people who visited these bazaars were responsible for the shine of this place. Is that right?
G2: Yes. British are responsible for today's Pila house. Whenever you ask where is Pila house you will be brought here. Behind this is Pachubhai ki Wadi - mujras used to be held there. That's the reason why there was shine in this place. In the past everyone was nice. They used to live together peacefully and everyone used to communicate with the other.
M: Does mujra happen there now?
G2: No its closed.
M: Who stays there now?
G2: They only stay there now.
Things change with time, even ways of dressing. But certain cultural phenomena, such as mujra (a refined commercial dance generally associated with tawaif, courtesans), have gone forever. Our protagonist subtly communicates the pain of loosing some friends / fellow travelers / fellow workers of entertainment industry.
Pachubhai ki Wadi (Pachubhai's row houses)
bazaar
british
co-exist
courtesan
dancers
district
dressing style
entertainment
fashion
glory
mujra
neighbourhood
pachunhai ki wadi
past
pila house
play house
public
settlement
shine
tawaif
theatre
Grant Road
Gujarati Theatre
Parsi Theatre
Pila House
Play House
Pramila
Red Light area
Sangeet Natak
boss
class mobility
courtesan
grooming
item number
junior artist
lumpen
magic of cinema
mercantile
middle class
modernity
pasing
patronage
psychic
railway station
sensory
spectacle
stage dance
star
subalternization
tram terminus
vicissitudes of history
virtual
Previous annotation
Annotation 9: The show goes on. Located in the Red Light area the Play House (Pila House) area was and still remains the entertainment district of Bombay despite its loss of prestige through the twentieth century. the disjunctures between a history of pleasures, class mobility and shifts in patronal orders scars the face of the kitsch entertainment glitter littering the landscape. Home to the Parsi Theatre and the Sangeet Natak as well as the Gujarati stage in the late-nineteenth/early-twentieth centuries this area was by the 1920s the home to cinema in the city. Films interrupted by stage dancing by aspiring film actresses (even down to figures such as Pramila) were routine in the cinema halls of this area. It is a tribute to the resilience of the Bombay working classes that despite the vicissitudes of history many of the halls survive. The middle classes moved on once the Grant Road railway and tram termini lost their centrality in the city's scheme of urbanity. But the survival of the cinema halls is also a mark of the resilience of the magic of cinema that draws us to it through it ability to shatter the material and sensory parameters of lived reality and take us on to sensory and psychic liberation of sorts. The 'blue obscenity' of the old theatre is now redeemed (if only because it can be forgotten) in the spectacles audiences watch inside forgetting all priorities of being 'with it' with modernity in all aspect of one's life. What matters are its virtual journeys that in the end inform even the high-end cinema's decor and glamour. It's all the same. So why bother if one can watch a film here but which simultaneously places us in that other place too. Some such relationship exists between the bar dance and Hindi film item number too.
Interval bell rings.
Wide shot of the foyer of Royal cinema. The preparation for the interval is on. Vendors with trays and trolleys of snacks run around. People starts emerging from the theatre. The publicity photos on the display board glitter. People start milling around the vendors.
audience
beel ring
business
cinema
crowd
customer
display board
film
foyer
interval
people
publicity stills
snacks
tray
trolley
vendors
… in this we leaders too have put our blood and sweat…
… (inaudible) you leaders survive by fooling the innocent mass
… your politics gets its fuel from the alliance of these two – do remember this
… didn't I tell you that you can never make out when the leaders and the chameleon change their colours. Remember this. Bye.
(another scene)… no son… we will not ourselves commit any act which may affect my political career. These days the CBI and the courts are after the leaders. They may put us in. we must evolve another strategy.
… another strategy? Ah you can't even teach them a lesson inspite of being in the power. What can others do?
… There is a person.. he will
Shot through the theatre main door. Part of the screen can be seen – last few feet of the reel is still playing. Camera on the white marble of the darga at the foyer, dialogues of the film on the track – camera pans to the scree - an old print with mono sound. The villains mouth vicious dialogues. Some boys peep through the entrance door for a sneak view.
audience
audio track
cinema
crowd
darga
dialogue
door
entrance
film
foyer
marble
mono sound
pillars
print
projection
reel
vendor
view
Subalternization of Bombay cinema through the control of industrial output through power networks by the representatives of the 'lumpen' audience ensures this. In an earlier time when the top films opened in this area along with cinemas in the city the logic of cinema production could 'pass' performers and creative individuals through the world of cinema into the middle class cultural universe. In some ways the relatively less distance between cinema halls across the various area of the city showed a certain metaphorical imaging of the city's (indeed the subcontinent's) sociology on to the content of the industry and the films produced. The propinquity of cinema halls to the Red Light AND mercantile patronal residential areas was not fortuitous. But over time this capacity of the industry to groom a courtesan to become a top star of the Bombay film industry has faded with the industry increasingly becoming the domain of the middle classes at the top end. The relationship between the industry and the subaltern is now maintained either in a virtual sphere of media images, the world of 'junior artists', some live shows by stars or more interestingly in the reflected glory of industrial connections of their bosses.
Also see Chitrakarkhana footage on audiences in the Elgin Talkies, Bangalore:
http://pad.ma/F/info
http://pad.ma/BC/info
http://pad.ma/D/infoNext annotation
Long shot of the foyer – people pour out, the white pillars of the darga at the background. Shots of snacks packets, cold drink bottles, loose cigarettes. The majority of the crowd are boys of below 20s. They make elaborate adult postures… making purchases, buying cigarettes, blowing smoke…
Vendors' calls:… 2 Rs., 2 Rs.
… hey… cold drinks here… Rs 10… Rs. 10
adult
audience
bottle
call
cigarette
cinema
cold drink
crowd
darga
foyer
interval
mass
packet
posture
sell
smoke
snacks
vendor
young boy
More young boys light cigarettes, some gather near the publicity display board, the vendors still call for customers. Bell rings. But the crowd was more interested in our shooting. The security guards chase them inside the theatre.
bell
call
camera
cinema
crowd
display board
foyer
… hey… cold drinks here… Rs 10… Rs. 10
…. Come on… go in… go…
interval
migrant
publicity stills
ring
security guard
vendor
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