| | 81 | With the advent of multiplexes in the late Nineties, singlescreen theatres started running out of business. That’s when the family decided to sell the theatre. The last movie screened was Meet the Fockers — on March 17, 2005. The theatre was then sold to Shravanee Properties Limited, owned by a miner who wanted to build a commercial complex. But before he could get his project started, the BMRCL notified the space for Metro. The oldest surviving landmark on South Parade was brought down to make way for the Metro. Six years after the movie hall shut down, the family wants to preserve the city’s heritage by offering old photographs of Bangalore’s treasured cinema house for BMRCL to display at the station which stands on the other side. One is a black-and-white picture clicked in 1938 and the other a colour photograph taken in 1994. “I was the co-owner of the erstwhile Plaza theatre which our family ran from 1936 to 2005. I am enclosing on behalf of the family two photos of the theatre. After approval from your end, we are prepared to donate a photograph of any size and framing of any kind for display in the MG Road Station,’’ A K Ananth Narrain wrote to BMRCL managing director N Sivasailam on September 29. He never got a reply from the BMRCL. |