{
  "id": 10311168,
  "title": "Once packed, now demolished: India’s iconic movie halls are vanishing",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/once-packed-now-demolished-indias-iconic-movie-halls-are-vanishing",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-27T23:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Malay Mail",
    "slug": "malay-mail-malaymail",
    "url": "https://www.malaymail.com/news/life/2026/09/28/once-packed-now-demolished-indias-iconic-movie-halls-are-vanishing/236702"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bengaluru, September 28 — The demolition of Bengaluru’s Urvashi Cinema, a 1,200-seat movie palace, is part of India's vanishing single-screen era. Manjunath, who recalls the theatre's glory days in the 1970s, lamented the dwindling crowds. Photographer Hemant Chaturvedi, who has documented 1,350 single-screen cinemas across 1,000 towns, documented the ornate facades and decay of these cinemas. The old halls offered a communal, interactive experience, with fans cheering, clapping, and shouting at dramatic twists. Researchers estimate that India had around 14,000 single-screen halls in the 1980s, but only around 2,000 remain today. Despite some being restored, the single-screen experience is gradually fading as people flock to air-conditioned multiplexes with reclining seats and delivered food.",
  "summary": "BENGALURU, Sept 28 — The demolition has begun at Bengaluru’s Urvashi Cinema, once a 1,200-seat movie palace...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}